Frequently Asked Questions About NZ Food Trucks

FAQ’s For Food Truck Owners

Q: “I have a food truck, can I get listed on this website?”

• Yes, if you have a food truck or van, a campervan or bus, a caravan or trailer
• Yes, if you serve food
• No, if you only serve coffee (sorry, it’s called Love Food Trucks for a reason)
• No, if you serve from a tent, stall or gazebo

It’s free. Just add the details about your food truck here.

Q: “I have a Food Truck, what marketing should I do?”

Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

1. Be remarkable and distinguish yourself with little touches
   • For example, a cool paint job, environmentally friendly plates and cutlery, wear a funny hat, greet/farewell customers in a unique way, tell a bit of your story/philosophy on your signage
2. Be delicious and provide amazing service
   • Do your very best every single day. Greet customers with a warm smile
   • If you feel grumpy or tired close up and go home, and start fresh tomorrow, you’ll do damage to your brand
3. Collect email addresses
   • Build up this list of your superfans over the long-term, year after year
   • Fans on social media are ok, but they are not as valuable as email addresses
   • Is there a way you can collect email address while people are waiting in your queue?
   • Tell them frequently where you are so they can come and see you, or send their friends in the area
   • Tell them what’s changed on your menu. Tell them your story. Tell them how you do things, your philosophy. Tell them the details that demonstrates how much care you take in your food and service and what makes you special
4. Focus on growing your catering business
   • This is where the real money is. It’s low waste, easier to plan, and a big pay day
   • Use your exposure at markets and events to advertise your catering business
   • Have your business cards and catering flyers available
   • Write a message on the side of your food truck “ask about our catering”
5. Always be on the look out for events/festivals to go to
   • Book them months/years ahead of time
   • Be prepared to travel to attend ones you hear about at the last minute
6. Get a good photographer to come to several events with you
   • Show how popular you are with shots of big crowds, happy people, and your good food
   • Get them to take very short video clips also
   • Use these photos on your website/social media, flyers, business cards etc
7. Get a Facebook page
   • Fill in every single detail including your name (so few vendors do this, when people like to know who’s running the operation)
   • Invite all your friends
   • Put a lot of time into it, add photos, ask questions, share stories
8. Build a simple website
   • Keep it simple. Lots of visuals. Build it cheap with WordPress or Wix
9. Use as many social media platforms as you can handle:
   • Facebook first, and then consider Instagram and Twitter
10. Add yourself to Google Maps
    • Even if you’re mobile, put your home base on the map

Q: “I’d Like To Buy A Food Truck, What Do I Need To Know?”

• How do you know people will like what you’re cooking?
  • Before you go to the expense of investing in a new food truck, cook up some samples and give them away to crowds of people at events/markets in exchange for their feedback.
  • Record metrics like crowd size, how many people don’t want to try what you have, how many who do, how many like it etc
• Can you turn your competition into friends?
  • Go out and meet 5 or 10 food truck vendors and get to know them.
  • Most of them won’t see you as the threat because consumers enjoy lots of choices and having several food trucks next to each other is better for everyone
• Don’t rely on park-up business
  • Have a plan for offering catering for events, weddings, parties etc

FAQ’s For Event Organisers

Q: “How many food trucks do I need at my event?”

There are a few numbers you need to crunch to figure this out:

1. How many people do you expect?
2. Are you covering a normal meal time?
3. How many people can the food trucks serve per hour?

For example, a 1000 person afternoon event that runs 1.30pm to 5pm could be served by 5 food trucks. You might need a few more if the event was during lunch or dinner.

Q: “Do I have to contact all these food trucks myself? Can you arrange them to call me instead?”

I have created a database of all the food trucks on this website so I can help get the word out for you.

Provide me with a detailed message about your event and I will email your message to my email database of 150+ Food Truck vendors.

Order Now.

Q: “When I’m interviewing a food truck operator for my event, what questions should I ask?”

• Here’s my date and location. Can you get there?
• What’s on your menu?
• How many people can you serve per hour?
• What other food trucks should I talk to next?
• How do you handle rubbish/recycling/compost?
• What are your electricity/water needs?
• How should we do the finances? May I take a commission on your sales?

Q: “Who pays who? Do I pay them a fee? Do they pay me? Do I take a commission?”

There are 3 different scenarios. Every food truck / event makes their own rules.

• Sometimes they are happy to pay you a fee to access your crowd
• Sometimes they will charge you a fee to have their top-quality experience adding to your event
• Sometimes they are happy to pay you a small commission on their sales

It’s up to you to negotiate.