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👨‍🍳 Sponsored Classified for Food Vendors: Discounted Kitchen Equipment
by FestivalNet, posted May 9, 2022 category » Festival Food Vendors|
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Depending on your local health regulations, certain pieces of equipment must be NSF certified for your food truck to pass health inspection. As an example, the countertop in your home kitchen would not typically pass NSF as it can’t be sanitized as effectively as stainless steel. |
Finding success as a food vendor at festivals involves much more than having the best food the grounds have to offer. A lot of what influences a festival-goer’s decision on which food to eat includes things like recognizing booths from prior years, being drawn in by ambiance and experience they’ve created, and finding something that piques their interest.
That’s where branding comes into play.
Branding is a powerful sales and marketing tool that any food business, especially one that wants to be profitable at a festival, should incorporate. If you need to boost productivity at your business and generate more revenue, branding should be at the top of your list, and here is why. |
At some point we all find ourselves standing in line. Never fun, but it feels better if it moves at a nice clip. The thing is, you can get the same effect by making the line appear to move quickly. Managing appearances means managing your customer’s perceptions. Here’s how: Queue Management
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Branding doesn't create, build or strengthen your brand. You read that correctly. First and foremost, your food business brand marketing must always be a reflection of the quality of your menu and service. There are really no exceptions to this rule. Food Truck Brand Marketing To understand why, it's first necessary to define what is part of a food truck's "brand." Most people think a brand consists of exterior elements: the truck's name, it's logo and the tagline. To get a general understanding of a brand, think about it in the simplest terms. |
This past year has been a year of transition for me. As it turns out, the older I get the harder it is to operate a high capacity tent operation at large events! So, last spring I made the decision to ground my tent/deep fry operation and instead spend the season doing small local events with a new custom built trailer and a new menu. Unlike the tent/deep fry operation that took many hours to set-up, this little trailer is easy to tow and can be ready to serve in less than an hour. The question was: would it make enough money? |
8 No Cost Marketing Tools For Your Food Truck
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If you want a successful food business you must prioritize loyalty to your employees, customers and the community, no matter what the bottom line is saying. 
image: Tuur Tisseghem
Develop Long-term Relationships No matter what position a staff member is hired for, you need to think about and share your vision for their future within your food truck business. Promoting from your existing staff builds trust and gives employees goals to shoot for. These long-term employee relationships will also boost morale and productivity within the truck. This helps the business out by providing lower turnover and keeps overhead as low as possible. The lack of turnover will also cut down on the costs of training. By the time someone reaches a leadership position they will have a thorough understanding of all of the systems and intricacies of your food truck business. This means that they can operate more efficiently. Buy In Bulk This one may sound odd at first, but much like successful restaurants, you need to take advantage of your food truck community/organization to negotiate volume discounts with local suppliers. This will also add to building a long-term relationship with suppliers to assure they will provide you with low prices. Keep Prices Low This one ties into the previous point. By getting volume discounts from suppliers, you will be able to keep your prices as low as possible while providing consistently high quality menu items. Not only will this keep customers coming back (and drawing new ones), but they'll do so as long as they see the perceived value in the quality of the food you serve them. Don't Carry Debt Food truck owners need to try and stay away from long term debt. This may not be the easiest point to follow through with, however, it will help you from having to make monthly debt payments. In turn, it allows you room to earn a profit while still charging your low prices. Make It A Family Affair Treat each of your employees and customers as if they are a member of your family. If you take anything away from this article it should be that the best investment to make in your food truck business is to create and sustain the loyalty of employees and customers. The Bottom Line It's not always easy to earn staff and customer loyalty, but employing these few tips should go a long way to getting you started! Visit https://mobile-cuisine.com/ for more food truck tips and resources! |
The Carolina Classic Fair didn't close their doors this year because of Covid. Instead they designed a fun-for-the-family drive-thru style event to help celebrate the food and community that fairs typically cultivate. Twelve food vendors will be serving up fair faves that will be ordered touch-free and then picked up at the food and merchandising station. "It’s about bringing as much of the Fair to the community as possible in a time that we cannot hold our traditional Fair. We hope that you enjoy what is put together with the current state of the country and our available resources. We are excited to work with existing Fair food vendors and support their livelihoods that have been rocked during this pandemic." - Event Website The Fair put together this helpful video to explain the route and activities to enjoy for the Drive-Thru. Kudos to Carolina Classic Fair! Have fun! When and Where:
421 27th Street NW Winston-Salem, NC 27105 Thursday – Sunday: 11 A.M. – 7 P.M. October 1 – 4, 2020 https://carolinaclassicfair.com/ |
