How to start a food truck business

Do you love cooking for your friends and family? Do you make a few dishes that everybody goes bananas for? Do you have the ability to consistently create the same amazing meals every single time?

If so, you might have what it takes to start a food truck business. But being a great cook who can deliver perfect recipes every time is only the beginning.

You’ll also need special equipment. And, of course, you’ll need to know a thing or two about running a business. And no matter what, you’ll need a hardworking attitude.

Being a great cook and working hard is up to you. This article is where you’ll learn to create your own business.

Prepping ingredients: Planning your food truck business

You might want to just buy a food truck, park it somewhere, get some supplies, and start your business. There are probably some people that started that way successfully.

But most people would agree that that’s probably not the best course of action. You wouldn’t start cooking a dish without knowing if you have access to a spatula, pan, and stove.

It’s not the best idea to start a business without knowing what to do either. Instead, have a game plan ahead of time. Here’s what you’ll need to do first.

Brainstorm

Brainstorming is the process of getting all the stuff that’s rattling around in your head out and somewhere tangible where you’ll remember your ideas later. You probably already have a preferred method of taking notes, but if you don’t, you have several options.

Some will always want to go with good, old-fashioned pen and paper. Others have a favorite piece of software. Whatever your favorite method is, make sure it’s one that will help you brainstorm as fast as possible.

Picking the best software is a highly subjective process, but one of the best types of software for brainstorming is a mind mapping tool.

There are a lot of mind mapping tools out there, but a good one to start off with is Whimsical. Whimsical is nice because it’s not just a mind-mapping tool; it’s actually a whole planning board. It also provides whiteboards, flowcharts, and wireframe tools.

Whimsical has good keyboard shortcuts that make brainstorming similar to just plain typing — this makes it fast to learn and easy to use.

Write a professional business plan

Now that you have a rough idea of what you want your business to look like, it’s a good idea to formalize it.

The rough idea you created can act as a living document to keep you on track as your business grows, but a business plan is more concrete. It’s something you can show to investors and other people who are interested in your business to give them a solid understanding of what you plan to create.

At some point during the process of starting your business, you’re probably going to need some money to get a truck, supplies, ingredients, and so on. And when you need that money, you’ll need to show someone a business plan if you want them to invest in you.

There are a ton of different resources out there that can help you write a business plan. The Small Business Administration has a great guide that walks you through the process step-by-step.

Get advice and mentorship

Starting any kind of restaurant business is very risky. You can protect yourself by working with somebody who has experience.

Fortunately, restaurants are everywhere, so it’ll be a lot easier to find a mentor or advisor who can help you successfully start and run your food truck business.

The Small Business Administration also has a program specifically meant to help connect entrepreneurs with mentors. Through that program, you may be able to find someone who has run a restaurant and can help you get over the small hurdles that you’ll run into along the way.

Naming the menu items: Creating a web and social media presence

For many businesses, it’s a good idea to start with a domain name first and then name your business after the domain. But restaurants exist in the real world, so you have more freedom here. That means that you can name your business whatever you want and make your domain name fit the business, rather than the other way around.

Make sure to name your food truck business something fun and distinct. It should stand out in people’s minds, and the name itself should tell a brief story that illustrates what your business is all about.

Some restaurants use fancy words to appeal to a specific audience interested in fine dining. A very popular trend lately is using clever or catchy phrases like “Central Perk.” And of course, there’s always the good, old-fashioned route of naming the restaurant after yourself. Just make sure there aren’t any other restaurants in your area that already have a similar name.

Domain name

Almost all of your visitors will find you through word of mouth or from just walking by your truck when they’re hungry. They might also find you through Google Maps if you stay in the same location long enough.

But it’s still a good idea to have a website where people can at least check your menu before they drive halfway across town to eat at your food truck.

Here are a few quick pointers to help you pick a good domain name:

1. Keep it short and sweet. You’re going to rely on word of mouth more often than not, so it’s a good idea to have a domain name that’s easy to say, spell, and share.
2. Using a .com extension is best, but there are alternatives. There are a whole bunch of new domain extensions like .cafe, .catering, and .fish. They give you a lot more options, but the drawback is that most people still think in terms of .com addresses. So even if you have the perfect name, they may still type fredsfried.fish as fredsfriedfish.com.
3. Get creative. You won’t be able to get a domain name like amazon.com without spending a lot of money. But even adding one extra short word to your domain name can help you land the dot-com of your dreams. For example, someone may have already taken dougsfoodtruck, but bigdougsfoodtruck might be available instead.

One of the best ways to get your domain name is through Google Domains. Many services, like GoDaddy and others, may include a lot of upsells and add-ons that you don’t need. Google gives you access to domain names without catches or gimmicks.

