Street food is becoming more and more popular from Los Angeles to New York. According to projections, the market for food trucks will reach $1 billion by 2020. The food truck industry has expanded by 80% since 2009. Here are 20 reasons why the trend of food trucks is so popular. Food trucks are here to stay.
20. Changing Perceptions
Gone are the days when mobile kitchens were called “Roach Coaches”. People are aware that restaurants must adhere to the same (and sometimes higher) safety and hygienic standards as street food vendors.
19. Value
For the frugal foodie, lunch wagons offer an affordable meal. The cost of street food is typically lower than that of other types of dining.
18. Social Media
Operators of chuck wagons are experts at using digital communication to boost sales. Their Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, blogs, and pins are public marketing platforms that are constantly evolving.
17. Lower Overhead
Compared to traditional restaurants, mobile kitchens are more cost-effective to run. Food trucks can operate a lean and profitable business more affordably than their traditional dining competitors because they don’t have any rent or buildings to maintain.
16. Lower Startup Cost
Two to three times as much capital is needed to launch a fixed location restaurant as compared to a food truck. In all likelihood, a business owner with $75,000 could run a food truck.
15. Location, Location, Location
A chow wagon’s mobility gives the owner the flexibility to switch up his location every day, or even every few hours, if he so desires. You can’t transport that pizza shop’s structure to fairs, festivals, or events.
14. Cooperation
In order to benefit from each other’s businesses, the lunch wagon industry is a close-knit group of people. A hungry lunch crowd might pass by a single food truck parked on the street without noticing it. A scene is created by four food trucks parked on a corner.
13. Marketing
A big rig functions as a moving billboard. They advertise every minute they are driving. When a step van with outrageous colors and logos is spotted in a business district, it sparks conversation and boosts sales.
12. Fast Food
You desire a quick and hot lunch. A quick meal without the wait associated with a sit-down restaurant is offered by a food truck to customers who are short on time.
11. Healthy Options
While many mobile kitchens serve deep-fried snacks like candy and hot dogs, others offer meals that are gluten-free, vegetarian, or vegan to appeal to health-conscious consumers. Some food trucks have even restricted their menus to only healthy options.
10. Choices
Customers value options. A few food trucks that are parked on the street offer hungry people a custom menu that they can mix and match to create the perfect meal. You can start with dim sum, then move on to another truck to get burritos, and if you’re still hungry, check out a frozen yogurt cart.
9. Culture
Food trucks cover every imaginable cuisine type, ethnic cuisine, and regional cuisine. On the west coast, customers can eat Maine lobster, and on the east, California cuisine. Diners can chow down on Korean, Italian, French, Thai, Ethiopian, Greek, American, or Japanese food. The world is your oyster if you’re a fan of food trucks.
8. Fusion Flavors
Yes to Japanese tacos, no to German gyros. Mexican pizza, why not? Chefs who are innovative and daring are pushing the boundaries of fusion cuisine to produce new, intriguing, and delicious dishes that will entice food enthusiasts.
7. The Fame Game
Food trucks have been operated by Jose Andres, Spike Mendelsohn, Jamie Oliver, and Tom Colicchio. Famous chefs sometimes test ideas and menu items for their restaurants in mobile kitchens. Celebrity chefs can test new recipes with no risk by using food trucks, which also helps them reach a wider audience. Celebrities are adored, so this trend will endure.
6. Fun Factor
A cheap form of entertainment is eating on the street. When serving customers on the street, owners try to make their experience enjoyable. During their lunch break, employees can leave their offices and take in a carnival-like atmosphere. The food is enjoyable, the people taking your order are enjoyable, and the brightly colored rigs are enjoyable.
5. The American Dream
Foodies with a social conscience are aware that in the cities where they operate, street food vendors support a community and create jobs. Street food vendors also increase sales in the retail areas where they operate because people are more willing to give their hard-earned money to a local business owner than to an anonymous corporation. Consider bringing in a food truck if your retail business is struggling.
4. Fresh Air
There is nothing more enjoyable than going outside when the weather is nice. To cheer up diners in the concrete jungle, a quick stroll through the park to a lunch wagon is just what the doctor ordered. Who wants leftover Chinese in the workplace where they spend 50 hours per week?
3. Novelty
Food trucks offer a unique way to dine out because of their constantly changing menu options and new establishments on the scene. Consumers who are sick of receiving messages from corporate fast food chains and chain restaurants can find an interesting dining niche with mobile cuisine.
2. Fresh and Local
The farm to table movement is spreading to urban areas all over the world thanks to mobile kitchens. Local suppliers are used by chefs to purchase meat, dairy, and produce, resulting in food that is superior to some brick and mortar restaurants’ offerings. Customers can tell the difference between the microgreens grown nearby and the salad prepared in a factory hundreds of miles away by tasting it.
1. Street Food Tastes Good
Street chefs are cooking delicious food, including escargot and hamburgers. The world has come to love and appreciate the incredible variety, quality, and deliciousness of mobile cuisine. Street food tastes good, so food trucks are here to stay, serving everything from savory, elegant dinners to artery-clogging deep-fried desserts.