What's Cookin'
We knew it was just a matter of time before insurance carriers caught on that gourmet food trucks are here to stay and are typically run by good business people. For the past four years most insurance carriers have been saying that they are not interested in insuring food trucks and that they are just not a "good risk". When we launched, we were fortunate enough to partner with an amazing insurance company that understands gourmet food trucks and understands risk.
We've all heard about Target's recent data breach issue and countless other front page stories about companies being breached or losing sensitive customer information. You may think that as a food truck you are not as risk of such exposure... You do not have to be an international conglomerate to have a data breach claim. It could be as simple as losing customer credit card data or client lists with sensitive information. Most state have privacy laws protecting consumers for such loss of information. Every business has some form of exposure and food trucks are no exception. Every day you are likely processing debit and credit card transactions and need to stay PCI compliant. Here is a link to some useful information on PCI Compliance. And if you don't think this appies to you, here is the answer, "PCI applies to ALL organizations or merchants, regardless of size or number of transactions, that accepts, transmits or stores any cardholder data. Said another way, if any customer of that organization ever pays the merchant directly using a credit card or debit card, then the PCI DSS requirements apply." You may have some protection from your payment processing company, but it may not be enough coverage or after the fine print, it may not really be protecting you much at all.
The average cost per record (cost to notify customers of a data breach and to provide credit monitoring services as a result of a breach) is $136 per person. Think about how many transactions you process per day... If you lose just 200 customer's private information that would be over $27,000. That cost does not include any additional resulting lawsuits or damages. Insure My Food Truck has been protecting gourmet food trucks for over 2 years. We provide what we feel is the most comprehensive package available to qualified operators. Our package policy can include $10,000 of data breach coverage for just $50 per year. Additional limits are available at minimal costs. If this is something that you need coverage for or want additional protection over any existing PCI coverage, please contact usfor a quote. Data breach is a real threat to every business, don't let a often overlooked exposure put you out of business!
Maybe it's because I grew up a California skater kid or because I collected more Thrasher magazines than comic books, but the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys gives me goose bumps every time I watch it. If you have not seen this documentary narrated by Sean Penn and featuring the Godfathers of modern skateboarding, it's worth watching even if you're not a skater
Big News For Chicago Food Trucks: We now know where to find Chicago's food trucks. The Chicago City Council introduced an ordinance today calling for the creation of 23 designated parking stands for food trucks (mobile food vehicles, in ordinance-ese).
We've discussed fast food chains and their proliferation in past blog entries. Even though they many not necessarily focus on the quality like our food truck clients, they can still teach us quite a bit on mastering fast food. This article is good for food trucks to get in the head of your consumer and their expectations of you.