Social media accounts

Even if most of your traffic comes from Google Maps, Yelp, and word of mouth, your social media presence is still important. So it’s a good idea to pick a strong social media name.

Since social media accounts are free, a lot of good names are no longer available. But that’s OK. Most people don’t expect a perfect social media name. It’s OK to have things like numbers and even an extra word in your handle.

Just don’t make it look too strange or garbled. You don’t want people thinking that you’re a scam or spam account.

Setting prices and getting paid: Funding your venture

You should always take financial, legal, and medical advice that you find on the internet with a grain of salt — and this article is no exception. The financial advice written here is presented as a suggestion and nothing more. Always speak with an accountant or financial advisor before making any big financial decisions.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Know your numbers. This is where your business plan is going to come in handy. You should already have all the numbers planned out and written down. Those numbers will be extremely important when you’re trying to secure funding.
2. Be realistic about your goals. Nobody can predict everything. Things will always come up and throw a wrench in the works. So it’s a good idea to give yourself some wiggle room — but keep it reasonable.
3. Be prepared to answer tough questions. You wouldn’t throw your money at somebody just because they asked nicely, and you definitely can’t expect your investors to do the same. Be ready to defend the reasons why you need funding.
4. Be patient. Colonel Sanders tried to sell his famous chicken recipe more than a thousand times before anyone accepted it. Basically, that means you might get lucky and acquire funding the first time you walk into a bank, but you might not. You need the grit to keep trying over and over again until you get what you need.
5. Have a backup plan. It’s possible you won’t even be able to get funding — and that’s OK. Take it as a learning experience and come up with another way to get the money you need to get started or consider a new business model that would cost less money.

Financing sources

It’s common to try to fund a restaurant business. Getting that money should be straightforward through traditional channels. Here are three common ones:

1. Friends and family: If you can get started on a shoestring budget, you may be able to ask a friend or family member for a small loan. You might even be able to go in fifty-fifty with somebody who’s interested in working with you.
2. Bank loans: If you do need more substantial funding, there’s always the traditional bank loan. Find a local bank or credit union, set an appointment, and meet with a banker with your business plan in hand.
3. Grants: Grants are usually reserved for funding altruistic ventures, but there are some available for people running strictly for-profit businesses as well. Whatever kind of business you’re running, it’s worth looking to see if there’s a grant available for you. Grant information is always available for free, though, so if someone’s asking you to pay for it, keep looking elsewhere.

Posting calories: Taking care of legal matters

Once again, be wary of any legal information you find online. That includes the information written here. Make sure you contact a legal expert for advice.

Legal considerations include your business structure, taxes, licenses, and more. They can be a lot to think about when you’re first getting started, but it’s important to establish good habits early on.

Here are eight things to think about before you get started:

1. Incorporation: You’ve likely heard the acronym LLC. That stands for limited liability corporation. It’s one of the simplest corporation types. It’s designed to limit your liability, meaning if somebody sues you for an accident that occurred near or in your truck, your business will take the brunt of the repercussions and you can avoid the risk of losing your house. Talk to a lawyer or mentor about which kind of corporation you should set up.
   
2. Federal ID: Your Employer Identification Number, or EIN, acts like a Social Security number for your business. You’re going to need it in order to open a business account, pay taxes, and even work with some other corporations. You can get your EIN from the IRS.
   
3. Local licenses and permits: You need a vendor’s permit in order to sell pretty much anything just about anywhere. But selling food is even more complicated. You’ll need to check your city, county, and state for all the local rules and regulations. You’ll need to be able to pass regular inspections. And you’ll probably also need to consider permits for truck parking as well.
   
4. Intellectual property: As a restaurant owner, you’re going to work very hard to establish a name for yourself. Don’t let somebody steal that name from you. Trademark your name, copyright your menu, and do whatever it takes to protect your intellectual property.
   
5. Taxes: You can’t get out of paying taxes — and that goes for personal taxes as well as business taxes. As soon as you earn your first dollar, you should be keeping track of your income to make sure you don’t get dinged by the IRS.
   
6. Insurance: Safety is a big concern with any business. Customers could slip in a water puddle next to your truck, get food poisoning, or even bump their head on your canopy. Now, don’t worry too much about these things but do make sure that you’re safe if those things happen by having good insurance.
   
7. Contracts: Contracts may not be as important for restaurants unless you’re selling fugu. Usually, you just cook the meal and serve it, and that’s that. But you do have food suppliers, employees, and other business relationships. You should always have contracts in place before working with anyone else in a professional capacity.
   
8. Employment law: You may only ever have two or three people working for you in your truck, but employment law is no joke. Make sure to talk to a professional to make sure you have all your ducks in a row.
   

