Oktoberfest. The yearly holiday that attracts not only people German heritage, but also general lovers of beer served in large steins, sausages, and sauerkraut.
As a food truck owner, it’s a smart idea to constantly be looking for ways to associate your business with local events and holidays like this as well. Each city has annual events for Oktoberfest, Cinco De Mayo, and others that attract hundreds or thousands of people into a day or multi-day event can result in a huge windfall for concession businesses that can put a concession business into the black for a month.
Depending on the types of food you offer, it won’t be realistic for you to target all of these holidays. But you should be able to come up with a logical way to associate your business and food with a particular event, even if you need to make a “special menu” for the event. If you find a annual event that you are able to break into this can add some much needed consistent revenue to your business that really adds up at the end of the year. In today’s post, we will explore some ways that food truck owners can make small adaptations to their existing menus in an effort to take advantage of these major events.
Oktoberfest
You don’t need to be a German themed truck serving up cabbage rolls to make your food truck relevant to the Oktoberfest celebration. As a simple example, you could be operating an All-American hot dog concession truck. If this fits your particular situation, you could easily make an adjustment to serving bratwurst instead of a hot dog, even if it’s just for a single weekend to be able to attend an Oktoberfest event where the likelihood for large crowds and high profits is strong.
The hot dog vendor example is probably the simplest form of vendor that could take advantage of this holiday. But there are many vendors that could participate if you think about it further. Another example is a bagel or donut truck. If this is the case for you, how difficult would it be for you to start serving warm pretzels? This could be an easy way for you to break into this type of lucrative event.
Cinco De Mayo
You don’t necessarily need to be operating a taco truck to break into Cinco De Mayo celebrations. Again by getting a little bit creative, you can really become relevant to Cinco De Mayo celebrations in a variety of ways. And this is a celebration that is well known and attracts huge crowds across the entire United States.
Going back to the hot dog vendor example that we referenced above, you may not immediately think that you could come up with anything related to Mexican food operating this type of business. But you would be wrong! Even if it’s a special item you don’t plan to serve long-term you can create a Mexi Dog! That’s right just add a little lettuce, tomato, and perhaps some pico de gallo to your traditional hot dog and you’ve got something that can be offered at this type of event. But it doesn’t end there! You can follow these exact same steps if you usually serve burgers, Philly cheese steaks, or pizzas. You just need to be the tiniest bit creative about your menu on that date.
Food Holidays
Have you ever noticed that there’s a day for just about everything these days? Well you’re right. No matter what the day there’s probably some type of food being celebrated. For example, did you know that January 4th is spaghetti day? Well it is. And if you happen to operate an Italian themed concession vehicle this is the type of holiday that clearly aligns with your business.
To see an ultimate list of National Food Holidays, check out FoodiMentary.com. Here you’ll find a list of food holidays for each of the 365 days in a year. Some days, you’ll find that there are two different foods being celebrated in a single day.
Finally, whether you’re going to be vending at a ethnic event like Oktoberfest or simply aligning your business with one of the many food holidays make sure to promote these on social media as well. This can be a fun and easy way to create promotional fodder that folks love to share and consume on social media.
