Must-Do Ideas for Your Food Business
Kim Bayne of Street Food Files
To gain a competitive edge and a customer's attention, food truck owners must find new ways to be clever, creative or original. I'm often smiling at a newly discovered food truck's ingenuity, which is why I've decided to recognize these bits of business-savvy whimsy. Here we go..
1. Pick a memorable food truck name or theme.
Double entendres, homonyms and other types of wordplay are food truck tricks worth repeating. Think clean, plus funny and/or pun-ny, and you've got the idea. Yes, I said clean, because you want families to stop by for dinner.
Awards in the homonym category go to Arizona's Pizza Daux, Colorado's Basic Kneads Pizza and Utah's TheCurryer.
My latest "fun with words" discovery is Ba-NOM-a-NOM, a vegan frozen treat truck in Fort Collins, Colorado. Just saying the name makes me laugh. I picture a little kid chowing down on yummy food ("nom nom nom") while singing along to Muppet Tonight (Ep. 107, the "Mahna Mahna" skit) with Sandra Bullock.
No clue? Say the name out loud. You'll get it on the way home, and you won't forget the name of the truck, either.
2. Invite orders by text message.
People want everything faster these days. Still, you're a food truck and most customers don't have to wait in long lines, unless you're working a busy metro street corner or slinging hash en masse at a huge gathering. You say that's the norm? Okay, then. But even if your customers casually stroll up to your window to place an order, check out this next trick.