Delivering a beautiful presentation: Marketing your food truck

One thing Oregon is famous for (at least to locals) is food trucks. There are hundreds of food trucks in every major city, and many small towns have at least a few.

One reason they’re so popular is because there are many food courts designed for food trucks to gather in. They provide a location for food trucks to park, seating for patrons, and a hotspot that everybody around the area knows about.

If you’re lucky enough to live in an area where they have something like that, then you just might be set. All you need to do is park, plug in, and let the customers come to you.

If you get enough business that way, then great. But what if you actually want people to come to that food court just for you? Or maybe you don’t have a food court you can park in, but you still want people to be able to find you. Well, in that case, you’ll need to do some marketing.

Learning how to market yourself is a huge feat all by itself. But if you want a quick bird’s-eye view, here it is. There are two major components to marketing. You need to be able to do the work, of course. But you’ll also need to be able to think like a marketer.

Thinking like a marketer

Marketing is, in essence, a social skill. You need to be able to think like your customers. That means putting yourself in their shoes and telling them the stories that will resonate with them.

That may sound a little bit abstract for a restaurant business, but if you think about it, your business is a part of a community. Your customers are the people in your hometown or neighborhood.

You see these people every day on the street. You may even see a few that you know around town. You know their stories; you know what kind of people they are. That means you know how to talk to them. You already know what they want.

Now here are three tips on how to sell to them:

1. Understand strategy vs tactics. Tactics are the actions you take to get more customers. A strategy is a grand plan that brings all those actions together. Parking in a prime location and having daily deals are tactics. But a strategy is a collection of everything you do to promote your business.
2. Find your people. OK, we’ve already gone over the fact that your people are just your neighbors. That could mean that they’re college students looking for late-night munchies after a night on the town. Or they could be local foodies who want to try something fun and different. Know your audience, then build your menu and your marketing strategy around those people.
3. Get out on the long tail: The long tail is more of a digital marketing concept, but it does translate to real-world marketing as well. What it means for your marketing is that you should find your own niche. Don’t try to compete with McDonald’s. Do something unique. And do it better than anybody else.

You can learn all three of these concepts and more from Seth Godin. So far, he’s written 20 bestsellers, and he publishes great advice on his excellent daily blog. The best book to get you started is This Is Marketing. Even if you’re going to be hiring marketing professionals, it’s a good book to help you understand this critical aspect of your business.

Doing the actual work

Word of mouth is still huge for restaurants.

If you’re able to stay in a regular location, Yelp and Google Maps will also be your friends. But social media is still vital for your business. If your food truck will be moving around and going to local festivals, for example, it’s a good idea to post updates on Facebook.

And if you want to be Instagram famous, give your food a really unique and extraordinary appearance. Michelin-quality plating isn’t necessary, but something as simple as cutting a burrito in half at an angle and standing each half up on its end can be enough to make your meal pop.

Once your food looks shareable, make sure your customers know about your online presence. Put up a sign asking them to tag you in any pictures of the food.

That trick just gave you free and low-effort advertising, but there’s more you can do. Make sure to interact with the people who were kind enough to share photos of your food. It will let them know that you appreciate them and make them feel like important customers and brand ambassadors.

There are, of course, many other social media platforms. Focus on the ones you know and are most comfortable with. Don’t burn yourself out on the marketing though; hire someone if you need to.

If you want to learn more about marketing, Udemy is an excellent resource with high-quality, low-cost courses, and it frequently offers deals on those courses.

It’s usually best to avoid big promises and high-cost courses when it comes to marketing. All the information you need is out there for free — or for a reasonable price from sites like Udemy.

Focusing on taste and texture: Getting supplies, ingredients, and pricing right

This is a highly complex subject. Acquiring ingredients and keeping food supplies fresh and in stock is an involved process.

This is one area where having a solid mentor will benefit you the most. Here are five things you can ask for their advice on: 

