food truck
Bringing the Food Truck Revolution to Goa
The mobile food industry has seen a massive resurgence, especially in big urban areas in the west. From their kitchens-on-wheels, they’re serving everything from sandwiches to gourmet cupcakes to cuisines from all over the world. And customers are gobbling it up. The new breed of mobile trucks sport vibrant colours and branding imagery. They are also tech and social media savvy, often using Twitter and Facebook to announce their locations.
Many are owned and run by highly trained chefs and well-known restaurateurs. Restaurant owners looking for additional sales see the mobile food truck as an opportunity to sell food without paying rent. Others see it as their way to enter the food business, hoping eventually to open their own restaurant.
The Business Model
The secret to the food truck business is to choose a straightforward concept and sell as much food as you can in as little time as possible. A “straightforward” concept is one that is easily understood by the customer and specializes in doing one thing incredibly well. An example of this would be a waffle truck like New York’s “Waffles & Dinges.” They don’t sell eggs, pancakes, French toast, and cupcakes. They only sell waffles with sweet and savoury toppings.
Food trucks are a volume business. For the most part the food sold on food trucks is not high profit. Items will generally cost between five and ten dollars per order, and you’ll make one or two dollars profit on each order. You need to sell at least a couple of hundred orders per day to make a substantial profit. That means you have to be able to cook it, serve it, and sell it, quickly.
Why is it important to sell in as little time as possible? In the truck business, the longer you are out on the street the more it costs you. Labor is hourly, gas runs out, and food goes bad. Additionally, lunch only lasts for an hour or two. When lunchtime is over there are fewer customers, and that means less revenue.
The mobile food industry has seen a massive resurgence, especially in big urban areas in the west. From their kitchens-on-wheels, they’re serving everything from sandwiches to gourmet cupcakes to cuisines from all over the world. And customers are gobbling it up. The new breed of mobile trucks sport vibrant colours and branding imagery. They are also tech and social media savvy, often using Twitter and Facebook to announce their locations.
Many are owned and run by highly trained chefs and well-known restaurateurs. Restaurant owners looking for additional sales see the mobile food truck as an opportunity to sell food without paying rent. Others see it as their way to enter the food business, hoping eventually to open their own restaurant.
The Business Model
The secret to the food truck business is to choose a straightforward concept and sell as much food as you can in as little time as possible. A “straightforward” concept is one that is easily understood by the customer and specializes in doing one thing incredibly well. An example of this would be a waffle truck like New York’s “Waffles & Dinges.” They don’t sell eggs, pancakes, French toast, and cupcakes. They only sell waffles with sweet and savoury toppings.
Food trucks are a volume business. For the most part the food sold on food trucks is not high profit. Items will generally cost between five and ten dollars per order, and you’ll make one or two dollars profit on each order. You need to sell at least a couple of hundred orders per day to make a substantial profit. That means you have to be able to cook it, serve it, and sell it, quickly.
Why is it important to sell in as little time as possible? In the truck business, the longer you are out on the street the more it costs you. Labor is hourly, gas runs out, and food goes bad. Additionally, lunch only lasts for an hour or two. When lunchtime is over there are fewer customers, and that means less revenue.