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You have a popular food truck with a perfect menu, and you have your go-to locations where you serve your food, but have you ever considered trying out a food truck festival? When you participate in a food festival, you can increase your customer base, create revenue, try out new menu items, and expand your business all at the same time.
In this article, we’ll discuss how you can take advantage of food truck festivals to your advantage and stand out from the crowd.
What it takes to stand out from the crowd
Stay up-to-date
In order for a food truck to be successful, what consumer trends need to be considered? There are a lot of changes in the food truck industry, which makes a food truck festival the perfect place for you to keep up with current trends and try something new at the same time.
What will be the trends of food truck festivals in 2022, and what will they look like? There are plenty of options for vegans and plant-based eaters, and CBD drinks are becoming increasingly popular, as are charcuterie boards, seared salmon, and rice bowls, but what will be the most popular in 2022? Keep up to date with the latest trends in the food industry, and try out some of them at the next festival you attend. It is part of what makes running a food truck so fun and exciting is the fact that you do not have to be tied to a brick-and-mortar location, so you have a lot more flexibility.
Design a new truck
When you are serving food at a food truck festival or fair, your customers have dozens of choices to choose from. We eat with our eyes first, so it’s important to get the look of the truck right, even if that means spending more money to get started. Since people eat with their eyes first, it’s crucial to get the look right, even if that means spending more money to get started.
Creating a design that meets your customers’ expectations has more to do with more than just catching their attention. There is no doubt that a cohesive brand and look can only be created through the use of bright colors, clear design concepts, and an appealing logo.
Menus can be changed up (or scaled down)
Because of smaller kitchens and the fact that many food trucks work out of a shared space to cook and prep food, food trucks already tend to have smaller menus and a more focused concept. If you want to go the next step, and maximize your revenue and efficiency, it is necessary to build a minimum viable menu (or MVM) – that is, a condensed menu that is made up of items that are popular and profitable. By having a smaller, more efficient menu, you are able to sell only the items that are both easy to sell and cost-effective to make, meaning you are working both efficiently and profitably, which means you are keeping costs and wait times down at the same time.
In order to keep your menu fresh, you might want to consider changing it every couple of months, or every couple of festivals, as well as creating a seasonal item that’s available only at that time of year. By creating an air of exclusivity, you can create an atmosphere that will entice customers to attend different festivals, giving them an opportunity to try different types of food at each one. Don’t forget to keep pricing in mind as well, making sure that there is a balance between affordability and profits when it comes to price.
Become a local business partner
Promote your food truck in conjunction with other local businesses that might also be attending the same festival and cross-promote your business. It may be a good idea to work with other food trucks that offer complimentary items, such as coffee or beer with your pastries or pizza.
In addition to providing food to these drinks-only establishments, many food trucks also work with breweries and bars to offer food to these customers as well, so be sure to take advantage of this market. You can distribute fliers for local festivals to the patrons of your local bar, and remember them that you are available at other locations as well, so they know where to find you.
Make your food truck festival a success by creating a killer marketing plan
The key to attracting and retaining food truck customers is to build a strong restaurant branding strategy. You must use a restaurant marketing strategy, and more specifically a social media strategy, in order to promote your food truck, generate sales, and let all potential customers know that you will be attending the festival.
Your strategy should include updates regarding where and when the event will be taking place, quality photos and videos of the food that you will be serving, and promotion of user-generated content from your best customers, as well as event-specific hashtags. Partnering with influencers can also help you spread the word. Take a look at Toast’s Guide to Restaurant Social Media Marketing here if you want to learn more about restaurant social media marketing.
Food trucks must have the following marketing methods:
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Creating an optimized, up-to-date website for food trucks
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The use of social media, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok
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Loyalty programs and email marketing
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SMS-based promotions
Here’s where you can develop your complete food truck festival marketing strategy and plan.
Relationship-building with your customers
It is essential that you keep customer relationship management at the forefront of your business as you develop your marketing and promotional plans.
There is a 60% chance that any customer who makes a purchase at your establishment will become a repeat customer, which is why cultivating these relationships is imperative to a restaurant’s success.
According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, acquiring new customers is 6-7 times more expensive than retaining existing ones. It is essential to keep customers if you want to create a healthy brand, but you also want to keep your finances in good shape. It goes without saying that this is crucial to attracting new customers to your food truck festival, as well as retaining your existing customers.
In order to attract repeat customers, it is imperative to use an integrated CRM (customer relationship management) platform.
Make ordering easier by streamlining the process
Providing top-notch service will help you attract and retain customers. You need to start with your order processes and technology in order to accomplish this. Consider investing in food truck technology that will allow you to get your orders out quickly and with minimal hassle from your already busy team of food truck drivers.
This process can be simplified and made simpler by the use of technologies such as handhelds, kitchen display systems, and self-order kiosks. You should also ensure that your point of sale (POS) system is designed specifically for food trucks.
Next big thing
The opportunity to bring your food truck business to festivals can be a wonderful experience, giving you the opportunity to expand your customer base, grow your business, and try new things all at the same time.
