If you’re looking at unique and creative ways to build your business empire, a custom food truck or catering trailer could be the right choice. Mobile kitchens are affordable, flexible, and will generate new revenue streams for your current business. Even international, non-food brands like Hello Kitty’s Sanrio are getting into food trucks as a way to bring branded experiences to crowds with custom-built experiential marketing vehicles. Here’s a few ways that opening a food truck can take your business to the next level.
Food Trucks Open Up New Revenue Streams
Don’t wait for customers to come to you. Take your food truck and head to the hottest food truck spots, attend festivals, or cater weddings and events. The flexibly of a mobile kitchen lets you tackle all the things that you simply can’t do with a permeant restaurant.
Food trucks are flexible, allowing you to tackle new revenue streams like off-site catering for corporate offices, birthday parties or weddings.
Custom Food Trucks Cost Less Than Brick and Mortars
The average brick and mortar costs $750,000 to open. But a top-of-the-line, new custom food truck or food trailer only costs about $110,000 – $200,000.
Essentially, food trucks are 90% back of house. This allows you to eliminate almost all of the front of house expenses associated with a brick and mortar restaurant. There’s no furniture and decor to buy, servers to pay, or expensive property to lease.
A food truck can also piggyback off of your existing business operations to reduce costs. Instead of creating a whole new website, you just need to add a food truck specific page to your website. Instead of sourcing all new kitchen staff, you can train your existing kitchen staff on food truck operations. Tweak your existing menu to create fast-to-make, handheld versions of brick and mortar favorites. Get your brick and mortar kitchen licensed as a commissary kitchen and avoid up to $1500 per month in food truck commissary fees.
And lower overhead usually equates to higher profit… A welcome change for an industry with notoriously thin 3-5% margins.
Every new build comes with a Firefly Warranty
Your success is our success. We stand behind our work with an industry-leading, 2-year warranty on every new build so you can spend more time connecting with customers and less time in the shop.
Custom Food Trucks Hold Their Value
If you do want to sell your food truck for any reason, food trucks and food trailers hold their value better than brick and mortars. Well maintained mobile kitchens are always in high demand, especially if they meet local permit requirements
Did you know that a one year old used custom food truck can often be sold for more than what the manufacturer charged to build it? Old food trucks with low end appliances and reliability issues may still sell for $40,000 or more. This is certainly better than the near total loss an owner takes when a brick and mortar goes out of business.
Connect to Your Community with a Food Truck
Lastly, don’t wait for customers to come to your brick and mortar. Go out into the community to find local events, fundraisers, and catering events to participate in. The food truck scene is one of the hottest in the food industry with residents and tourists flocking to their favorite food trucks and events.
Plus, food trucks are a great way to stay current and attract new customers to an existing brick and mortar restaurant. A food truck wrap works as a rolling billboard to advertise your brand. This may motivate new customers to eat at your brick and mortar that would never have heard about your brand otherwise.
Bottom line: Buying a food truck allows you to expand your brick and mortar business with little risk and a lot of upside.
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Firefly makes businesses mobile. Our mission is to help businesses of all sizes bring their passion to customers and communities through eye-catching, self-contained and mobile point of sale equipment. Contact Firefly today at (323) 524-0078 for a free business consultation and custom food truck quote.
