Now first I want to put out the disclaimer that food trucks are not overnight successes like we see in Jon Favreau's character, Carl Casper, in the family comedy movie, "Chef." However, after becoming motivated from the Cubanos being made in a beautiful shot of Miami, why not bring up the idea? The first point I want to make, since everyone doesn't have a ten year old kid who low key takes pictures of you while you're cooking all the time, is to, in fact, invest in social media. Mention that location whenever you post pictures and your fan base will come at you, especially if you're selling Cubanos. With that, as a potential owner of a food truck, you're going to have to create a Twitter. You're going to have to create a killer user name and invest in making those tweets. They don't have to be too creative, just relay the message out there. People, aka viewers of your feed, like to see developing stories, and if one continuously makes posts of their journey with their food truck, more people become curious as well as eager to see that food truck succeed and visit their location again.
Second point (and this point is coming from a college student who has no knowledge of permits) consider a music sound system. Get that Spotify or Pandora radio going, and if you're creating personal tracks on SoundCloud...get those tracks going. Honestly you could play the War of 1812 Overture and people would still appreciate you for busting out some music while everyone is enjoying your kick-ass food. My professional recommendation (if professional is an undergraduate with questionable music taste) would be the Boss Audio CX122. Play "The Middle" by Zedd and you're going to get every person in the early 20s going to your food truck eager for some food and soft core EDM.
Third and most important point is portraying positive, warm vibes. You got to make sure your staff don't mind getting their picture taken or being a part of a geotag (function that lets you add your location to a snap to make it look awesome). Similar to how being friendly with your consumers is a key foundation for any business, embracing your consumers curiosity and excitement to add you and your business to their social media is really helpful. With that, at this point, I should confess that I don't own a food truck, but I have worked in the food industry where people will take pictures with me even when I just bring them tabasco sauce for their medium temp. farm eggs with prosciutto and mozzarella. If you're in Chef Casper's food truck, get that rockin' shared selfies while you're serving a nice handmade cubano. It creates a fun environment that everyone enjoys and honestly it may just make your day better if you embrace in the small things like getting your picture taken or being apart of a Instagram Live Feed.
In conclusion, food trucks are, in my mind, an awesome concept. It's easy to see the hard work and time needed to invest in the business, but it's also easy to see the joy and innovativeness put into as well. Personally I love food trucks because each one tries to really develop their own theme. The staff that works in these businesses works hard, and you got to understand the close corridors that these people work in. When I get pissed, the last thing I want to do is be within three feet of the person that's irritating me at the moment. Therefore, props to them. With that, I recommend that you actively make it a mission to go after those food trucks that just so happened to setup near your city or at your university. Also, if you're looking for a light-hearted, feel good movie about food trucks, check out "Chef," the movie I've been low-key referencing all article long.
