10 suggestions for Food trucks

I currently work in a place that is frequented by food trucks.  If you don't know what a food truck is, that's too bad, they are kind of fun.  They are portable food kitchens.  They drive up and open a window and suddenly you have some different fast food.  In dealing with food trucks there are doing do's and don'ts. Some things are obvious.  These are just things I've observed with the recent food trucks I've encountered.

- Simple pricing - Don't confuse people with the price of your food.  That end everything with 99 that you learned in school only works on stuff that you buy all the time.  In the case of infrequent and convenience pricing it's all about making the transaction easy.  Accept all kinds of payment and do what you can to make the price even.  If your food is around 8 dollars.  make it 8 dollars including tax.  If you can figure out how to make all of the items in your menu the same price, it makes peoples choice about what you are offering, not what is most cost effective.  Remember, whatever your pricing is, make sure it includes enough food that your customers end up FULL.  If your food is too fancy to have one serving fill you up, you need to add something that makes the meal.

- If you pretend there is competition there never will be - Even if you have no competition, you ALWAYS have competition.  This is the same for any business but when it comes to food trucks, there are some that seem to get all the action and others that don't.  Well if you are the only food truck that happened to show up at a place, that's the time to make your customer service SHINE.  People notice customer service particularly when there is no reason to treat your customer well because you have a micro monopoly on your service.

- Keep your ingredients in stock - If you offer menu items regularly on your truck, you need to keep that food available.  If you are famous for your doughnut bacon burger then make sure you have the donuts, the bacon, and the burger.  You don't want to be known as the truck that's pretty good if they have all their stuff.  That's not a reason to go out to your truck and buy food;  That's a reason to look at the truck and say 'I wonder if they have what I want to try'.  You don't want your truck creating that response.

- Be aware of your surroundings - If you are a pizza truck, don't set up next to a pizza storefront unless your pizza is both better and cheaper.  Burger trucks had better be ready for the BEST burger ever made by anyone.  large and worthwhile.  why?  Because you are competing with all the burger joints from here to Poughkeepsie.   I don't really understand a pizza OR burger truck.  We already HAVE THESE!  If you are building a truck make sure it's something exotic or unique to begin with.  There is no reason to compete with brick and mortar restaurants because you can be anything.  P.S. Sliders are just tiny hamburgers.

- Don't be afraid to use technology - Pulling up to a building, get a website and drape it on your truck before you are open for business and take advance orders. Keep your menu up to date on your website.  There is no reason you can't bring a couple of helpers to run food to the lobby or up to the floor of a building for an extra dollar.  Yes it's hard to get used to at first if you aren't adept at computers etc, but if you roll up and unfurl your banner with your website and it's got all of the information that people want you can actually see who is interested and who doesn't quite make it.  see what your retention is and it will help you serve your customers.

- Simple choices -  Anyone said that variety was the spice of life was absolutely correct.  the SPICE.  In fact I've often said, variety is the spice of life, but consistency is the meat.  We like what we like and we don't stray too far from that no matter what we say.  I've noticed a trend lately to 'embrace change'  I'm telling you to embrace consistency.  It's what will save you in the food truck industry.  If you have 2 things that tend to be your best sellers, don't mess with them, people love them.  You have 2 others that do ok sometimes but you have your personal favorites.  It's your grandmas favorite recipe for pickled possum tongue and you always loved it.  It's time to move on to some other things.  Always have an option that is your laboratory for your new best flavor.

- Some change is good, most isn't - If you have a food item like donuts that lend themselves well to different flavors, change those flavors often.  I know I just said not to change too much, but if we take the humble doughnut, the reason people buy doughnuts is because they enjoy fried sweet bread.  That's what they are coming for.  There is no reason to keep the same flavors all the time because they will encourage people to try new stuff.  This is best tried with dessert items and if you are a dessert specialty truck.  The formula is similar,  Keep your 2 best flavors and rotate others.

- Don't name your truck while drunk - Food trucks seem to have all gone to the Barbershop Quartet school of naming.  Clever puns and strange visuals don't sell like your food sells.  If you name your truck try to name it simple and easy to remember that's good enough.

- Remember the country you are selling in - build your truck right.  I've seen food trucks that have to go against traffic to bring their truck window to the side walk.  I can't believe I would even have to say this.  Unless of course you are buying a food truck bound for England when the buyer skipped on his purchase and they are giving it away for a great price.  Then bully for you.

- Products come before marketing - I knew 2 different food trucks.  One was called the Party Wagon and was colorfully painted and had a great screen painting job along with a punched out Mexican hat and maracas.  The food was something i could make in the microwave with some Lynn Wilson tortillas and some left over meat and cilantro.   The other was called the red food truck.  it was red.  It had one of the best beef sandwiches I've tasted.  It's a truck that I look out for and will go to every time it shows up.  I'm not sure how much it costs to make a Party Wagon, but I'm pretty sure it's more than what it costs to make a red trailer.

Just some of my observations with wild food trucks I have known.  Thanks for reading!

10 New Years Resolutions for other people

Here we are again.  Another new year.  Honestly I don't feel any older.  The only thing that allows me to mark the passage of time is the movie sequels and prequels that keep coming out reminding me that I've seen something like them in the past.  It's at this time that we usually make unrealistic goals about how we would like to change ourselves.  It's a load of crap.  Nobody will change unless they really desire change and at that point they will do it without a lot of ceremony. You certainly don't need the passage of a planet around a star to start this, you can do it any time. This year I've decided that it's probably easier and at least as effective to make resolutions for other people.  So for all of you out there (you probably don't know who you are)...

