Food trucks have increased in popularity over the years, with both organizations and individuals hiring them for private events as well as visiting them at food festivals and in popular dining spots around town. This is why it is worthwhile investing in a food truck if you are in the catering business, and even if you own a bakery, you can benefit from this. Taking your pastries, loaves of bread and sweet treats on the road can allow you to reach more customers and raise brand awareness. Whether you choose to drive your truck down to food markets in the area or you offer to cater for private parties, here are some tips to help you run your food truck.
Keep Up with the Maintenance
You will need to keep up with the essential maintenance work on your food truck, so do make regular checks to ensure that everything is working as it should. This is for your safety, but also the safety of other drivers on the road and your customers. You must also keep your food truck clean both inside and out to keep up with health and safety codes in your food handling areas, and to make sure your truck is looking smart and presentable at all times. There will be additional maintenance work on your truck too, for example, any fridge units you have on there, hot plates, etc.
Carefully Consider Your Events
If you are going to hire your baker’s food truck out for private events, make sure that you’re carefully considering each event and working with the organizers to provide the right products. For example, if you have been asked to provide some food truck catering for a wedding, they will likely want sweet treats from your truck rather than savory items, particularly if they are having other food trucks or caterers present. If you have been asked to be at an event at a school or with children around, make sure you are providing treats that the kids will love. For example, baking cookies that the kids can decorate themselves for a bit of fun – they will love this at birthday parties or fairs. You could even invest in this PYO Christmas stencil set that would be perfect for festive events.
Make it Easy for Customers to Pay
When you do take your food truck out to festivals and markets, it’s important to make it as easy as possible for your customers to pay. This means accepting both cash and card payments, so you will want to invest in a POS system and/or card readers to have in your truck. If customers are unable to pay with their chosen payment, this can be off-putting to them and they may take their business elsewhere. In addition to this, you might want to have promotional materials to hand out at your food truck, such as business cards, or flyers advertising your bakery or events you are involved in, as well as your best-selling products.
If you are planning to invest in a food truck for your bakery to expand your sales and reach new customers, use these tips to help you get started.