How often do you enjoy snack time by a mobile food van? Mobile food vendors have gained quite popularity in our lives over the years. As per the National Restaurant Association of the USA, in 2017, mobile food vendors generated a revenue of about $2.7 billion.
Being a mobile food vendor has its advantages, the biggest being its mobility and flexibility of accessing clients in any location. Furthermore, setting up a mobile food truck costs far less than setting up a restaurant. Since it has less establishment cost and less involvement of salaries, you can prepare a menu at a reasonable price, thus attracting more customers.
Starting your food truck is a profitable business opportunity in India. If you have recipes for delicious snack items and know how to cook, all you need is a food truck to begin your business.
Are you looking for a guideline to initiate your mobile food truck? We can draw the roadmap for you in 8 steps.
Table of Contents
To run a business as a mobile food vendor, the first thing you need to procure is a food van or truck for commercial use. In general, people serve fast food, Italian, Chinese, Lebanese, or Kebabs and Biryani in a mobile food truck. What equipment you need and the type of van you need for the business depends on your food menu.
Ideally, a mobile food vendor requires a new 18-feet long food truck for the business. Such trucks have a starting price of Rs. 7-8 lakhs. If you are short on starting budget, choose an old truck for half the price and renovate it a little. However, you should check for below in an old van-
Though you can drive along whenever needed with a mobile food truck, you need a steady location to open the mobile restaurant. The frequent relocation of a mobile food van is a spoiler for building your reputation. You need to stay in a particular spot for a considerable amount of time for people to know your menu and spread the word. Hence comes the need to find the right location for the truck.
Here are some tips for choosing a location-
As a food truck owner, prepare to spend about Rs. 3 lakhs on purchasing the kitchen utensils, equipment, and raw materials for the initial stage. What utensils, equipment or raw materials you need depends on your menu. The standard equipment and utensils needed in a food truck are-
Irrespective of what equipment you buy, ensure they are brand new. It helps in avoiding additional expenses on maintenance.
While you store raw materials, we advise buying items for not more than 1-week as they can rot with time. Purchase in small quantities. Increase your purchase inventory when you have a substantial sale.
Unfortunately, the food truck business doesn’t have any declared law or license requirement in India. However, since your business deals with food, we recommend procuring the below permits and licenses to ensure health, hygiene, quality, and hassle-free journey all along.
Acquiring permits and licenses along with the consultancy charges can cost about Rs. 50,000.
A mobile food van cannot accommodate more than two chefs. You can have one or two helpers depending on your business structure. If you plan to offer dine-in by placing chairs around your food truck, you surely need a helper to serve the food. You can also appoint food delivery boys or have a tie-up with food tech providers like Swiggy or Zomato. The manpower requirement and the expenses behind salaries vary with your business goals.
Not every mobile food truck business in India runs with POS software support. But, if you want to keep a secured data on daily sales and inventory, we recommend purchasing Point of Sale Software. It is especially needed if you wish to offer a food delivery service. In fact, storing customer data helps in the promotion of the business and generate repeat business.
A good POS Software generally costs about Rs. 2,000 per month.
Are you running your food truck business with a set of employees like chefs, helpers, serving people, and delivery boys? Why don’t you get a custom-designed collared T-shirt for your employees. It helps in branding and also gives a professional appearance.
If you have 2 chefs, 2 helpers, and 1 delivery boy and provide then 2 sets of chef’s coat T-shirts, respectively, it will incur a combined expense of Rs. 6,000-Rs. 7,000.
The first thing to remember in a food truck business is that it depends on footfall and less delivery. Hence, the cost for printing menus is less. Even if you are not distributing leaflets in your area, a basic promotion is always needed.
Social media marketing is the best form here. Form a community over social media platforms, display your menu, invite people to visit your food truck online, and gather feedback from customers. Online reviews are highly valuable these days for promotion.
Becoming a mobile food vendor is associated with a capital investment of about Rs. 10 lakhs. The cost further varies depending on the type of truck and equipment you purchase. We have discussed above the basics you need to start your food truck.
Like every business, even a mobile food van requires stationery items like calculators, pens, order pads, etc. But it is essential to keep 2-3 big-sized dustbins in your truck or where you arrange the sitting to ensure the area remains clean. The business has its advantages and disadvantages like any other business. You need to conduct market research before starting the business to know your prospects in your chosen area.
A general food truck runs with a daily sale value of Rs. 8,000 – Rs. 9,000.
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