- stop clogging up the lanes in the store - This year I would like to see only shoppers and their carts.  No kids, no spouses, just you, your cart, and the list of things to buy.  Now you might think I'm anti-kid.  I'm not.  I just think that humans in their larval state don't provide a lot of benefit to the shopping experience.  I of course exempt really small children (age 2 and younger), but yard monkeys that are old enough to go and grab things off the shelves and show them to mom only to be rebuffed, no.  Again, they really would be better left at home.  Too young you say?  That's a matter of time.  I daresay back in the 70's you could leave a 7 year old at home to tend the kids for 45 minutes and TV wasn't nearly as engaging then as it is now.  I think we have become all too protective of our children while at the same time we are completely solicitous and over indulgent of them.  The benefit of leaving your little garden gnomes at home is that you may be worried about what kind of damage they may be doing.  This is a good thing.  You will complete your shopping all the quicker and be done.  You will buy more of what you need and less of what you don't and you won't be distracted by trying to figure out what sample table you need to hit next.  If that is all just too much to bear, then wait until your significant other comes home.  They can watch the gremlins while you take a break and go shopping.

- Stop making movies I don't want to watch - Hollywood has become pretty derivative.  Everything seems to be a sequel or a reboot.  I've found that I won't go to the theater for a lot of movies that don't need the large format of the screen to be shown.  It's time to stop making movies that don't need big screens.  Let public television and Netflix own those.  It's ok.  We won't miss them that much.  Also if you could quit making movies that look good in the trailer but end up sucking in practice, I would appreciate that.  What?  My tastes aren't really everyone else's tastes?  I don't care,   These are my goals for everyone else.

- Stop saying stupid things - I realize that politicians will benefit from this goal more than most, but really nobody is exempt.  When it comes to phone calls, if I get one more heavily accented Microsoft help desk employee telling me they have detected a virus on my computer I will do what I always do, take as much of their time on the phone as possible while acting as dumb as possible.  I love hearing scammers frustrations.  When it comes to people in general, if they would honestly think about what they are saying before saying, texting, tweeting, posting etc.  I think I would be able to sleep better knowing that I won't have near as many reply posts to things I think are stupid only to erase them moment's later because I don't want to rise to the stupid bait.

- Get out of my way - I'm not really a big pushy person.  I don't like to bluster my way through life.  I rather get out of the way of people and remain largely unnoticed.  If you are walking in a public thoroughfare and have decided that you are in some kind of musical where you can saunter your way down the sidewalk not really aware of who you are blocking while you are ambling along, just keep to the right, that's all.  When it comes to driving, I change a bit.  I change in that I assume only the fastest people remain in the left lane and the slowest go in the right.  In practice, the fastest people are in the right and the slowest are in the middle lane with the medium speed people trundling along in the left hand lane where they don't belong.  Please, just get organized and get out of my way.  I'm not in a big hurry, but it doesn't mean I want to plod along watching you check your phone texts.  It scares me.

- Think more like me - If you wouldn't mind, I would like you to think more like I do.  It doesn't mean agree with EVERYTHING I agree with, just most things.  You can have your own favorite color if you like or flavor of Ice cream.  Of course both of those will be wrong, but I really can't do anything about that.  If you could at least anticipate what I would want and allow me to go in that direction that would be great.

- Quit making coupons -  Grocery product makers, please, just stop making coupons.  It's an exercise in futility.  You aren't selling any more because of it and it's costing you time and money in these dumb promotions that involve printing out or showing on your phone some buy 5 get 1 free coupon.  On top of that I have to stand in line behind these Coupon Cronies and watch them sift through their bits of expired paper arguing about their validity.  Just stop with the coupons.  Make your product cheaper and we will all be happy.

- Stop being concerned with my health - Don't tell me what ELSE I am eating that's bad for me, or for that matter what will probably kill me.  I currently don't know HOW I will die, I ONLY know that I will.  It will be the biggest surprise of my life and I hope to keep it that way.  People that pretend to know the percentages of what will kill/save my life don't know crap because there are no average people.  There are only individuals that make up an average.

- Get into shape - Not me.  You.  If everyone else gets in better shape, that will make my life full of people that are easier to look at.  Why not me?  Because it doesn't matter.  I rarely look at myself and I suspect nobody else is bothering to either.  I, on the other hand, look at everyone; Usually while waiting in line at the Grocery store watching someone count out their coupons.  If they were in shape at least, it would make me resent them for something other than being cheap.

- More infomercials please -  One of the few joys in life are good infomercials.  Still in the 1 minute format, I LOVE seeing infomercial fails.  Often called 'Thanks Obama's ' Commercial fail moments are the problems you have without using this new unlikely product.  I love these commercials when stacked up against financial advice, drug warning, and car/truck come on's, those are boring.  Infomercials are about a fantastic reality that could be.  All for only 3 easy payments of 24.95 plus shipping and handling and if you act now, we'll include one more for only extra shipping and handling.

- Quit driving like an idiot - I mentioned earlier to get out of my way.  That's fine and well for me, but really you need to stop driving dumb.  This includes merging in at the last minute, following someone in their blind spot, starting on a turn and then suddenly stopping, thinking your bike is a car, using your cellphone, testing your 4 wheel drive against the laws of winter physics.






Well I'm sure your new years goals will probably fall into these categories so I thank you in advance.  I'm sure you will go a long way to helping my new year be a great one.  Thanks for reading.