Chapter

11

Setting Up the “House”

In This Chapter

In most hospitality businesses, there’s a front and a back of house. The front of house refers to all areas that deal with customers and service (waiters and waitresses). The back of house refers to the areas customers never see, such as the kitchen and supply room. In general, these areas require vastly different skill sets and personality types. Some people are great at slicing tomatoes but not so good at talking to customers; they’re clearly back of house people. Others look beautiful and are great at service but can’t even fry an egg—front of house people. Neither of those kinds of people will work for your food truck. You won’t have the luxury.

Understanding Your Unique Situation

When it comes to employees for your truck, you need individuals who have an understanding of both your front and back of house. You won’t be able to indulge the extravagance of hiring a great cook with a terrible personality. If he’s in the truck yelling at the other cooks, your customers will see and hear him and that will negatively affect your customers’ experience. And if that surly chef has to take over the window while you go get supplies, you’re in big trouble. You have one truck, and one house. There’s no such thing as hiding in the back.

Everyone who works for you needs to serve multiple functions. Your employees must be able to work the grill and the window. More important, you need to apply the one-house philosophy to all aspects of your truck. Your exterior and interior design and how you deal with customers must be put together so that all elements work together to add to the total experience.

In a restaurant or hotel, for example, staff can collect the garbage in an area away from customer view and take it out a service entrance. You don’t have that option on your truck. You must discreetly collect garbage and quickly remove it from the truck. A day’s worth of garbage in a small truck can become an issue very quickly, chasing away customers with its odor and creating health concerns from cross-contamination.

In this chapter, I discuss how you set up your house, which is a very important step in the process of creating your food truck. Let’s not waste any time getting to it.

Designing the Exterior of Your Truck

The exterior design of your food truck is critical to your success. It serves two purposes: marketing and functionality.

The outside of your truck is the ultimate advertisement for what you’re selling. Just as the outside of a restaurant sets the tone for a customer’s dining experience, the exterior of your truck does the same thing for your customers. The difference from a bricks-and-mortar restaurant is that your exterior is constantly on the move. The more you drive, the more you advertise. Your truck design must immediately attract the attention of the consumer. And after you grab their attention, you need to convey some important details immediately:

Within five seconds of seeing your truck, customers need to recognize that they want what you’re selling and know how to get it.

There’s no point of having the most beautifully designed truck if nobody knows what you do or where to find you. That’s why there are so many trucks with bold and exciting exterior designs. It isn’t because food truckers are the most artistic people in the world; their flair is a matter of necessity. Your truck is a mobile billboard, and you need to utilize it to make a statement and attract customers.

Tip

The back, right, and left panels of your truck must all include your logo, the type of product you’re serving, and your Twitter account, website address, and phone number. Your job is to find a design that does this in a tasteful manner. Your truck’s name should be sized at 100 percent, the type of food you serve sized at 75 percent, and your contact information at 30 to 50 percent, depending on what looks best.

You have two options for exterior decoration: paint or vinyl wrap. I consider the pros and cons of each option in the following sections.

Painting

Painting your truck is the cheapest way to go, but is generally less effective. To get maximum marketing value from painting you would need to find someone extremely talented. A talented artist is probably going to be pricey, which defeats the whole purpose of using the cheaper design method.

If you do choose to paint your truck, use contrasting colors for your base and logo. If your truck is black, for instance, use a bright color like fluorescent pink or green for the logo. The best way to add your logo to a painted truck is to either use a stencil or have the logo printed as a sticker at your local print shop. Whichever method you choose, make sure the logo is bold. You don’t want to get lost in the crowd.

Painting your truck should cost less than $2,500.

Vinyl Wrap

Truck wraps are the most cost-effective way to maximize the exposure of your brand with the design of your truck.

The company you choose to create the wrap should have an in-house designer who can assist you. If not, reach out to fellow truckers whose designs you admire and ask who they used. An experienced designer will understand which areas of the truck will be exposed and where seams are located in order to fully maximize the wrap. Working with a graphic designer who has done this kind of work before, you’ll be able to create any imaginable design. The fee for the design is usually around $500.

The designer must use high-resolution or vector images to create your truck wrap, with the printing done using a very high-dpi printer. Your customers will see your truck both from far away and close up, so the design must be recognizable from a distance and look like a custom paint job up close. Ask to see a proof prior to the printing of your design so you’ll know exactly what it will look like when it’s applied to your truck. Review the proof very carefully; you’ll have to live with any mistakes you don’t catch at this point. Make sure you have the opportunity to sign off on the design before your wrap is installed.

Not all vinyl wraps are of equal quality. You can get wraps for as little as $1,500, but the vinyl is likely to be thin with no protective laminate coating. These cheaper wraps will begin to peel rather quickly and are much more time-consuming to remove.

A thick, high-quality wrap with a protective laminate costs anywhere from $4,500 to $5,000. Laminate enhances the appearance of your vehicle while protecting your truck from fading and scratches.

