6 Challenges Food Truck Owners Must Overcome
Food Truck, Commercial Vehicle Truck Van Lorry
1. Red Tape of Street Food
Simple enough it seems. Buy a truck, make good food, park your truck, and sell your food. It's considerably more complicated than that. To start with each town, county and state has its own set of food truck regulations. Owners must navigate or be charged through a set of permits and certifications. It requires red tape:
A seller’s permit
Certification with the health department
Food safety training
Permits and licenses for the truck itself (registration, inspection, drivers’ license, etc.)
Liability insurance
Mobile vending laws
2. Tacos del Pastor and El Baño
Food trucks are limited by toilet facilities in some cities. For instance, if a food truck is parked more than an hour in one location, a bathroom facility must be within 500 feet. There are similar laws in other cities that are a challenge for food trucks.
3. Parking for Food Truck Owners
You can't just park yourself wherever you want. The places are rented by several food truck parks. A percentage of your revenue is expected by others. Sometimes, lunch spots, fairs, farmers' markets, and other activities have waiting lists for parking spots. It's more than just finding an open parking lot and setting up a store, particularly if you want a place in the areas that are most highly trafficked.
4. A Never-ending Grocery List
Food trucks, not bulk food storage, are built with food preparation in mind. Buying in bulk, as stand-alone restaurants sometimes do is impractical. Since most food trucks always change locations, vendor deliveries of ingredients are a logistical nightmare. This leaves owners or workers shuttling food almost daily from store to truck. You might argue that taking the food truck to the supermarket will be more efficient, until you remember that the trucks can get only seven miles per gallon of gas.
5. Weather
The food truck industry may have the most efficient system for cooking gourmet food ever known, but if the weather doesn't help, you won't sell anything. Food trucks are at the weather's mercy. At a dirty picnic table, nobody wants to eat a soggy fish taco. Likewise, in freezing conditions, just a couple of people would trudge through snow and ice to get a slice of pizza they wanted to eat.
Your quality of food and your business strategy can be regulated. The weather can't control by you.
6. Food Truck Owners Must Be Truck Drivers
It's not enough for your cooking supplies to keep working properly. In order to get you to scheduled activities on time, you must also ensure that the truck runs reliably enough. Regular servicing, repairs, power, and new tyres are required for all trucks. The more you know about car repair and mechanics, the better off you'll be.