1. Learn when to buy ingredients from wholesalers and when to buy them fresh. Younger crowds can and often do eat just about anything. They’re not known for being too picky. If that’s your target audience, you can probably get away with cheaper ingredients from big-name restaurant suppliers. But avid foodies will often notice that the food doesn’t quite measure up. It’s hard to define, but high quality food leaves you feeling a lot more satisfied.
2. Figure out which items you can freeze and which ones you should only refrigerate. Many large chain restaurants advertise that they never freeze their food. That’s because some food does go downhill if it’s been in the freezer. And even if an item does keep well in the freezer, it may get freezer burn after a while. Where you draw the line as to which foods you keep fresh or frozen is up to you. But freshness can have a huge impact on your business.
3. Understand how long you should keep items to ensure freshness. Every type of food is a little bit different. Most businesses will throw out or give away baked goods after just one day. You should toss meat long before it’s spoiled and keep in mind that vegetables usually only stay fresh for maybe half a week. It’s important to develop a system of labeling, inspecting, and discarding old food.
4. Know how to set up systems so you and your employees can keep your stock at the right levels. Some businesses have a checklist on a clipboard hanging in the middle of their kitchen for anybody to update when ingredients are running low. On the other hand, some businesses use advanced software to help manage inventory, purchasing, and sales all in one go. Whatever technique works best for your business is up to you, but you do need to have a system in place and do regular inspections to maintain that system.
5. Understand how to set your prices. Food trucks usually have simple menus. They generally make less than a dozen items available at any time. That reduces the amount of space needed for storage, the complexity of cooking, and the difficulty for customers to pick an item. With a simpler menu comes easier pricing. You may aim for a fixed dollar amount or a percentage when it comes to profit. But whatever you do, don’t price yourself out of business. People will come to your food truck for your amazing dishes, excellent customer service, and unique selection. And usually, if someone wants value, they’ll go to a big chain restaurant. They’re visiting you for something different.

Every choice you make will have a huge impact on your business. And just like you’ll need a really good marketing strategy, you’ll also need a really good day-to-day business strategy.

Taking that first “byte”: Choosing the right software

One of the best things about starting a business these days is that it’s so much easier than it used to be. For example, food is easier to order thanks to the internet. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on a point-of-sale system when a tablet and some free software will do. You don’t need to hire a bunch of people beyond your kitchen staff. You can just outsource these roles locally or remotely.

And with a little determination, you can do a lot of the work yourself. There’s software for almost every aspect of your business that almost anybody can use. Here are three general-purpose pieces of software that will give you some of the most bang for your buck:

1. Google Docs, Gmail, and Meet: Google’s cloud-based suite of tools will let you and your team communicate and work together in real time. And when your business grows, they offer Workspace, which is designed for companies of every size — from tiny mom-and-pops to massive enterprises.
2. Jotform: Jotform is the premier communication automation tool. Its versatility means that you’ll constantly find places in your business processes where it’s the perfect match.
3. Notion: Notion is a knowledge management tool. It provides a collaborative editing environment that gives you smart tables and lets you embed other software into your pages. You can even embed Google and Jotform tools into your Notion pages, making it a great center for all your business processes.

Working the line: Managing business processes

Running the food truck by yourself or with a couple of other people isn’t too difficult, but you can make it easier still by streamlining your processes.

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber is an excellent book that will teach you how to work on your business, not just in your business.

Here are some common processes and tricks for managing them:

1. Accounting: This involves bookkeeping, payroll, and taxes. QuickBooks is the most popular choice for small businesses and the self-employed.
2. Human resources: This department handles hiring, firing, managing benefits, and more. You can take care of most of your HR with Jotform. You can use it to receive resumes, fill out legal documents, manage employee lists and information, and much more.
3. Customer service: Keeping your customers happy is probably the most important part of your business. This is another area where Jotform is your friend. You can create forms to collect menu requests, product feedback, and more.
4. Research and development: You may be able to rely on having the same items for years and years. Many people will keep going back to the same place for the same comfort foods over and over again, but you should still consider keeping your menu updated and refreshed from time to time. Don’t be afraid to be creative and explore new ideas.
5. Marketing: Google Docs can help you manage your campaigns. Jotform has many marketing templates you can use to collect email addresses, do market research, and much more. Buffer can help streamline your social media marketing by automating posts. And Mailchimp will help you launch professional email campaigns without getting flagged as spam.
6. Quality assurance: It’s vitally important to make sure your food meets the highest standards possible. Check in with your customers regularly to make sure they’re happy. And be responsive to every critical review on Yelp and Google Maps.
7. Storefront: When people are eating lunch, they’re often in a hurry to get back to work. You can let them order ahead of time with a storefront tool. Jotform can make setting up an online store one of the easiest parts of building your business, thanks to its Jotform Store Builder.

Getting the food out the window

There’s a lot involved in starting a business, but the most important thing is to start. Don’t overthink it. Don’t overplan it. Don’t psych yourself out. Roll up your sleeves and get to work.

We did mention earlier that there’s a lot of necessary upfront planning, and that’s true. But it’s mostly to get the ideas out of your head and somewhere safe. Once you’ve done that, get back to building your business.

We covered a whole lot of information in this article. You can bookmark it and come back to it later, but keep these helpful tips in the back of your mind.

Whatever success looks like for you, here’s hoping you’ll see it. And here’s to you for taking the first steps!

Photo by Pickwizard