How to Start A Food Truck Business in 10 Steps

Food trucks are becoming famous yet again and now most of the people thinks that they should buy food from this type of cheap and quality food delivery options.

On local events just a few years back, food trucks (food cart business) were like promoting unhealthy food delivery and people used to hate that but still have to buy as there were no more choices for them.

In today's life, there are networks of food truck business and they are making it a true option for all the foodies. So this kind of food eatery can help you run your own small business or a side business that generates passive income for you.

Without having a storefront at a big corner of the city, without hiring managers and chefs and all the other staff, you can handle the food truck business by yourself.

Now you can even grow your food truck business with internet and create a brand around it, you can also become famous if you have any of the custom recipes that you can serve.

I have this 10 steps formula to successfully start your food truck business and run it to reach your goals and generate some income:

1. Get Registration

Licensing a food truck business it the first step towards making it your brand and a long-term revenue generating small business, as most of the cities are ruling such businesses with their own terms.

Before getting your food truck on the road or at any event, you should consider getting it registered at city departments like the health department, traffic police and also get a truck permit and ask your lawyer if there are any other restrictions for this kind of business.

Every city or at least the country will have different rules and regulations, like in Pakistan and India everybody can start this business and run it without following any strict policies (yes they still have to be in limits) but in countries like Canada and England, food carts and food trucks must have to be licensed and follow their rules.

So, the first step is to get your food truck license and get it for all the vehicles you are going to use for your business.

2. Buy A Vehicle

One of the main reasons why food truck business fails is buying a big truck when on low-budget. So, the best way out is to buy a cart unless you have sufficient budget for buying a big truck.

So to get started, you should buy a food cart under $1000 or a maximum of $3k of investment and use high-quality equipment to enrich your cart with the facilities a food-truck should have like a refrigerator, some storage and it should look good and clean.

On the other hands if you can spend more than $20,000 then its a great time for you to beat some other competitors and run faster in terms of making your food truck business a brandable business. With $20K of investment, you can buy a used truck and then paint that with your brand/business name.

Now you can organize things and arrange food, packages, stove, refrigerator and other things like generator and lighting.

3. Pick A Food Category

A food truck can't bring every type of foods to consumers and if you can pick just one type of food, you can really make significant business. As people want you to serve them more than pizza and soft drinks.

You should pick a niche and then have your own items, you can serve international food like Biryani, Masala Dosa, Dumplings, Pizza, Burger, and Fruit Salad as well. However, people are turning to clean water and natural/healthy food, so try to serve them as much healthy food as you can.

4. Create A Financing Plan

You may think that why I am talking about the finances at 4th step, but it has to be at this step as you should own your truck and don't get it on rent as it can ruin your return on investment score.

After that, you have to buy raw food and other equipment, so for that, you should have a financing plan and then decide what things you should buy from the market and for how much days you can store them to make more profits.

I will not recommend you to get a loan from a bank, you should borrow some money from your close friends and family members and better if you can do it with your parents. As things can go wrong and a bank will never listen to your problems but the humans do. So try to create a financing plan and avoid getting loans.

5. Create A Business Plan

Every business should have a business plan and a food truck business can't run without it, so after completing above 4 steps, let's create a business plan and write how you will do all of this.

From buying ingredients, creating food packages, finding discount offers to manage finances, you should write an a-2-z business plan that should show you a profit at the end of every month.

6. Have A Backup Plan

Planning is a key to success in every small business as small businesses can't afford big losses, so having a backup plan for emergencies and accidents will help you survive for the long run.

You should get an insurance policy for your food van business and for making it fully compatible to your business-type you should talk with an insurance agent and tell him/her everything about your business so that the agent can recommend you a suitable insurance plan.

7. Ask For Parking Spaces

One of the biggest problems you may face in food truck business is parking your vehicle and when it comes to parking it for a night, you have to face real troubles.

So, to avoid these parking issues, you should ask for parking spaces in advance and whenever you plan to open your food truck in an event or at a public place, in the first run try to rent a parking space and then think about other things. Keep in mind that the parking space should be safe, legal and not just a shop, house garage or something like that which is not good for your food truck/cart.

8. Be Available Online

Whether you create your own food truck business website or social media accounts, you should be available online as much as you can as it can make your small food truck business the next big brand.

For this, you can utilize WhatsApp and other big platforms like Instagram and Snapchat that can bring more customers to you. As a business account on WhatsApp is a great way to get more customers and SnapChat is another great platform to bring your food taste to tastebuds of your consumers.

9. Get Contracts

Stabling your business is the next step to make it continuously make profits and thus give you the opportunity to grow on a scale. Getting contracts for food trucks is what you can do to easily put your small business in front of more people and be a brand.

So, try to reach out to local event planners and municipal authorities that can give you the contracts for big and small events in which you can serve food and also charge as much as you want. However, there will be competition in this niche but you should be confident and tell keep on trying to have contracts.

10. Keep On Improving

As you have everything that needs to run a food truck business from scratch, now you should keep on improving it and run a mile extra every next day.

For example, while some food trucks only accept cash-only route, adding a POS system to your business will give you an edge over the others (Learn more at rssts.com/quick-service-pos). You should also invest in social media promotions, paint your truck/cart professionally with the name of your food business and have an outstanding logo designed.

Get a small menu designed and give that to your consumers as a brand recognition card, have your own special items and wear a hat with a brand name or logo printed. You can also offer flat discounts for people who are coming to you more than one time.

If you want to know more about starting a business, you can find relevant information at canadacompanyformation.com.

So, if you have a question related to the food truck business and how to start it then ask me and I will answer you as fast as possible.