by Richard Myrick for Mobile-CuisineIf your books tell you that you need to lower your food costs, reducing your protein serving portions can be a great cost cutting measure. The key is remembering to cut portion sizes strategically so as not to look like you’re "being stingy" with your customers. image via arturo rey
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One thing that remains "essential" during social distancing is that we all need to eat. Festival food vendors might not be able to bring their businesses online like their artist, crafter and musician counterparts, but many have found ways to bring their businesses out to their neighborhoods and feed families. And so many others are trying new things to stay afloat during COVID. We wanted to highlight many of our food vending members who are doing just that.  "Oh My Pizza Pie" in Austin, TX offered buy one get one free pizzas. The free pizza was for anyone that could use it in this crisis time like Healthcare workers, people out of work, & older people who can't leave home. "People would drive through, put money or check in a box (we didn't make change to avoid handling money) and get the pizzas without getting out of the car. This was posted and shared many times on facebook and was successful." Garden Garlic Seasoning owner Lauren Falcione in Broadview Heights, OH is now selling her goods wholesale to grocery stores. "My seasonal gelato business will start in May with home deliveries using the food truck for small groups of people. Not sure when the festivals and food truck gatherings will start back up, so trying to downscale my audience with private orders." - Coppa Magica Gelato - Kathryn Kelley, Portsmouth, ME Ah’Leisha Cole (Ah’Leisha’s Cookie Co. LLC) in Prairie Village, Missouri is baking from home and delivering or shipping items to customers relying heavily on her Facebook page. Kona Ice of Boulder's Christopher Geurden in Erie, CO is driving around neighborhoods with his shaved ice truck. Gold Swan Lemonade owner Brian H. Self in Wake Forest, NC is offering Street Vending and has incorporated online ordering & delivery. Mother Truckin Pizza Food Truck owner Kellie Ride in Jacksonville, FL is serving neighborhood family dinners from our food truck. They've added online pre orders that allow for designated pick up times to aid in social distancing. Partnering with brick and mortar businesses is a popular option. Gess What’s Cookin owner Dave Gess in Naperville, MN did just that. "Found a local spot with one of our Breweries, We are actually doing decent as a few of our local restaurants were closed." Stargazers Gourmet, Starla Gade in Corvallis, OR: "Updated web site, created some specials, a few regular events promoting vendors. Local delivery & still donated about $2000 worth of fudge to several folks helping our community. So much better than throwing it out." The Cruisin' Chef, Alanna Lieber in Mount Pleasant, Michigan: "We began creating "Heat & Eat" meals for people to preorder or pick up 3 days per week. These are full meals that simply need to be warmed in the microwave. They are delicious and just like a homecooked meal without the effort. We also designate 1 day each week for home delivery within our area for those who can not, or are afraid to, get out. We wear protective masks and gloves when in contact with any customers. The price of the meals includes tax and is a flat rate of $10 each so change is minimal. We keep all incoming cash separate and hand wash it each evening in hot soapy bleach water, rinse individually and lay out to dry. Our card reader is sanitized between each customer and we now accept checks. For days the truck is setup, we are drive through only and one of us goes out to each vehicle to take the order and deliver. Again, protective gear is worn at this time. Keeping our customers safe and fed are our top priorities." Jay Stafford of California Cuisine in Cameron Park, CA is building a website that will offer custom spices and herbal blends. To all food vendors getting creative and trying new things right now, our hats are off to you! Keep truckin', and cooking up good ideas! Thank you. |
3 Trends To Consider When Developing Your Spring 2019 Menu
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Don’t Get Caught in a Lawsuit! Implement These Food Safety Tips Before Your Next Catering Event
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Food Concession Menus - Know Your Market
In the food concession business, when it comes to menus, it can be a challenge to identify and pin down your market. Because your market is, literally, a moving target. |
Robert Berman for Mobile Catering BusinessAfter many years of experimentation, organic food has finally arrived in the food concession business. Throughout North America more and more events want organic products in their food court.  Why has it taken so long? Many food vendors believe that a food concession is designed to provide greasy and messy products. They have a tendency to model their operations after others around them. And while looking at the success of others can be a valid way to enter a business, it does not leap frog you ahead of them! You become an industry follower rather than an industry leader. But, there are other reasons why organic foods took so long to make a firm entry into the food concession industry. The manufacturers were slow to make the products available in bulk form. This was primarily due to the fact that most of the organic foods were being processed by small, local companies who were having problems keeping up with the demand of supermarkets and health food stores. Read more! |
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It's often hard for someone starting a food concession to know WHERE to start. I believe they should start with EVENTS. Before they plan and design any other part of their concession business they should research and become familiar with the type of events they plan to do business at. This is important because, operation-wise, different concessions are more practical and successful at different types of events.
