Food Trucks........

I grew up in restaurants and it's very difficult for me to get excited about someday opening a restaurant with all the negatives that often go along with that...the high capital investment, high-risk, high-overhead, people politics (ugh!), employee turnover, high-stress, burnout, etc. etc. etc.

I have been recently thinking a lot about food trucks.

There's a lot i like about it....the rebellious renegade style, limited crew, take it to the customer, low-overhead, low capital...seasonality (in this area anyway)...if the novelty wears off, change the theme (without a lot of fuss)...etc. etc. etc.

What are your thoughts about food trucks?

~Martin

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DiggingDogFarm_65362

I should have mentioned that the major disadvantage is....if the engine blows or the transmission goes bad you're screwed for a while.....only God knows how long!!!!

I've changed engines and transmissions in the past, but I don't really feel up to that anymore....especially in the case of a utility van.

~Martin

michaelnatkin

I gave this a lot of thought myself at one point. One thing to consider is that, for any reasonably serious menu, it is impossible to prep on the truck. So you really have to have a commissary space where you can get ready for service. Also, don't underestimate how much work it really is - I spoke to a woman who runs one of the most successful trucks in Seattle and she told me that before she started, she figured she'd be playing golf by 3 PM everyday, but the reality was more like finding herself at the truck repair shop at 3 AM in the morning. All that said, I'm sure it could be good fun!

DiggingDogFarm_65362

Good points!

No doubt it'll be a lot of work!

Brendan_Lee_56950

My best friend and I are about half way through a business plan for a food truck (maybe 2) to specifically cater to the hospitals that have little access to food other than the cafeteria. As Michael said, finding a kitchen to do prep and the majority of the cooking is key. In some locales, there are very specific rules about what can and cannot be "cooked" on the truck. We are going to utilize the circulators a great deal for the holding and cooking of food so I'm really excited about the possibility of a HAACP course from the crew here.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

You really need to read up your local food truck requirements. In Dallas TX basically the food truck must do all it's prep at a commissary and can only make sales on private property where they have written permission from the land owner and access to a toilet for the truck staff. This really reduces the spontaneity that food trucks can offer.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

A commissary won't be a problem in my case.

The big challenge will be deciding which market to serve.

Ithaca is a short distance way, the market is big, but there are a lot of restaurants and food trucks there so there's a LOT of competition.

There's even food truck association and food truck "round-ups" in the Ithaca area where several food trucks park together forming pop-up food courts.

In my immediate area there's almost no food truck activity and I don't think that something that's out of the ordinary would do good here....folks aren't very adventurous food wise...anything beyond familiar scratch-made comfort food would be a big risk.

There's also the possibly of serving natural gas workers in PA (we straddle the boarder here.)

Many of them are from the south or TX and miss foods from those areas.

~Martin

Matthew_Snyder_68770

Good lord, I don't know how I ever subsisted without food trucks.....! Ludo, Bool, Komodo, Ta Bom, Baby's Badass Burgers, Ragin' Cajun, the Grilled Cheese Truck, the dearly departed Nom Nom, Kogi (of course), Roli Roti (when in SF)............ some of the best bites of food I've had in the last four years has come off a truck.

As the food truck revolution continues to gather steam across the country, note that the resistance you will get from the local brick & mortar community will possibly be more focused than it might have been 3-4 years ago. In L.A., the food truck boom seems to have petered out, and the trucks that are around today are likely the core group that will still be here in a couple years, with few new ones joining the fray. Many surrounding jurisdictions have begun clamping down on the freedom of operation that food trucks enjoyed a few years ago.

To reiterate what others are saying, really research the local laws that cover food carts (as they are usually referred to legislatively), because you can find yourself in a real morass of red tape in a hurry.

In addition to what @Brendan says about the requirement of doing prep and cooking at a commissary, some jurisdictions (like Los Angeles, for example) require that the truck itself be parked at a food facility when not in use. (Which is why, when you see videos about food trucks in L.A. there always seems to be 10-12 of them in the parking lot when the proprietor is getting the truck ready in the morning) CA law further requires that mobile food vendors have a legal affiliation with their food preparation facility/commissary, so you can't necessarily just have your home kitchen inspected by county health officials and use that for your prep. (Like a professional caterer might do) It has to be a licensed commercial kitchen. Also be mindful of the fact that as trucks have gained popularity they have come under the watchful thumb of county health inspectors, which wasn't necessarily the case a few years ago. In L.A., trucks are now inspected as if they were b&m restaurants, which presents its own unique challenges.

Some places also put severe restrictions on where you can pull your truck up for service that go above and beyond normal parking zones. Often times there will be exclusion zones around established b&m restaurants (enforced with extremely steep fines), which might include a hospital cafeteria. But that doesn't mean you can forget about the routine 'hazard' of those regular parking restrictions; my frequent Tuesday stop is the Komodo truck which pulls up at Walnut at Sepulveda, and often ends up parking in a red zone and eating a $45 ticket. (That's equal to four 'Deadly' combos - two tacos, a side, and a soda - and an additional side order, if you're keeping score)

Also be aware that your insurance requirements may vary with your menu, or the manner you will be preparing your food.

The other two things I'd add are to be mindful of how you are going to accept payment for your food and to be on top of the social media game. It's somewhat amaze balls to me how many truck operators don't accept credit/debit cards in this the day of tablets and Square. And don't limit yourself to just Twitter to get your word out; Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Vimeo, etc are all your friends.

Food trucks really are a wonderful innovation. All of the foregoing is not meant to frighten, just to highlight that the restrictions and risks governing the operation of a food truck aren't necessarily fewer than a b&m establishment, just that they are different.