How Food Truck business can be made more productive?

1. Research Study on Food Truck
business (Final project)
Submitted By –
SAMAR SAHA

2. Objective and Scope
 To study the existing business of Food Trucks in Pune region and
identify the gaps in existing way of doing this business and
redefine the business plan to make it more successful.
 To create awareness and define new business ides to increase
business.
 Research is carried out considering Food truck business for Pune,
Maharashtra.

3. Research Methodology
 Online Publication
 Research is based on verified online sources and publications.
 Earlier research work done on Food Truck business is studied.
 Survey
 Online questionnaire for public survey
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmdqdFjbGynozjhdJz-
NplVkWr6u_vY71_ZwEmb7suARURmw/viewform?c=0&w=1
 Sample size - 125
 Interviews
 Existing Food truck owners in Pune area had been interviewed and their
feedback is recorded in the form of Google form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfuWXAWWEY8EN5q65LIDm
GBumD74q9SQ1s26r0OaWspZDZJmg/viewform
 Sample size - 6

4. Food Truck Business:
The Basics
• Food trucks are different from a regular
restaurant in some ways – you get on the
road and go to the customer.
• You don’t have a physical location with an
address so you don’t wait for customers to
come in your front door.
• But like restaurants, service still needs to be
topnotch. The truck needs a little niche so
people have a reason to purchase. It’s also
important to be consistent

5. Business Canvas Model for Food Truck

6. Data Analysis and Interpretation

7. Survey Data
• The majority of the respondent were in the age the group of 18-32 years of
age, which clearly indicates that the business is more attracted towards the
younger generation who to want grab a quick bite on the go.
• To target this group should be the main focus.

8. Cont.
63.2% of the people survey are working professional and with the age group
of 18-32 it very essential to have price – variety mix correct to address this
section.

9. Cont.
72% of the respondent said they are aware of food truck,
this indicates the existing player have already shown their
presence.

10. Cont.
85% of respondent out of 90 response are aware and had been to food truck
and finds it appealing. Hence the aesthetics of the truck constitutes as
important part to attract customers.

11. Cont.
• Taste , Hygiene and Quality are three important factor considered while visiting a
food truck , though price is important part considering this concept as it is not a
typical restaurant type of business.
• If we offer quality, hygiene and taste people are ready to pay the price. But since
the survey size is too small considering the competition you may go with the
destructive strategy pricing. Also since the taste is the important factor we can also
consider the entry level price strategy.

12. Cont.
Most of respondent prefer to eat evening snack, it is preferable to have only
one time of food/snack in the truck for effectiveness.

13. Cont.
• Faster service and taste are the most preferred option by the
respondent.
• Faster service helps in effective customer turn around which is must
for this kind of businesses.

14. Cont.
As stated above, faster delivery is what customer prefers.

15. Cont.
Respondents prefer to eat fast food, we suggest, differentiate sell something like fast
food but with healthy ingredients. Based on this we have designed the Example of
typical menu for Healthy fast food in later slides.

16. Cont.
• Serving a typical fast food will put you in the category of typical fast foods
which are sold in any of small hotels on the streets. Hence fast food with
healthy ingredients can attract public.
• Since the price band is Rs.100-300 we can easily fit the above menu in this
price band. Please refer the example menu designed accordingly.

17. Cont.
• Majority of the respondent who visited food trucks find very limited options on the
menu , this is true because of the size constrains on the truck, they cannot offer many
variety, this is also what we have observed while interacting with the existing owners
• To overcome this, it is very important to plan your menu the way that you can offer
wide varieties with similar ingredients , there is also a another option is to increase
your food truck size but that will add to your capital cost.

18. Response of the Existing Food truck
Business
Existing Food truck owners across Pune were interview as a part of this
research to understand the existing way the business is been done.
The following food trucks were contacted
Name Location CostforTwo Cusines Timing
Burgertron Wanowrie, Pune ₹350 Burgers 6PMto11PM
Henny'sGourmet Salunkhe ViharRoad ₹300 Desserts 8:30PMto11PM
MexicanRodeo Kalyani Nagar ₹500 Mexican, Italian 6PMto11PM
BreakingBread Aundh ₹500 FastFood 7PMto11PM
BostonFoodTruck Wakad ₹300 FastFood, Italian, Mexican 5PMto11PM
The Cheese Truck VimanNagar ₹250 StreetFood, FastFood 6PMto3AM
BuddhasFoodPalace NIBMRoad ₹400 Thai 6:30PMto10:30PM
JW MarriottFoodTruck Senapati BapatRoad ₹800 FastFood ClosedTemp.
PimpMyWok Baner ₹500 Vietnamese 7:30PMto11PM
BreadSpread Karve Nagar ₹300 FastFood 7:15PMto9:30PM

