What's Cookin'
Last weekend we had unbelievably good weather for April. My son and daughter were given a bunch of lemons by a neighbor so they approached me with the idea of opening a lemonade stand. Naturally I encouraged the idea because there are so many valuable business and money lessons they can learn from operating a lemonade stand. Here are some of the lessons they learned which reminded me of some of the lessons we all can learn from selling lemonade:
S-A-L-E-S. You're in the food truck business, but first and foremost you're in the sales business. It seems that many food truck operators underestimate the importance of sales. I've eaten at trucks with average food, but amazing branding and sales staff. I've also eaten at many trucks with terrible branding and customer service, but some of the best food I've ever tasted. You can be successful somewhere in the middle, but why not be great at both food and sales? I can't help with your food, but here are some tips to be better than average in sales:
I don't really like the word proactive. It tends to be a corporate cliche for businesses that fail to meet their promises. However, I'm going to use the term in this post because I can't think of a better way to get the point across. I try to occasionally provide some business tips for you food truckers. No, I don't run a food truck, never have, but I talk with owners all day long, eat with them and see many succeed and fail, so I think you may be able to gain a nugget of information from these tips. Here are some thoughts on being proactive rather than reactive when running your food truck business.
I understand you are extremely busy. Operating a food truck is one of the most demanding businesses possible. It's hard to squeeze in marketing and branding when you're up early prepping for the day and up late cleaning your truck and paying bills. However, branding is essential to the success of your business. You need your name and food to be known by your customers and your soon to be customers.
Since we focus on assisting the food truck community, we often get opinionated friends, family and acquaintances commenting on gourmet food truck pricing. Our friends at Prestige Food Trucks provided this excellent explanation.
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.
Do I have your attention now...? What costs between $3,000-$5,000 is vinyl and may not be covered on your insurance? ANSWER: your wrap! Your wrap is your identity and probably worth way more to you that the actual dollar cost, but did you know that unless specifically covered on your policy you probably do not have coverage?
