The Great Food Truck Race is an interesting program. At the start of the show, several teams are given a food truck. At the end of the race, the winner gets to keep the food truck and is given an additional $50,000. They travel across the country stopping in various cities. There are twists and turns and “speed bumps” as they travel across country.
The end of the show is near and the TV host Tyler talked about what the teams have learned. He stressed the importance of the key points that have kept the remaining teams in the race. Branding, Marketing, Partnerships, Time Management and Quality. Wow! Here we are talking about food trucks and the same things that affect their businesses definitely affect ours! No matter how big or small your business is, these are the things that are important to your business.
BRANDING – I recently read an article about U2. It was about how they created their “brand,” Bono said his mission early on was “not to be crap” He wanted to be authentic. They strived to have a distinctly Irish identity and a spokesman for social justice. They created their look: Bono – his glasses; Edge black beanie cap. This is why it is so important to establish a brand. This will be what people, your customers, will remember you for. If you are not sure how to create your brand, there are many experts out there to help you. This is a necessary step in the survival of your business.
MARKETING – If you don’t market your business, you might as well close your doors. You are then depending on customers finding you by accident or maybe someone (if you are lucky) referred you. Do you advertise? Do you have a website? Are you on facebook? Do you send e-mails to your customers promoting upcoming specials? Many of these things are low cost and such an important way to reach out to your customers. It will also bring in new customers. Social media is very critical to your business. Don’t wait!
PARTNERSHIPS – Partnerships in our business can be a little tricky. Maybe someone is doing your shirts. That is considered a partnership. Another can be doing your leather garments. That also is a partnership. It is important as well to develop a partnership or maybe a better word ‘friendship’ with someone who would help you in the event of a work stoppage. If your equipment is down, do you have someone you could ask to handle your production? This is every important. You need someone you can depend on in an emergency, if you don’t have someone, start looking around and make arrangements now.
TIME MANAGEMENT – Time management in the Food Truck Race, in my opinion, was one of the biggest reasons for failure. Often, they took too long shopping or too long prepping the food and that may have caused them to lose their spot. There are things to remember in time management. First, you need to create a daily plan. This will give you a good overview of how the day will pan out. And then try to stick to your plan. Learn to say no. You can’t take on more than you can handle. Prioritize!! Do the important things and let go of the rest. And make sure you put this word in your daily life: DELEGATE. This can take the load off you and you can focus on the important things.
QUALITY – We all strive for quality. But are you achieving it? Our customers are not stupid. They know what they want and if they don’t get it from you, they will move on. Most of you are small and do not have a dedicated inspector on your line. I would suggest that you assign someone to be responsible to inspect the outgoing orders. This is so important. How else can you provide quality?
Who knew our businesses are so much like the food truck business. Business is business. We can all win or loss at this. I want us all to win.
