Fresh and delicious kettle corn. Photo Credit: JV Foodie Kettle corn is not just a snack, but nostalgia in a bag. It's a food item that brings us back to simpler times and enjoyed regularly by people of all ages. From an operations perspective there's also a lot to like about this time tested concession business too! For one, kettle corn businesses can focus on one doing one core product really well. There are a lot of vendors that try to do too many things on their truck or trailer. One challenge is that there's only so much [...]

The daily lunch, dinner, or breakfast service. This revenue stream isn’t a huge surprise as the owner of a concession business. After all, it is safe to say that you got into the food truck business so that you could be serving your special concoction on a daily basis. But how much can you expect to make each month or even each day that you venture out to service customers? The income you receive from your daily service will depend on many factors but here are a few to consider: Locality. Where and when do people tend to eat in [...]

A long line of customers waiting to enjoy food served from your truck is one of the most beautiful sites a concession vendor can see. A far reaching line means you're doing something right and that you have a loyal following of customers that enjoy your style of food. A deep line also means more revenue for your business. Although lines are a sign of a profitable concession business, if you take too long to service customers, it can impact your bottom line in a major way. So while you should welcome lines to your food truck, you don't want [...]

In the food truck business, it's not how much money you make, but how much income you get to keep after expenses that really matters. In today's post, we take a look at three different food truck concepts that are designed for profitability due to the high-margins of their product and strong demand no matter where you live in the country. There are a number of expenses that you can't get around when operating a food truck. You need a truck and cooking equipment obviously. But there's also expenses like health permits, insurance, gas, and monthly cell phone payments that [...]

An elevator pitch is a brief statement that explains the service your business provides and creates a desire for others to want to learn more about your business. Many folks think a formal pitch is only needed if you are a salesman by trade, but this couldn't be further from the truth. If you own a food truck or catering business, you need to be able to communicate what your business does and is all about. In fact, your ability to communicate effectively could be the difference between thriving and just getting by in your business. This is really important [...]

Writing a well-thought business plan is one of the most important actions you can take to set your mobile food business up for success. Best of all... It costs you absolutely nothing to complete and forces you to answer important questions about your future business. Big questions like: Where will I vend?, What will my expenses be? And who your competitors are? In today's post, we've provided a real-life example of a business plan for a shaved ice truck. Why? Because sometimes it's better to have an example of a business plan so that you can see how this concept [...]

Fire Safety Licensing You will undoubtedly come across fire safety regulations. Unfortunately, food trucks can be perceived as mobile bombs, especially public perception. Assuming you have a food truck that's been built with the correct safeguards in place this is an exageration. But with that said, it is important to take safety seriously. This is your business and livelihood. There have also been some recent examples like this news report of a food truck exploding that highlights the responsibility food truck owners and manufacturers share for public safety.  There are a lot of potential fire safety issues on board a [...]

Health Permits When I think of health inspections, I am reminded of an episode of the sitcom Friends. In this particular episode, Phoebe started dating a health inspector. The two would go on dates to restaurants and he would find health code violations and shut down those restaurants on the spot. Eventually, she became frustrated with his power, because he had closed all of her favorite restaurants. Needless to say it didn’t end well for those two. Hollywood is known to exaggerate the truth, and that is most certainly the case here. In actuality, your local health department is there [...]

Just beginning getting together your initial ideas for the type of food concept you want? When putting together your vision for your food truck or concession business there are a lot of things to consider. As you build your knowledge, you’ll come to learn that there is even more! But for now let’s just focus on what we know. Chances are, you’ve thought a little bit about what type of food you’d like to have. So start making some of your ideas concrete and putting them down on paper. The questions listed below can be used to help trigger the [...]