I'll explain, but first let me start by clarifying some lingo: Food cart - does business from a fixed location such as at a food pod or parking lot. On a day to day basis a food cart serves a steady clientele and operates much the same as a regular storefront food business. A food cart starts by pursuing the ideal permanent location for its business. With a good location found, that job is done.
Food concession - does business at various short-term, albeit sometimes multi-day, events and venues such as special events and county fairs. Concessionaires must pursue multiple locations (events) every event season.
That's all simple enough. But for concessionaires; here's the hard part:
Read more here! |
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In a perfect world, execution of a mobile foods marketing strategy should begin six weeks to three months prior to launch, in order to have your truck rolling smoothly on the streets right out of the gate. But, in too many cases, execution often begins long after, despite the fancy long-range planning in the marketing plan. Or worse, marketing isn't really a consideration at all. In fact, a vast number of new mobile foods entrepreneurs believe that Social Media Marketing means setting up a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account - they're done, and it's free. Social Media Marketing is the free alternative to the expensive, not-so-effective, yet far-more-expensive traditional marketing, so the cost of marketing is drastically reduced. Not so. It usually happens when you're reviewing your operating expenses for the month - you realize there's more month left than budget, and the epiphany strikes. There's more to marketing a food truck or stand than meets the eye. After countless hours frantically searching for easy, cheap, or free solutions, and an empty bottle of Jack Daniels, the tightness in your chest and sinking feeling in your gut tells you that you've either drank too much, or you're going to need to do something serious about that marketing plan. The six most basic questions to ask to kick start a marketing strategy are: 1. Who do I need to reach? 2. How many of them are there? 3. Where are they? If you've done a thorough market study, your marketing plan will identify your primary customers, the size of the population, and the locations where they would be likely to stop by your truck or stand for a meal. The next three questions deal with execution. 4. How do I reach them? An effective execution of your plan should include a combination of blog advertising, Facebook ad campaigns, print advertising, writing on other blogs and influential social network pages, as well as Public Relations campaigns. |
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I suspect that many food cart operators want a full-time income but didn't know in advance of opening how well they would do month-by-month. It is no small thing to design a food cart and menu, become licensed, and commit to a location. And, it is not until the cart has been open through the seasons that they learn if their location and menu will produce a steady income. At that point, if their location doesn't sustain adequate sales, it is difficult and expensive to move a food cart to a better location. Food carts depend on foot traffic for business. When the weather is cold and wet too many customers remain indoors or rush past clutching their umbrellas. Depending on their location, some food carts can provide their customers a warm, dry place to eat with an awning, propane heater and picnic tables set in front of their cart. Other carts are restricted from doing this.
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A food truck is like restaurant on wheels. It has several distinct advantages over a traditional eat-in restaurant. A food truck can go to where the customers are. It has pretty low overhead, compared to a restaurant, and requires far less staff. However a food truck is still a business that requires a lot of work and attention- especially in the first couple of years. Food truck owners put in long days and have similar problems as restaurant owners, such as slow seasons, bad weather, and sluggish economy. Read on to find out how you can start your own food truck business.
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There are some vendors who get to the shows very early and some who get there just minutes before the event starts. Since it takes us a long time to set up, we are one of the early birds. As time goes on, things can become more hectic by the minute. It's nice to get there, unload, park the vehicle and set up. Whatever works for you.
The squeeze. In a lot of events, a 10x10 space is exactly what you get. Your canopy is 10x10 and have you ever found yourself getting to an event where canopies are set up on each side of you and they have 'squeezed' you out. Like, you are short several inches which makes propping up your canopy difficult. One time in Clovis I arrived there somewhat late (coming from the Bay Area in the wee hours of the morning) and found that I only had about 4 feet for my space. Each space was supposedly 10x10, but a number of vendors used a 'few extra inches' and I ended up with that. They had to push their canopies over to allow me to get in. I must say that was not very easy to do.
Get to your event early. It's hell waiting at the end of a street for cars/vans/trucks to unload. Plus as time goes on, people do get stressed out. Also, if there are any problems with your space, etc., you can get things worked out a lot easier (if possible).
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Your marketing plan gives you enough information to give an enthusiastic investor a fair amount of confidence that you won't be so buried in operating costs that your bottom line never sees the light of day, yet not enough to actually execute. It's not intended to be your "how to" manual, after all. So, what do you do?
Recently, as I drove through Portland Oregon, I passed several food carts that were closed for winter. It got me wondering what the operators of these carts do for income while they wait for better weather to re-open in the spring. It also makes me wonder why these people chose to open a food cart rather than sell seasonally at special events with a food concession. I assume the need for a full-time income is the main reason. But, if a food cart is forced to close for lack of sales, what is the advantage of having a food cart? Do they prefer to sell from a stationary location, regardless, rather than set-up at temporary events? Or, are there other reasons?
GET THERE EARLY!!!