By now you must be familiar with the daily hustle and bustle of picking out the perfect location for your food truck. And between transit, service, vendor management, and clean-up, the last thing you need working against you is your menu.
Appealing food, a fresh and innovative concept, and exceptional customer service are vital to the survival of your business. But what is critical is the practicality of your menu, remember you have little mobility and a tight workspace, so ensure you create a menu that is optimal for the working conditions of a food truck.
Crafting your menu is one of the most important items to check off your list when setting up a food truck. Your menu defines the identity of your food truck, it sets the stage for customers to know what to expect from your business.
In this article, we will provide advice for mobile food truck trucks who are starting out or trying to up their game in the world of food trucks.
Deciding you're your Food Truck Menu
First off, deciding what to serve your customers can be tricky, you have dozens of innovative ideas or you may have none - however, your menu ideas should speak to your soul. You're going to be crammed into a limited space, pushing out dishes one after another, this level of dedication means you'll need to sincerely believe in your food and your concept.
Avoid entering an already crowded market, instead, try to fill a niche. For example, if there are 6 trucks in the area serving burgers, it is probably not the best idea for you to offer the same. Consider adding a specialty dish - something that is unique, do some research on your target customers and try to understand their likes and dislikes.
Also consider incorporating a popular meal, for example, chicken fingers, sandwiches, or BBQ. Most people prefer the known and traditional so your popular meal may stand out to them.
Another idea to keep in mind is to offer seasonal items to your menu, this can help you attract customers all year round. For example, incorporate hot chocolate for the winter season and maybe a cold dessert during summer.
Organize your Business Plan
Be realistic about the number of items you add to your menu and thoroughly understand the process of preparing each item. Consider including items that consist of the same ingredients so you will have more space in your kitchen with lesser prep time needed. Unlike a traditional on-premise restaurant, you're working in a smaller kitchen with limited space and a much smaller staff.
Most food trucks can handle five to twelve different menu items when serving customers. Quality is what is vital and should remain consistent, especially if you want to encourage return customers. So maybe just five great dishes may be enough to attain a steady stream of revenue and positive customer feedback.
Make sure your dishes are easy to prepare. Even though you don't fall into the realm of fast food, diners aren't going to be happy if they are forced to wait 30 minutes for their meal. Your main goal is to eliminate waste and keep the line moving as fast as possible, allowing you to serve more customers and ensuring you don't lose existing customers.
Designing the Food Truck Menu
When designing your menu remember to keep it simple, easy to read, have it stand out from the competition, and encourage larger orders.
Usually, food trucks have small menus mounted on the window or one of its side panels, the common problem with this is that your customers are going to have to all gather around this specific location, potentially causing issues with social distancing guidelines. Instead, consider posting a large QR on your window or on the very truck itself so customers can scan it at a safe distance and then approach the truck to place their order and collect their meal. A digital menu also means your customers will never have difficulty reading your menu, so you can be sure that this isn't the reason they decide to visit another truck.
A dynamic QR menu also has other benefits - you'll never need to reprint the menu after making updates, you can instantly mark an item 'out of stock' so it will no longer be visible to customers, and most importantly, you can add images and descriptions to each one of your dishes - a staggering 82% of people buy a dish because of how it looks in a picture, whilst food description can trigger an increase in buying decisions by 45%! Customizing your menu and building a recognizable brand is also important, add your logo and select a theme that best represents your concept and branding.
Also, remember the golden spot. Give your best-sellers prime real estate on your menu, put these items with the highest profit margins in the upper right-hand corner of the menu as this is the place the eye first travels to.
Final Thoughts
Use your innovative and appealing menu to stand out from the crowd. Keep your menu short and ensure you meet the standards in terms of quality and consistency.
Add high-quality food images and intriguing product descriptions to the menu that are eye-catching and mouth-watering.
Remember to mark items 'out of stock' as soon as you see them running out - you don't want to disappoint your customers halfway through their order, or worse lose these customers.
Finally, check your menu twice or even thrice before taking it live. You don't want any typos that could reflect badly on your brand.
Applova Free Digital Menu is FREE FOREVER.
Applova's digital menu allows you to create, customize and update your digital menu in minutes. Customize your branding to reflect your restaurant tone and style, swap backgrounds, select color themes, and even upload your logo.
Even provide your food truck customers to place orders, select add-ons and pay for their meals online. Set up an online store for a low 5% service fee per customer order.
Check out a sample menu here and sign up now!