Benefits of Food on Wheels
Below are the main advantages of a burger on wheels as a business project.
- Requires less investment than a regular street food outlet
If you need from $300,00 – $800,000 to open a full-fledged cafe, the snack bar will cost much less – especially if you rent a van.
- No need to hire a significant number of employees
A maximum of two employees can work in such a diner. Usually, these are two cooks or a cook and a cashier. Often there is only a cook in the van who also accepts payment. With a large influx of people, you can take a second person.
Food truck business idea: Where to start and how much you can earn with a food truck
You will not be able to be present in the burger shop all the time. Due to physical impossibility, you can outsource accounting and the manager and technologist. There is not enough space for three people and a full-fledged kitchen in a classic van.
- Pays off quickly
The payback period for such a business is from one month. It is significantly less than the payback period of a standard cafe or street food outlet.
- Can move in any direction
The food truck can move inside your city or travel outside into the region with special permission. You can empirically find the best food outlets and sell burgers there at the best time. It also contributes to increased sales and a quick return on payback. However, to obtain such a permit, you will need to collect a package of documents and hire an experienced driver.
- Low competition and the opportunity to make good money on each dish
Intense competition and high mobility make it possible to charge a specific type of burger at regular prices from twenty percent. If you set up a diner for the day in a wired location where there are no other restaurants or cafes of this type, burgers and other dishes will be bought at any price you set – within reason.
Food Truck Business Plan
Before starting your business, you need to write out a detailed plan that includes all the project characteristics, market analysis, costs, and expected income.
Food truck business idea: where to start and how much you can earn on a food truck
Project description
In the description, explain how your food truck will differ from other similar businesses in the area. Here you can also insert a table with analytics of competitive companies and a description of their pros and cons, which will help promote your food truck.
Write how your business will differ from a regular burger one and what advantages you see in opening it. If you are looking for investment, you can show the business plan to potential investors or sponsors.
Target audience analysis
Analyze the audience that might be interested in your offer. The analysis consists of a description of age, income, place of residence, and food habits. The audience can be divided into several streams – students going out for a snack during a long break, office workers looking for an inexpensive lunch option near the business center, city guests, etc.
Goal setting
Set a specific goal – for example, the desired payback period. A business plan focused on the next goal will need to be prepared in your business’s second or third month.
Production plan
What will you serve? Which will you offer dishes to customers ready-made, and which will need to be cooked before the client? What products are required for this? What equipment will need to be purchased, at what cost, and where? Write down the answers to these questions.
Financial plan
The most voluminous block of the entire business plan will contain detailed information about what will need to be purchased and spent. In the financial plan, indicate the costs of opening an individual entrepreneur or LLC, the wages of all employees you plan to hire, the prices of renting or buying a food truck, purchasing ingredients and equipment, and purchasing a cash register with a service license, and so on. The financial plan should contain all possible items of expenditure, not only for the starting stage but also for the full continuation of the activities of the food truck.
Every month you will need to pay salaries to employees, renew the lease on the food truck (if you have not purchased one), buy ingredients, and possibly buy or replace broken equipment, which happens infrequently.
A financial plan usually contains:
- A calculation of the cost of dishes and ready-made products and drinks served in a food truck.
- Formulas for reaching payback and approximate profit. Their final price for the buyer and benefits for you.
- Do not forget about taxes, which also need to be written at the end of the plan.
- Food truck business idea: where to start and how much you can earn on a food truck
- Analyze how much you can bet on burgers based on the average market price. See how much profit will go to you after selling one burger and how you can spend the money.
- Another expense item is the interior and exterior design of the food truck. Set a specific budget for signage, exterior and visible parts of the interior, branded products, and uniforms for employees. At first, you only need to hire a cook and a driver.