Questions to Ask as You Start a Food Truck Business
The food truck business definitely offers an exciting opportunity. However, it takes a good bit of work to get your new business off the ground. It’s important that you get started the right way if you want to be successful with your business.
As you work on starting your food truck business, here’s a look at some important questions you need to ask.
Question #1: Do I Have a Concept for My Food Truck?
Have you come up with a good concept for your food truck? This is one of the first things you need to do. Every decision you make for your business, particularly when it comes to outfitting your truck, will be decided by the concept you choose.
What’s more, every concept will come with its own unique challenges. If you go with a coffee truck, for example, you’ll need plenty of storage for water. If you have a pizza truck, how will you store the pizza dough? Decide on your concept and move forward from there.
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Question #2: What Size Truck Will I Need?
You’re obviously going to need a truck for your food truck business, and you need to ask what size of truck you’re going to need.
You need to be able to park your food truck, which means your truck needs to fit into available spaces. A truck that’s too large may not fit into the smaller spaces available at big events and festivals. Go with the smallest truck you possibly can so you can more easily maneuver your vehicle into tight spaces.
Question #3: Am I Spending Too Much Money?
Even when you purchase used food trucks and used equipment, you’ll be spending a lot of money to get your business started. Ask yourself if you’re spending too much money.
Do you really need multiple refrigerators? Do you need an expensive paint job on your truck or would something simpler work fine? Can you choose used options instead of new ones to save money? Consider finding a more affordable truck price by starting with a used food truck.
Although you don’t want to compromise quality, finding ways to save now can pay off later.
Question #4: What Kind of Paperwork Do I Need?
You may not have thought about the paperwork that needs done so you can legally operate your food truck business. This can vary from place to place, but some of the types of paperwork you may need to do include:
- Business license
- Health department permit
- Food safety certificate
- State and federal tax ID
- Certificate of insurance
Check locally to see what your area requires so you can operate legally.
Question #5: How Can I Make My Food Truck Stand Out?
It’s important to make sure that your food truck looks special. You want to make sure you stand out from the crowd to bring in more customers. A graphics wrap is one option for your truck, but if you skip the full graphics wrap and go with graphics on all sides, you can save thousands of dollars while ensuring your truck looks special. Choose graphics that go with your concept to really make it hit home with customers.