Food Trucks often Double as Disaster Relief Vehicles
When emergencies happen, you need teams of highly-skilled people that can mobilize quickly and travel to a distressed area to help. In critical situations like this people like first responders, fire fighters, nurses, and law enforcement usually come to mind. These people are the first at the scene of a catastrophic event. But in recent months, seemingly unlikely food trucks have also been called upon to serve their communities after natural disasters. Food trucks answered this call by moving to support emergency workers and victims of storms like Hurricane Irma. When the power goes out and fresh water becomes non-existent [...]
Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show 2017 Exhibitor Review
This week you'll find M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks at the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show running from October 11th - 13th, 2017. This annual event is being held at the Orange County Convention Center and brings together over 8,000 professionals from across the culinary and food service industry. Whether you're looking for cutting-edge flavor combinations for your menu or looking to grow your existing restaurant franchise this Florida's premier event to accomplish these goals. If you plan to be in attendance, we encourage you to head on over to booth 1301 to say hi and check out our display. [...]
Concession Trailer Plumbing Blue Print / Layout Example
Although requirements for concession trailers differ across the country there are some requirements that are standard across the board. One of the standard requirements is for a 3-compartment sink and hand washing sink. These requirements are in place for food safety handling reasons and something you want installed on your unit regardless of legal requirements. At M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks, we develop 3 different blue-prints / layouts for each custom build. There is an electrical layout, kitchen layout, and of course a plumbing layout that we will cover in this post. You can view an example of one plumbing [...]
Food Trucks Continue Serving Communities After Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Harvey has devastated the Texas coastline from Corpus Christi to Houston while uprooting thousands of families in between the two cities. For many residents, their businesses and homes have been completely destroyed. Some areas were hit hard by the hurricane winds. Others had walls torn down by rising and rushing water. According to this article from Fortune.com, the financial impact of Hurricane Harvey could top $180 billion. While there has been a level of destruction and damage the likes we haven't seen in the United States since Hurricane Katrina there are always examples of the resilience of the human [...]
Could Negative Yelp Reviews Be Hurting Your Food Truck Business?
We live in a world where customers read reviews and view food photos well before they ever step foot into a restaurant or dine at your food truck. That means that for many prospective customers, if you're online reputation isn't pristine you probably won't get their business. There was recently published article of MarketPlace.org that says negative Yelp reviews could actually be helping to put some restaurants out of business. The punch line of the article is that a restaurant with only two or three stars will be 14% more likely to go out of business in the event of [...]
Will Automation Technology Replace Food Truck Employees by 2025?
According to this study from McKinsey & Company, a whopping 73% of foodservice activities have the potential to be automated. This report comes at the same time automation efforts in the transportation sector are in full-swing as well. Ten years ago, the average person may have felt driverless cars was something only dreamed up for sci-fi movies. Today, driverless cars are actively being tested by companies like Google and Tesla on real city streets. Some analysts have predicted that you will be able to buy a driverless car as soon as 2025. Even the pizza business is encountering further automation from [...]
Three Essential Tips When Buying a Food Truck at Auction
Thinking about trying to save money on a food truck by attending an upcoming auction? Be sure to read our three essential tips before making your first bid. These tips will not only help save you money, but they will help you avoid investing in a vehicle that you won't ever be able to use. As a general rule of thumb, food trucks aren't easy to find at auction sales either online or offline. Food trucks aren't like cars, tractors, or antiques that have a niche audience of regulars that attend all the local events looking for deal. If you [...]
Eric Silverstein: Is Food The Most Important Factor in Starting a Food Truck?
When first time restauranteurs or food truck owners are just starting out it's logical to think that perfecting the food is the best use of their limited time. After all if you don't make a good impression to first time customers, you might never get the opportunity to serve them a second time. In this Q/A interview with Eric Silverstein, owner of the massively popular Austin-based restaurant The Peached Tortilla shares why food is actually not the most important factor in determining whether or not a food business will be successful. Eric knows what he's talking about too. Just a few [...]
Can You Install an Awning on a Food Truck?
Can you install an awning on a food truck or concession trailer? Of course you can! Awnings are a functional way to differentiate your concession unit by providing some much needed shade to customers that are waiting for food on a hot day. Awnings can also be used to create a makeshift dining area for customers as well. Best of all, when it's time to move to the next vending location these awnings can be retracted automatically by request making break down faster and easier. At M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks, we can install any type of custom awning you [...]
Tony's Clam Chowder Food Truck Van Video Walkthrough
This morning Bob has a brand new food van walk-through that was built for Tony's Clam Chowder based in Cedar Key, Florida. You can find out where Tony's Clam Chowder will be serving next by checking out their event calendar. If you can't visit at an event near you, you can still get a taste of Tony's seafood by trying their chowder sold at Albertsons, Safeway, and other markets across Florida. This is hands down the best chowder we've ever tasted and we are proud to have had the opportunity to build this van! The Tour The tour starts at [...]