If you are buying a food truck, you are making a huge investment in your business that requires a number of considerations to ensure it will pay off with a nice return in profits. Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur about to start your own business for the first time, or you are a part fo a family food truck business ready to invest in a new vehicle, this article is intended to give tips for buying a food truck that will make you successful right out the gate.
Buying A Food Truck with a Platform You can Grow Into
It goes without saying that you need a food truck platform that provides enough space for your employees, prep area, and food truck equipment. But never forget that you are buying a food truck for a business you want to grow. This means your food truck platform must also accommodate your future needs. As your business grows you will be able to hire more people and extend your menu to serve a larger community, and more customers at once. Naturally, when buying a food truck, your builder should have a solid understanding of your business model, market and customers and design your food truck based on projected models so it will serve you well now, and in the years to come.
New VS Used: The Food Truck Option that Really Saves Money
Unfortunately, most people think they save money by buying a food truck that’s used as opposed to the new one with the more expensive price tag. But here’s the problem: used food trucks are commonly associated with expensive repairs and unreliable businesses. In fact, more than 80 percent of new food truck businesses fail in their first year of operation, and one of the leading reasons includes repetitive expensive repairs on food truck equipment and engine repair on used vehicles, and all the time these trucks spend in the shop simply sends customers to the competition. When you weigh the risks and do the math, a new food truck is significantly cheaper in the long run and saves food truck businesses thousands of dollars and a series of headaches.
Get A Food Truck Design that Speaks to Your Buyers
Make sure that when buying a food truck you work with a builder who can design a food truck that speaks to your target customers. The better you can get customers to form an emotional connection with your menu, the greater your profits. For example, if you plan to start a food truck business down by a popular beach known for surfing and scuba diving, you can design the vehicle with an image of a couple scuba divers eating a fish taco with a surfer. Basically, you want to appeal to the people you are trying to feed. In addition, by creating familiarity in your design other beach goers in this scenario would be drawn to your food truck because they too can make that local connection. Visual representations of your customers, nearby landmarks, and other visual components can be reflected in a hand-painted food truck design, or in a vinyl wrap.
Call your local food truck builder today, and review these talking points with them to ensure you are buying a food truck that makes sense for your business needs.