19. The following question were asked to the owners/
managers of the above food trucks
 Why you chose food truck business instead of regular
restaurant?
 Majority of the business responded said, low investment, Easy
maintenance are the main reason for going with food truck.
 Few have started the food truck as passion.
 Majority respondent said that the profit margins are better as
compared to typical regular restaurant.
 How long you have been in this food truck business?
 The average is 4 years for this business in Pune, and there are many
who have started this business in last 2-3 years, this is a growing
business in Pune.

20. Cont.
 Are you happy with your current business? If not, why?
 Almost all of them were happy with their current sales, except 1 or 2
who are in fast food business said that online food ordering is a
threat to their business.
 Are you aware of your competitors?
 Most of the existing business are located in different locations,
there is no intense competition as of now.
 Also most of food truck presently cater different cuisines. Hence,
there is not much similarities on their menu list.

21. Cont.
 What kind of customer visit frequently?
 Majority of the customer who visit are in the age group of 20-35.
 Customer’s demography is relatively young.
 Services you provide besides selling food?
 Majority of the them are doing home delivery.
 There are few who have not kept this option because of the rush
across the counter since most of them only operate in the from 7
PM to 12 PM.

22. Cont.
 What are your marketing strategies?
 As per researches observation there has not be much aggressive focus on
marketing part of the business as of now.
 Majority of the Truck businesses still goes with conventional marketing
strategies like Word of Mouth, tie up with online food deliveries like
zomato, food panda.
 Only few are active on the social media.
 What changes according to you, will increase the business further,
If any?
 Considering Taste as a fixed function, many believe aggressive promotion
would increase the business.
 Few said location plays an important role, presence at the right location can
increase the business.
 Few of the existing business were also planning to shift their location to
densely crowded area.

23. Gaps in Business Model
1. Diversity in Staff
 Researcher found that the whole lot of staff in every food truck in
Pune has only male staff and no female staff.
 There can be at least one or two female staff in business as
diversity in work force will attract more heterogeneous
Customers.
2. Food Truck Size
 Currently the size of food truck where researcher visited are of
smaller size as compared to international standard size of food
trucks which restricts them in storing and keeping more varieties.

24. Cont.
3. Lack of Aggressive Marketing
 As observed by the researcher currently Food Truckers in Pune
do not have any structured marketing strategies to attract
customers and boost their sales
 Lack in marketing is making this business weaker and peoples
don’t consider food truck as a good option.
 To address this we researches have worked out a detailed plan for
marketing. Please refer Suggestion section.

25. Cont.
4. Ambience around the truck
 Researcher found that there is no customer friendly ambience provided
around Food Trucks across city which results as a failure for customer
attraction.
 In order to attract the customers, food truckers need to make ambience and
area around food truck to look neat and tidy. Also, some sitting arrangement
can be done, if not much then at least few chairs can be placed.
5. Lagging behind in terms of technological and business processes
 There is lot of scope to integrate current food truck business with
technology, as currently none of the food truckers make use of technological
processes like automated token printers, social media and digitalization.
 Similarly they lags much in business processes as well. There is no proper
business process setup in their day to day work which makes their work more
cumbersome and difficult.

26. Cont.
6. Trained Staff and Involvement of owners
 Researcher found that the staff of food truck across region was not
properly trained on how to greet and service customers which is the
most important reason for disconnect between customers and food
trucks.
 Proper trainings sessions had to be conducted for staff members to
teach them how to handle and service customers.
7. Separate counters for Veg/ Non-veg
 Researcher didn’t encounter a single food truck where proper
separation of veg and no-veg dishes are made.
 Food trucks can have separate doors for veg and non-veg dishes
which convince customers that proper separation is made for veg
and non-veg in order to respect their choice.

27. Cont.
8. Add side-Ons
 Some items will sell better than others—and that some items will have a much wider
profit margin than others. When customers start buying add-ons that are marked
up at a high profit margin, you can afford to lose a bit of cash on the headline-
making stars of your menu—your loss leaders—that drew them there in the
first place
9. Tie-ups with food delivery channels
 Food truck can tie-up with online food delivery channels like Big-basket and
Groffers as suppliers and also as marketers to save on time, labour. It will make
them operate efficiently since they the supplier’s role will be taken by them.
 Food truckers can also tie up with online home delivery channels like Food
Panda, swiggy etc... Which will help them to deliver their food to customers
place at their door step.
 By making these tie-ups, there business is also going to get more audience
since all these third party will help you by advertising your brand and business.

