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9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail


Adrenaline is pulsing through your veins. You are just a firm handshake away from your dreams becoming a reality. You click your pen and sign the papers. That’s when you notice your hands are shaking. 

You feel excited, confident and full of energy. But, in the back of your mind, you feel a slight hint of fear. You hear a whisper of doubt: what if I fail? 

This is normal and to be expected. You are following your passion and might be taking a risk to launch your food truck. Achieving success in the restaurant industry requires hard work, determination, blood, sweat, and tears (but never in any food). 

The statistics are daunting. An estimated 60% of restaurants do not get to celebrate their first anniversary and food trucks are assumed to fail at similar rates. 

Take a deep breath. You’ve got this. You can prepare yourself to prevent your business from ending in disappointment. Here are 9 reasons why this unique type of business may fail and the action steps that you can follow to thrive. 

#1) Terrible Opening

9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail

Credit: Dave Simbosa

Source: Unsplash.com

We can’t change the past if you have already opened. But, if you are still planning your opening you want to start strong! Please don’t roll out as if you are an 8-year old selling some snacks in grandma’s neighborhood. This is your chance to set the tone for your business. Poor reviews in the beginning can be a tough hurdle to overcome. If that has already happened, keep reading for advice on running your business as smoothly as possible and preventing as many additional challenges as possible.

Consider having a soft opening. This is essentially a practice run and a great opportunity to work out any kinks and receive valuable feedback from friendly and understanding customers. Imagine going to a WWF match that hasn’t been rehearsed, it just wouldn’t work well. Everyone would be confused and people would leave angry. Don’t let that happen to you! 


Action Step: Plan and execute a soft opening

#2) Budget Issues

9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail

Credit: Kelly Sikkema 

Source: Unsplash.com

If you are overspending and underselling, you have a budget issue and that won’t be sustainable. Budgeting can feel overwhelming, but it is absolutely doable once you commit and set aside some time to regularly keep it updated. 

Remember an important lesson of budgeting that I might have learned from Amazon the hard way: your goal is NOT to spend all of your money. For example, you will hopefully not spend $1,000 every month on truck repairs, but you do want to be budgeting for the repairs to be prepared when you require those funds.

Even if you hire an accountant, you need to be aware of your financial situation so that you can make smart purchases to support your business. You can keep track of your monthly expenditure with the simple template below. 

Action Step: Create and document monthly budget

Month: April
Costs
ItemCost
Fuel500
Labor1,000
Repairs1,000
Food2,000
Supplies500
Commissary600
Event Fees350
Total:5950
Profits
EventSales
4/2: Brewery680
4/6: Dean’s800
4/9: FTP505
4/11: FTP970
4/17: Brewery790
4/19: FTP670
4/20: Winery610
4/22: FTP490
4/23: FTP615
4/25: Brewery955
Total:6405
Profit:455

#3) Underselling

9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail

Credit: Josh Appel

Source: Unsplash.com

Let’s follow up on the previous reason. You realize you are overspending like a Mom at Target during a decor line launch and we all know that is not going to end well. 

If there isn’t enough incoming cash flow you have 2 options: spend less or sell more. If there is anything you can reasonably cut out, do this first. If you had planned to drop some funds on a new wrap, menu board, technology upgrade, or another technically unnecessary but helpful accessory, postpone. 

Now to sell more, check out the steps outlined in FTL’s post about staying booked to ensure that your calendar fills up. You want to:

  • Join as many recurring, weekly events as possible
  • Apply for as many festivals as you can find
  • Reach out to new potential partnerships (breweries, wineries, bars)
  • Advertise on local sites for special events such as graduation parties, showers, weddings, etc
  • Connect with large companies for luncheons 

If your calendar is full, but you aren’t selling well at events, you can collect feedback to determine the issue so that it can be addressed and improved. This may require a menu adjustment, pricing change, or even customer service improvement. 

Action Step: Fill your calendar and keep it booked in advance. 

#4) Bad Reviews

9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail

This Facebook reviewer ranted for several pages… 

In a time where everyone believes they are a food critic, a few bad reviews are inevitable. Try not to take it personally even when someone goes for those low blows. 

If most of your reviews are negative, you will want to look for trends. If customers are unhappy and return to your truck after their purchase to complain, consider their feedback and make adjustments when possible. 

It is possible your customers just won’t be feeling your culinary creations. Sometimes as a chef, this does require pushing out food that doesn’t impress your own palate, if you know it is what will keep your customers happy. Most in the restaurant industry know what it feels like to have a menu item that sells well, even though it is a little embarrassing or just something you would never order. (Personally, I died a little inside every time I had to deliver the monstrosity that was named “the poolboy.” It was a footlong hotdog with a variety of offensive and random toppings. Please note this was at a nice restaurant with $20 entrees. Imagine trying to enjoy your grilled swordfish across from your tinder date and his hotdog.) 

One idea for boosting your star-rating is to run a promotion for customers who leave reviews. Once you are completely confident in your product, you can let customers know that you are building your social media presence. Offer a small discount for their help in spreading some good vibes and leaving reviews! 

Action Step: Keep your standards high, resolve all customer complaints, and offer a review promo if necessary 

#5) Failed Food Quality

9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail

Credit: Joshua Hoehne

Source: Unsplash.com

Your product could be the root cause behind the previous 2 reasons that a food truck might fail. Would you keep returning to a restaurant if the food was even worse than Aunt Thelma’s tuna casserole? 