Protect your investment by choosing a thick 3M wrap with laminate. Your truck will look brand new year after year if you go for the high-quality version. Customers will be attracted to the pristine look of your rig, so the better wrap should lead to more sales. And if you choose to sell or trade-in your truck one day, a better-quality wrap will lead to a higher resale or trade-in value. This is because cheaper wraps are harder to remove and can cause damage to the vehicle.

Tip

According to Outdoor Advertising Magazine, mobile billboards have a 97 percent recall rate, and 99 percent of survey respondents said they thought mobile advertising was more effective than traditional outdoor advertising. The Traffic Audit Bureau says that during a single month a truck can give between 1 and 4 million impressions to potential consumers. Trust me when I say that your vehicle wrap is your most valuable advertising outlet. Don’t let that opportunity go to waste.

Window

There’s no standard window size for food trucks, but I recommend as large a window as possible. The larger your window, the more involved your customers will feel in the life of the truck, and the more people you can serve at a time. It’s always best to have a window on each side so you have more parking possibilities, though if you have two windows you’ll probably need to go with smaller versions than if you had just one. That’s a decision you’ll have to make based on your own preference and what works best for your concept.

Awning

After you deal with your window size, you’ll need to decide what type of awning you want.

Most trucks come with a stainless steel panel that you secure in the up position when your truck is operating. It acts as an awning when you’re open and a security cover when you’re not. For the most part you won’t really have much for people to steal on your truck. The cooking equipment is heavy and will be bolted down, and your materials are refilled on a daily basis. I feel the cover is unnecessary and suggest replacing it with an aesthetically pleasing awning that you can extend when you park. You can purchase these types of awnings at your local home supply store or from an awning specialist for $1,500 to $2,000. The awning should cover the length of your truck’s window and be incorporated into your design.

Drink Fridge

Your drink fridge or cooler should be accessible to customers from the outside of your truck so they can reach in and make their choice. This alleviates the need for internal storage and removes one step from the serving process. Make sure the storage container is deep enough to store and cool a sufficient number of beverages for multiple hours of service. Additionally, with the beverages outside, it is important that you make sure all beverages are paid for.

Exterior Menu Holder

You should place a plastic menu holder outside the truck. Having printed menus handy limits the number of customer questions during the ordering process, especially at peak times. Encouraging customers to take copies of the menus with them also acts as a form of advertising for potential customers and encourages take-out orders. Place the menu holder in a spot that’s easily accessible even during busy times.

Menu Board

Your menu board should be located on the outside of your truck to the left of your window. It should be made out of plastic poster board and be large enough to be read from at least 10 feet away. Refer to the menu design information in Chapter 3 when designing the layout and content of your board. The most important point to remember is that item you want to sell the most of should be in the top right corner.

After you’ve designed the menu, you’ll need to bring it to a printer who specializes in printing on plastic, which will hold up for a long time when mounted very securely on the outside of your truck. That board needs to withstand weather and travel while still maintaining its shine and splendor. It’s one of your main sales tools, so make sure it’s a beautiful representation of your product.

The Point of Sale System

So long to the days of Grandma sitting behind the cash register monitoring the day’s take. Nowadays point of sale (POS) systems (your digital cash registers) manage inventory, process credit cards, calculate food cost percentages, and handle ordering. Many of them even monitor your business every minute you’re operating by generating real time reports.

Old-fashioned cash registers or manual sales monitoring techniques are subject to human error, leading to inefficiencies, potential theft, and loss of cash. A POS system is essential to running a healthy modern hospitality business. Yes, they cost a little more in the beginning, but they pay for themselves quickly by saving you money and giving you peace of mind. A quality POS system not only gives you insights into what your customers are ordering, it tells you on what days and times they’re ordering it, and if they made any substitutions.

POS systems are preloaded with basic reporting options that can assist in monitoring your truck’s performance. If you want a report that provides hourly sales breakdowns by item and compares them on a month-to-month basis so you can monitor growth, your POS system can do it. Here’s an overview of the types of performance reports a POS system can help you with:

These reports should be more than enough to cover a small operation, but you can also work with your POS company to create customized reports specifically for your business.

A simple POS system for a truck should cost around $5,000, including a terminal with a printer for the kitchen and all necessary installation and setup. In addition you should budget for service and maintenance fees, which for an operation of this size should be less than $50 to $100 per month. To save money, try purchasing a used system from restaurants that are going out of business or through websites such as Craigslist.

Tip

Companies like Micros, Aloha, and Squirrel dominate the POS system market. They offer technologically advanced systems and are adding capabilities daily. These systems have endless possibilities and options for customization, most of which aren’t necessary for your purposes.

Tablet Systems

The introduction of tablet computers offers a much better solution for mobile hospitality businesses. Many companies are making iPad-based POS systems that are much more affordable and offer many of the same features as the more advanced ones. You can get a tablet system for between $500 and $2,500 plus a subscription fee of $30 to $50 per month. Try for a system setup for $1,500 with a minimal subscription fee inclusive of the cost of an iPad, iPhone, iTouch, or similar tablet computer. These usually come with cash drawers and printers, and generally take up much less space than traditional systems.

