Author Topic: Food truck without the truck?  (Read 3794 times)

DadJokes

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Food truck without the truck?
« on: September 21, 2019, 05:29:45 PM »
So, while at a community event for my wife's school, there were a few food trucks. The lines were long, and the food, while good, was way overpriced.

I'm thinking about trying a homemade ice cream desserts stand at the event next year. I could make better desserts than what we got for similar prices and do very well. Since my wife works at the school, I could probably get an opportunity.

As far as I can tell, I would need a county business license and to check with the health department. Instead of a truck, I could just use a canopy, a table, a sandwich board, and a couple heavy duty coolers. It would just be a part-time thing, maybe only that one time per year. But, with the number of people there, it could be pretty lucrative for the minimal amount of work required.

Has anyone tried something along those lines?

Goldielocks

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Re: Food truck without the truck?
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2019, 11:43:32 PM »
Oo!  Nice!  I just listened to a journalism piece on a partnership that makes and sells handmade, organic (and one vegan, and one gluten free choice) ice cream sandwiches.

It sounds a lot like your set up.

Their main challenge to change for future -- was to move away from the table / canopy with freezers all around, and actually get a cart with wheels. Why?  Because everyone seems to think that they are an information booth, not a food stand, especially as it is hard to see the product (which is in the freezer).  Because of that, they don't get as many sales.

I think you could do something to make a booth look more like a food stand -- signage, striped awning, fake wheel props and handle, maybe a wax model of your product, like the japanese do..?

DadJokes

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Re: Food truck without the truck?
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2019, 11:11:11 AM »
Those are some great ideas - thanks! The start-up costs definitely seem pretty small, so a cart wouldn't be a bad idea.

Wife isn't necessarily on board, but in her defense, I bounce ideas off of her pretty frequently. Anything I do, I'll have to take slowly. It could be a fun "retirement" job though.

J.R. Ewing

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Re: Food truck without the truck?
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2019, 08:58:11 AM »
Oo!  Nice!  I just listened to a journalism piece on a partnership that makes and sells handmade, organic (and one vegan, and one gluten free choice) ice cream sandwiches.

It sounds a lot like your set up.

Their main challenge to change for future -- was to move away from the table / canopy with freezers all around, and actually get a cart with wheels. Why?  Because everyone seems to think that they are an information booth, not a food stand, especially as it is hard to see the product (which is in the freezer).  Because of that, they don't get as many sales.

I think you could do something to make a booth look more like a food stand -- signage, striped awning, fake wheel props and handle, maybe a wax model of your product, like the japanese do..?

My wife made high end ice cream with foodie flavors that we sold in our church lobby for charity.  She was able to make in the church kitchen (which was county inspected).  She bought a used, freezer ice cream cart.  The trick is to keep the ice cream at about 20 deg F.  If it gets down to 0 F, then it gets too hard to eat.  We bought a thermal controller to do that.  They're commonly used in the home brew world. 

Demand was great.  Life got in the way, but we had aspirations to expand at one point.  The raw ingredients for high end ice cream are a little pricey, so you need to sell quite a bit of it to make it worth while.