No matter what business you’re looking into, you want ideas to help kickstart your success into a profitable and sustainable business. In this case, you’re here to learn food truck business ideas. However, if you don’t have a recognizable brand offering but have learned how to serve better food than the competition in any food truck park, no marketing will help you cut through the clutter.
Whatever fare is your specialty and the food you plan on preparing for your community, you need to know how to market it. To butcher a tagline from a famous movie, “If you cook it, they won’t come…unless you know how to market it effectively.” Now that you’re groaning over that line, let’s explore some proven ways food truck business ideas can help stimulate your brand.
Baking Your Brand
This isn’t the place to talk about food truck business card ideas, especially if you don’t even have a brand that makes you proud. Think about some of the most memorable food trucks you know. Oddly, they all have delicious food directly connected to a unique name. That’s what is called making a brand “sticky.”
Something that sticks out in any way possible you think will resonate with your audience. Maybe use a term with tongue-in-cheek wordplay, but it ensures you don’t forget about them the next time you walk up to a food truck park. Possibly some snarky food truck business name ideas would be the following:
- Go for the obvious with “The Bite Me Truck”
- Use pop culture references, like classic rock songs with “Donut Stop Me Now”
- Borrow an idiom that would fit like “Fork in the Road”
- Friendly gesture that stresses what you serve with “Bacon Me Crazy”
- You can even keep it vague hoping the mystery will bring them in like “Stuffed”
- There’s also the possibility of taking advantage of memes with “Netflix and Grill”
For food truck business ideas, you need to start with a brand. That leads to your social media, URL for the website, and how every single customer will remember you. Spend time or money on this one thing first.
Find the Free Stuff
There are many food truck business ideas you can leverage for your truck. How social are you? Yes, social media is something “they’re all doing.” But are they doing it well? It could be that the neighboring food trucks near you aren’t following best practices. Think about what you sell – food and experiences. Both of which are fantastic to look at on social media.
Do you have Instagram (great for images)? What about TikTok (great for videos)? Of course, you have Facebook but have you used Facebook Live? Use those three to five times a day. Take “in the moment” photos, smiling faces, and full bellies. Then, use catchy lines in the content area to make people laugh and force them to consider your food truck the next time they are jonesin’ for whatever it is you cook.
Another freebie would be a loyalty program. Who doesn’t love free food? That’s a fantastic way to get loyal customers and repeat business. You schedule stops on your flashy new social media profiles and then tell prospective consumers, “For every five of these things you eat, a free one is coming your way.” There are tons of food truck app listings–most are free. There’s something for you to consider too. Research from 2020 shows that customers spent twice as much with companies that offered loyalty schemes. Think about what you’re missing.
Wander on the Web
This goes without saying, but if you don’t have a website, you are missing what could easily be more than half of your audience. An online presence is the best investment you can make for your food truck. Although it’s a menu and pictures–or, you only think–having that website is the easiest way to communicate your business with your consumers. They want to know more about you, so let them.
There are cost-effective options for website development. You don’t have to be an SEO expert. Just see what you want to say and do it without misspelling words or using terrible punctuation. You know the story to tell, and food truck business ideas like directing people to a website would be the simplest way to share it with the masses.
Partner with the Pros
You have a food truck and are a fan of the food truck you drive. Sure, you’re biased, but the food is excellent. Have you thought about telling a local bar that information? Most bars don’t have food, but they all have customers who get hungry while drinking adult beverages. So, what are you doing? Why are you waiting?
Did you know that local bars, or even breweries in your area, already partner with several food trucks? They put them on a rotating schedule to make the most of those brands while benefiting their own. All they have to do is park the truck and feed the folks. What’s stopping you from doing that? Oh, you didn’t know you could? Well, now you do!
Cater to the Community
Now, you’re thinking about food truck catering business ideas. Good! Think about how catering could benefit your food truck brand. With catering, you have a menu that doesn’t change and a guaranteed amount of guests. That’s promised money and easy recipes. You could do that with your eyes closed, so open them up and start looking at places where large groups of people get together.
Anything from businesses to hospitals to churches could all become fine assets to your network. That’s free word-of-mouth advertising if the food is excellent. And why wouldn’t it be? Think about volunteers, sponsorships, or even philanthropic ventures, like feeding a Habitat for Humanity crew for free. It’s an investment that will give back to you in spades.
