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 [...]
Take The Food Truck Operators Survey from the U.S. Chamber Foundation
Sprinter Van built by M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks. Are you a food truck operator with concerns about regulations or industry challenges? The U.S. Chamber Foundation wants to hear from you. You can respond to their 10-minute online survey by clicking the green take survey button on this page. The goal of this survey is for the organization to better understand the regulatory challenges that operators face. These understand challenges are often unique to each city, which makes blanket legal food truck recommendations more difficult. What may be a huge issue in Chicago, may not be the same [...]
How Much Does a BBQ Concession Business Cost to Start?
For the purposes of this particular blog post we will be focusing on the costs to start a BBQ concession, catering, or vending business using a mobile unit like a trailer or truck. At M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks one of our specialties is manufacturing BBQ trailers, trucks, and smokers built to our customers needs and desires. Not only do we understand the cost to operate this type of business, but understand the different goals people have when investing in a BBQ trailer. Some of our customers like Wade, an active service member of the United States military, invested in [...]
Is it Possible to Serve Beer and Alcohol from a Food Truck?
Is it possible to start a bar food truck that serves beer, wine, or hard alcohol? The simple answer is that in most situations you won't be able to. Liquor licenses are determined on both the state and city level. As a result, you will need to look into your state and city laws to determine if this is an option for you. With that being said here are some things to consider if you're in the planning stages of starting a food truck that serves alcohol and the reasons why accomplishing this goal will be difficult. There are a couple [...]
What is a Roach Coach? Where Did the Term Come From?
Before the rise of gourmet food trucks there was the "roach coach." In fact, a small number of people (generally over the age of 60) still refer to mobile food units by the name roach coach. Fortunately, over the past 20 years the perception of the quality of food that can be served from a truck has been completely transformed and flipped on its head thanks to the innovative chefs that operate food trucks in the 21st century. In today's post, we discuss how that name came to be and dive into the history of the food truck so you [...]
What Are The 20 Most Popular Food Truck Menu Concepts?
Thinking about getting into the food truck business, but struggling to find your perfect menu? In today's post our goal is to help solve this problem by organizing a list of the most popular menu concepts we've seen executed well on food trucks in recent years. In our 15+ years in business, we've had the opportunity to help hundreds of food entrepreneurs launch their own mobile businesses each of these concepts on our list have produced numerous successful businesses for our customers. Often, if you want to be successful in the food industry you don't need to have the most [...]