One reason that some food truck owners run into issues is that they are not following recipes. You may be a talented chef, but you need to be able to recreate a dish and provide consistency to customers. If this is your first experience cooking professionally, there is a major learning curve to transition from home chef. Cooking in much larger batches requires some additional planning, tasting, and documentation. 

Are you storing everything properly? Ensure there are not any temperature issues with the food that you are cooking and serving. Are you experiencing issues ordering excessive amounts of food and then dealing with food waste? Are you calculating your food cost around 32%? Read FTL’s article about how to plan and prep for a food truck event and pay attention to steps #5, #6, #8, and #9 if you are having any issues with your food inventory. 

Action Step: Create and revise recipes, inventory protocol, and check food cost

#6) Poor Customer Service

9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail

Check out this classy reply to the above review.

If your food quality is optimal, and the bad reviews are popping up on your feed, there may be a customer service issue. Bad service will leave customers angry and make it challenging for you to build a fanbase. At the bare minimum, you and your employees should be polite and kind; bonus points for engaging in small talk. 

Think about a bartender that you have overdrank with purely because you wanted to keep chatting. Maybe the person asked about your day, life, or dreams. Now, think about an irritating experience that you’ve had where a bartender has made you feel like an inconvenience simply for ordering. Be the cool (well-tipped) bartender every time. 

Make your customers feel your appreciation and get to know any regulars. You don’t need to be a charismatic extrovert. Basic comments and simple (non-creepy) compliments can go a long way. For example:

  • “What a well-behaved poodle!”
  • “What a cute kid! Amazing smile.”
  • “Go Browns!” (If someone thinks you are also a fan of “their” team, you’re in.)
  • “Thanks so much for your order. Come back and let me know what you think!”
  • “How’s the festival? Any great vendor suggestions out there?” 

If a customer complains, handle their concern with kindness and respect, even when they aren’t. Additionally, promptly reply on your social media pages and to any business emails. Be aware and smart about your posts and comments. It is increasingly common to see business owners and employees getting canceled after rage inciting inappropriate posts.  

Action Step: Be professional and courteous at all times, including on social media

#7) Inadequate Marketing Strategy

9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail

Credit: Eaters Collective

Source: Unsplash.com

Maybe you can’t stand social media. Perhaps you made a pinky promise twenty years ago that you would never make a Facebook profile. Maybe you watched a documentary about how social media is making all the wrinkles in our brains mush together. Whatever your reasoning, this is free advertising and your business should ideally be on multiple sites and updated regularly!

We live in a time where consumers depend on social media and search engines to answer every question that could possibly pop up in their minds. And they want their answers immediately! Your fanbase will want to know where you are expected to be at all times in addition to whether the sandwich they are craving will be on your menu. Many consumers ask questions via messenger, so you will also want to be monitoring your inbox. It may also be wise to install an auto-reply such as:

Hello!
Thank you so much for contacting us. We look forward to answering your questions and will reply as soon as possible!
If you need immediate assistance, please call at 440-444-0000. Please check out this link to our menu items. Here is a link for our weekly schedule!
If you are interested in booking our truck for a private event, please email us at [email protected]
Enjoy your day! 

In addition to ensuring your fans know where they can find your truck, you can offer incentives (free grub!) for sharing, commenting, liking, etc. This helps to build your fanbase! Check out this Twitter account for the Ms Cheezious food truck; they post regularly and have over 12k followers, so they must be doing something right!

Action Step: Create social media accounts and maintain

#8) Unexpected Repair Costs

9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail

Credit: Aaron Huber

Source: Unsplash.com

Most of us have been at a mechanic and had the painful experience of our eyes bulging out of their sockets due to a repair bill. All vehicles require maintenance to help prevent some of these repairs, but some unexpected costs are inevitable. 

It will help to have a solid insurance plan for your vehicle and to be consistent with all regular maintenance. Follow the owner’s manual to keep that engine purring. You will also want to feel comfortable with your insurance plan and any associated deductibles. If you do run into any issues, get a few quotes if you do not have a relationship with a trusted mechanic. 

Above all else, budget for these costs! The monthly budget estimate above allots $1,000 per month for repair costs. This will vary for every truck and every budget. Try to make sure you have some money available if you do find yourself at a repair shop ready to cry like a sleep-deprived toddler.

Action Step: Schedule regular maintenance, have solid insurance, and budget for repairs

#9) Lack of Business Plan 

9 Reasons Why Food Trucks Fail

Credit: William Iven

Source: Unsplash.com

Most of the above reasons that a food truck may fail are ultimately related to your business plan. 

If you are still in the planning stages of your food truck business, take time to craft a solid plan. Your business plan is an even more important guide for your truck than google maps. If you already have your truck and you don’t have a plan, you have gotten lucky with your funding or perhaps you just had a bunch of cash that was burning a hole in that box under your bed. 

Check out this article on Food Truck Lineup for more details about writing your business plan. 

Action Step: Write a business plan or improve upon an existing plan if needed

Owning and operating a food truck does take hard work and planning. You can ensure that your food truck is successful and that your odometer keeps spinning by considering and planning for these 9 possible reasons that food trucks fail. 

[email protected]
(573) 256-9991
Colorado Springs, CO
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