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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

In 2013, a bill passed called the cottage food laws. These laws made it legal to sell small amounts of food using a home-based kitchen. While not all types of food businesses can be opened with the help of a cottage food law, the new law could create opportunities for you as a food truck vendor as well. The cottage food industry is continuing to grow. In a nutshell the cottage food laws were created to make it easier for micro-food businesses to get started. At the time of writing the maximum gross revenue a cottage food business [...]

The technology transportation company Uber has already disrupted the taxi and transportation industry. Previously, taxis could charge pretty much whatever they wanted, provide bad customer service, and still operate a profitable business. That was until companies like Uber and Lyft entered the space, bringing in not only price competition but usually faster and better service. Now, Uber has its sight set on disrupting home food delivery the same way they did transportation. If you're not familiar with the Uber, here's how the platform works. An Uber customer will download and app to their phone and create a profile that is [...]

At M&R Specialty Trailers and Trucks, we've been contacted to build all kinds of unique features into a mobile food unit including a bedroom and bathroom. From a build standpoint installing both a comfortable bedroom and functional bathroom is simple as a food truck has many similarities to an RV in terms of plumbing and electric. The addition of a bedroom can make a concession trailer a lot more comfortable to operate as well if you're planning to travel to different events throughout the summer or are participating in a competitive BBQ circuit. Having a place to rest within the [...]

A food truck takeover is a marketing strategy where a company will update the branding on a food truck to generate awareness for their brand or product. There are numerous brands that have used this strategy from food and beverage to alcohol, pet supplies and even video game releases. One upcoming example of a massive food truck takeover event during the summer of 2017 is by specialty beer REDD's Apple Ale. A total of three branded REDD's Apple Ale food trucks will be criss-crossing the continental United States to help people discover this unique apple ale. Free samples of the [...]

Want to invest in a piece of a growing food truck franchise? The Grilled Cheese Truck is now seeking investors for their mobile grilled cheese concept that is extremely popular in Southern California. The Grilled Cheese Truck, founded in by Dave Danhi in 2009 has been featured across major media outlets from the Cooking Channel to Fox News and built a hungry following of over 100,000 across Twitter and Facebook along the way. According to a press release from the company, The Grilled Cheese Truck wants to use their investment capital to expand the business nationally and internationally with new [...]