Tip

Because social media is so important to your business, you’ll definitely need some type of onboard computer. The best option for food truck operators right now is a smart phone such as an iPhone, BlackBerry, or Motorola Droid. These phones have applications that allow you to post on Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare directly. You can also use one of these phones as the direct number for your truck. Other options include a laptop with WiFi capabilities or a tablet computer such as an iPad.

Credit Cards

I don’t recommend accepting credit cards on your truck. Card companies charge fees that range from 2 to 5 percent of each transaction, which can add up very quickly and amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars a month. In the food truck business you have very low margins of profitability, and credit card fees will cut those margins in half. The average purchase on your truck will probably be under $20, so the fact that you don’t accept credit cards shouldn’t deter customers. Even for larger catering orders it’s easier and more profitable to accept a check. If you decide to accept credit cards, I suggest not taking them for orders under $20, and I’d pass along the credit card fees to the customer for catering orders. (Be sure to check your local laws to make sure credit card minimums are legal in your area.)

If you do choose to accept credit cards, you’ll have to set up a merchant account with your bank so that you can accept payment from both credit and debit cards. You can handle your credit card processing through your POS system. You’ll also need to contact a credit card processing organization such as First Data and sign up for an account with them. There are many different kinds of plans, so be sure to comparison shop at least three processing companies to get the best rate based on your expected volume of sales.

Beep! Beep!

Don’t just look at the transaction fees when choosing a credit card processing company. Some companies lure customers with low rates and hide charges, like administration fees, in the back end that make them more expensive than the normal rates. And most of these processor agreements automatically renew unless you specifically say not to, so be sure to remove that clause from your contract.

Setting Up the Kitchen

The next step in setting up your house is organizing the design of your kitchen for efficiency. By this I mean making sure you have enough space to prep and plate your food quickly while maintaining the quality of your product. This requires military-style organization and precision.

Organization

The first step is making sure that everything within your on-truck kitchen is located in the right place. The storage of your serving materials must be in the same area or right next to where you’re doing the plating. You don’t want to waste time walking to the back of the truck to get buns and containers every time a burger comes off the grill.

This same rule applies to the way you organize your refrigerated items. If you’re making cheeseburgers, you want the cheese in the closest refrigerator to the grill. That’s common sense, but not everyone thinks about it.

Beep! Beep!

If you haven’t noticed it yet, there are so many moving parts in the food truck business that it’s easy to make silly mistakes. If you don’t fix these issues immediately they’ll snowball, making day-to-day operations unbearable. Pay attention to details.

Here’s a checklist of things to consider when organizing your kitchen for prep and plating:

Definition

The expeditor is the person on the truck in charge of organizing the orders. Once an order is taken, the expeditor monitors its progress by coordinating with the kitchen. Then he or she checks the order to ensure that it’s prepared properly prior to delivery to the customer.

Job Assignments

The bottom line is that everyone on the rig should be able to get his job done without hindering anyone else’s ability to get her job done. The best way to figure that out is by creating detailed descriptions of every task that needs to be completed by each worker on your truck. Then you can sit down with your initial kitchen design and begin to flesh out the process that each employee must go through to complete his or her job. As you analyze the processes, you’ll be able to identify potential bottlenecks and begin to place things in the best possible locations. If you take the time to do this, you’ll limit the number of issues you’ll run into during your first months of operation.

Don’t forget that you need to take into account local regulations. Cities like Chicago have laws that don’t allow for cooking on the truck. Windy City food trucks are only allowed to sell preprepared or packaged items; even chopping of vegetables is prohibited. Check with your local health department to determine exactly what’s legal and what isn’t in terms of your kitchen. It could have major impact on how you choose to prepare your food and how you lay out your kitchen. You might have been planning to make sandwiches to order on your truck in Chicago, but now you know that all of your sandwiches have to be packaged in your commissary.

Truck Tales

Chicago’s original food truck, Chicago All Fired Up, made its way onto the Windy City’s streets through some legal maneuvering. Years ago owner Troy Marcus Johnson convinced the health inspector to approve his truck as a restaurant. Since then he’s been selling Baby Back Ribs and Jerk Chicken from his truck and cooking them on board. Who knows how he got past the long arm of the law, but it’s great for Chicagoans looking for late-night eats.

Creating an Efficient Workflow

In order to establish an efficient workflow, you need to utilize the assembly line. Assign each worker on the truck a particular job in the process of getting out orders with ease. The employees can assist one another, but only if they’ve already fully completed their assigned tasks in the process.

Here’s how it works:

Each truck’s system will likely vary slightly from the preceding process, but overall the process is very similar. The key is to maintain the flow and not create any bottlenecks in the line. If one worker in the process is taking longer than the other members of the team, the assembly line comes to a halt. Everyone needs to be equally skilled in their part of the process or the system doesn’t work. Skilled employees, combined with fanatic organization and attention to detail, will make your line efficient and consistent.

The Least You Need to Know