Your Mobile Food Truck Niche
As with any small business, you need to make sure that you find a niche in your market. Though some people think that being everything to everyone is the way to build and maintain a customer base, it’s really how you stand out, that makes you special in the food service market.
At this point you need to ask yourself some basic questions about the area in which you anticipate working:
- What food is already available?
- What are people willing to spend on a meal, a drink or a handmade treat?
- What sorts of foods are missing? Where could I add value?
- What ethnicities are present?
- What is the competition doing right (or wrong)?
- What are customers looking for from mobile food vendors?
You can find out the answers to these questions by becoming a sleuth in the local market. Look at the other mobile food trucks and mobile food establishments to see what they offer, how they’re pricing their food, how they’re serving their food, etc. This process will help you see where you might fit into the market without directly competing with anyone.
There are a number of different niches in which you might be able to fit, all with their benefits and downsides, so be honest about what you feel passionate about.
You might want to look into serving the following types of foods from your food truck:
- Basic American foods
- Ethnic offerings
- Desserts
- Vegetarian options/vegan menus
- Kid’s foods
- Organic and all-natural
It helps to spend some time being a customer in this market. You need to step into the shoes of your potential customers and determine what people want and what they are willing to pay for. You really want to become a source of focused interest in your community, and you don’t need to appeal to everybody to build a strong customer base. Your food truck needs to stand out from the rest in terms of what it offers. What works where you’re at right now?