28. Suggestion
Proposed Strategies

29. Marketing Strategies that can be adopted
 Streamlined Social Media Logistics for Food Truck Owners
 Developing a strong social media presence is an incredibly important step for
new food truck owners
 Write posts, take photos, and find links to share.
 Schedule posts to be published throughout the week using a tool like Facebook’s
Pages Manager App etc.
 Reply to fans who have sent you messages, followed you, shared/retweeted one
of your posts, or commented on one of your pages.
 Browse what other people are posting and start conversations with fans, food
trucks, or other organizations.
In general, the average food truck owner should be able to effectively manage his
or her social media platforms in less than 30 minutes each day—or in a combined
total of 2-3 hours each week—by batching these tasks

30. Cont.
 Market like an Advanced Food Trucker
 Build and Utilize an Email Marketing List
 Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to get in touch with new
customers and to build lasting relationships with your loyal fans.
 Begin Texting Coupons to Customers
 Mobile coupons offer similar benefits to email marketing—you have the
opportunity to reach your customer directly without having to compete
against hundreds of other messages, and your text goes directly to their
phone, where the customer is likely to see it fairly quickly.
 Run Your Own Event or Promotion
 Bring entertainment to your truck
 Run a major sale
 Give out samples
 Give people a sense of urgency to check out what’s going on and begin
participating immediately. This principle by running other promotions or
setting up your own special event.

31. Cont.
 Give People a Reason to Return
 In the form of coupons and discounts
 Show them that you can’t wait to see them again by giving them
something to enjoy on their next visit
 By providing excellent service
 Marketing with Business Collaboration
 Collaborate with college fest and other annual parties where you can
provide your food and services in subsidised rates, which will be
both ways win-win opportunity.
 Food truck owners will get good chance for publicised their business
as well as earn a good chunk in one stop location.

32. Cont.
 Truck aesthetics
 Transparent truck body
 Inner Truck layout
 Maintain proper staff uniform
 Create Visual Identity
 Get truck painted with cheerful, bright colours.
 While creating patterns on body, make sure that designs carry food
based themes. It will help your customers to identify you from subtle
distance.

33. Business Strategies that can be adopted
 Catering Services
 To take orders for parties and events
 Train Your Food Truck Employees
 Information Employees Should Memorize
 Procedures Employees Must Learn to Complete
 Practice Plating and Presentation
 The difference between the burger you expected to get and the
burger you actually received lies in plating and presentation.

34. Cont.
Why Food Presentation Matters
 How many times have you seen an advertisement like this…
…and then headed to your favourite fast food chain only to receive a burger that
looked more like this?

35. Cont.
Introduce healthy food segment
As we also noticed in our survey feedback that people are more
interested now a days to have more healthy food options which is
healthy as well as tasty.
Menu of something like this can be kept as an option.
(Next slide)

37. Cont.
 Use Apps to Simplify Your Business
 Home Delivery
 Placing Order & doing Online Payment
 GPS
 Updates/ Notification
 Build vending machine to print tokens
 Home delivery

38. Conclusion
 Food trucks aren’t a new business idea, but there is still tons of opportunity.
 If you have a unique product/service to offer and you know there is demand
you have a great chance of succeeding.
 It very essential to get your business plan right, below are few highlights of
the above report on making your business plan a success.
As stated in research, it’s very essential to implement the below steps and
continuously monitor:
 Do a market research.
 Find good helpers for your business ( Key Partner )
 Open up in an area where there is already a restaurant.
 Reason: 1st - You get running clients easily.
 2nd - if your shop is busy then they have an alternative so that they don’t get frustrated
and never return
 3rd - it will maintain the market ecosystem

39. Cont.
 Keep interacting to your customers to make a friendly environment and
rapport. Let them eat.
 Offer a biggest hoarding advertisement in your budget with early bird offers
such as first 100 will get 10% waiver on bills. Delivery will get 15% of discount
 Social media publicity
 Once the business grows bigger prepare a webpage of your own and keep a
countdown timer ready for 6 months
 Newspaper ads and also poster in local transport
 For Economies of scale: make the food economic.
 Hire the most experienced cook in your availability and promote his
experienced cooked dishes online and offline.