The food truck explosion in the U.S. is one of the most fascinating business stories in recent memory. Over the years, Americans have been accustomed to fast food and fast casual dining, and while these obviously continue to dominate the restaurant industry, food trucks are beginning to creep into our everyday lives.
Currently, there is an estimated 3 million food trucks in the U.S. and in 2011 food truck revenue grew to an astonishing $630 million. The surge in popularity can be attributed to a variety of reasons:
- Music festivals: The rise in popularity in outdoor music festivals has undoubtedly contributed to the success of food trucks. Large music festivals in the U.S. routinely pull in tens of millions of dollars in revenue, and festival-goers obviously need food to eat throughout the day. Insert: food truck.
- Alternative option: Customers are obviously attracted to whatever is new, but what’s also easiest. Food trucks are common destinations for professionals working the 9-5 grind because they offer a tasty, quick, and high quality alternative to a sit down restaurant or a place like Panera or Subway. When the weather gets nice, customers enjoy being able to grab their food and sit outside on park benches and picnic tables.
- Creativity and themes: Food trucks have their mark in offering specialty/gourmet items you can’t normally find in a fast-casual establishment. Often, a food truck will have a singular theme such as barbecue, grilled cheese, Vietnamese, pizza and more and the food will reflect the theme.
Expansion: Expansion is always a key long-term goal for small businesses. If your food truck becomes so popular that you’ve outgrown just having one vehicle, you can use funding to purchase additional ones.
Inventory: Ingredients, plates, napkins, silverware…the list goes on and on of inventory you constantly need to be purchasing to keep your food truck humming.
Fuel: Fuel costs can be a constant thorn in the side of food truck owners. Vehicles, such as large trucks, require a lot of gas and as a result food truck owners spend hundreds every month on fuel alone.
Insurance: Like any restaurant, food trucks have a litany of liability issues to be concerned about. Mainly, food trucks must be aware of incidents such as fires, theft, vehicle breakdowns and crashes, falls, contaminated food, customer falls, and more. So having good truck insurance for your food truck is a must so you can get coverage if anything happens to your food truck.
Equipment: Deep fryers, grills, ovens, refrigerators—food trucks require multiple types of equipment in order to remain operational.
The popularity of food trucks has created a seismic shift in the way customers choose to consume their food and they are showing no signs of slowing down. If you think your food truck could use some extra financing, we can get you the money you want in days.
For more information on small business lending for food trucks, call us today at 1-800-267-3790.
This article was originally published by AmeriMerchant
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