John Stossel and the Fight For Fair Food Truck Regulations (Video)
Investigative journalist and broadcaster John Stossel and ReasonTV, published a new story titled "The Fight Against Food Trucks" earlier this month. The goal of the report was to find out if food trucks really are "bad" for restaurants as some politicians have claimed. Are food trucks just part of healthy competition or are they rouge businesses that aren't playing by the rules? Stossel aims to find the answer to this question in the video below that runs approximately 5 and a half minutes. So far this report has received over 20,000 views on YouTube alone. https://youtu.be/Y4dEtNFJ1bw The Advantages of Food [...]
Triple Jay's Pizzeria in Fayetteville Expands to Second Pizza Truck
At M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks, we're honored to have the best customers and clients in the mobile food industry. We view it as an incredible compliment when a customer returns for a second build to expand and take their business to the next level. This is exactly what happened with Triple Jay's Pizzeria based out of Atlanta, Georgia. The original food truck continues to serve the business well, but Triple Jay's Pizzeria was ready to take it up a notch for the 2.0 version of their vehicle. The vision Triple Jay's Pizzeria brought for their second food truck was to [...]
Restaurant VS Food Truck: Which is Right For You?
Trying to decide between starting a restaurant or food truck? You're not the first culinary entrepreneur that's faced this difficult decision. In fact, many current food truck owners originally planned to start restaurants, but after realizing they would need $500,000 (at least) to get their concept open decided to explore a more affordable mobile food unit instead. Bottom line, when it comes to deciding whether or open a restaurant versus a food truck there's no one sized fits correct choice. There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to each business model that we will explore in today's post. You'll need to [...]
How to Legally Dispose of Gray Water For a Food Truck
Whether your operating a food truck or trailer, you need to consider how to properly dispose of "gray water" for your business. How you remove gray water is critical from a legal perspective and you'll face stiff fines or have your vending license revoked if you fail to meet this requirement. On top of the legal ramifications, disposing of this waste water correctly is the right thing to do. It ensures that your waste won't make anyone sick or backup sewer systems of your local municipality. In case your unfamiliar with the term "gray water" already, it's the waste water [...]
The Vegetable Express Brings Vegan Comfort Food To Colorado
Drive 15-miles west of Boulder, Colorado and you'll find a small community tucked in the Rocky Mountains called Nederland or simply "Ned" to the locals. According to the 2010 census this community has only 1,445 residents. But this funky little town has a lot more in store for visitors than you might expect based on the size. There are a variety of eclectic shops, stunning natural beauty and more recently The Vegetable Express. The Vegetable Express is a mobile food unit that opened it's doors in November, 2017 with the goal of offering vegan comfort food to the residents and [...]
Gary Vaynerchuck's Business and Marketing Advice for Food Truck Owners
Gary Vaynerchuck is arguably the most well-known entrepreneur and social media thought-leader on the planet. Throughout the year you can watch daily tidbits of him running his business his YouTube Channel that's rapidly approaching a million subscribers or Instagram. Vaynerchuck's company, VaynerMedia, provides marketing consulting from Fortune 500 companies to the biggest athletes in the world. But while attending a recent marketing conference, Vaynerchuck took some time out of his speaking schedule to offer some specific advice to a small business owner... specifically a food truck owner. If you're someone that's never heard of Gary Vaynerchuck don't worry! As background [...]
What Do Specialty Vehicles and Trailers Mean?
What is a specialty vehicle or trailer? Specialty vehicles are mobile units that solve a variety of specific problems for a wide-range of businesses from dentists that want to bring their services to patients anywhere to government organizations like the fire department that requires a mobile preparation and recovery center that can be positioned anywhere there's a fire. In today's post, we wanted to walk you through some of the different examples of specialty units and trailers that are available. As you'll see, whether you're a non-profit, a business, or a member of law enforcement there's a specialty unit that [...]
How to Start Vending Outside Home Improvement Stores like Home Depot
Depending on where you live, you may have noticed a concession trailer or hot dog cart serving outside of a big-box home improvement store like Home Depot and wondered... How can I get my concession business to vend there? Home Depot's can be desirable areas to vend because there can be foot traffic in-and-out of the store all day, seven days a week. Home improvement stores attract a wide-range of professionals including contractors, laborers, and even the weekend do-it-yourselfer. In this post, we explore how to get your business approved to vend in these locations, what the process is like, [...]
How To Factor For Seasonality in a Concession Business
Winter is indeed coming. For vendors operating in cooler temperature states or even Canada this inevitably means lower monthly revenue figures for the rest of the year as we move deeper into the fall and winter months. Most food vendors anticipate this lower demand due to seasonality. In places like New York, Boston and the entire country of Canada you'll need to be prepared for substantial revenue impacts. If you're located in Southern California or Florida, the winter-time revenue impacts will be less pronounced. When you're starting your business or still in the business plan development stage, it's important to [...]
How Much Food Storage Space is Needed on Your Concession Trailer?
How much storage space is needed on your concession trailer? This is a question frequently overlooked by first time vendors. It's easy to get wrapped up in the type of kitchen equipment that will be installed and the wrap of the vehicle. These are important parts of the build process. But at M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks, we also understand you need to have enough available space on the concession trailer to store your raw materials like hamburgers, tacos, or BBQ after your equipment is installed. Within the food industry, the amount of storage space inside your food trailer is [...]