I Want to Take My Home Cooking to The Next Level. What is the Cost of a Food Truck?

It always seems to start at home. Raves from your family and friends turn into requests to contribute more dishes to holiday events. Then your coworkers get into your head, asking for recipes and cooking pointers, with some even trying to gain invitations to your home so that they can learn your style firsthand. So why not try your hand at getting paid for your culinary creations, but in a way that lessens your overall financial risks?

Realistically asking yourself, “What is the cost of a food truck?” for the type of cuisine and cooking style you possess, will require some investigation. Many of the essential items, such as ovens, preparation appliances, and food storage, is pretty self-explanatory. But the technology that goes into running, managing, and marketing your food truck is anything but simple to comprehend. However, there are a few point of sale steps to follow that can simplify the process and get you, and your creations, on the road faster.

Limited Space Does Not Mean Limited Options

When people think of running a food truck, visions of cash drawers and paper pads fill our minds. While these methods have helped the food truck industry succeed, this success was not without a cost. Long hours spent getting receipts and counting in order after the kitchen had been cleaned and the truck parked for the night was the norm. Jotting notes on a notepad before running to the store to restock is another norm that needs to be retired to the food truck walk of shame—there are so many modern tools to make life easier!

Technical solutions for food truck businesses are possible, and thanks to mobile technology, you have the same options as any other business. A mobile POS solution will provide you with the same computing power, the same degree of data storage and analysis, and the same abilities to track and manage inventory as a brick and mortar enjoys. Although choosing the right mPOS system may feel like grasping at straws, this choice can be simplified by looking for a few vital features.

A Mobile Payment App Can Be Your Best Friend

Mobility will be the key to all of your technology choices. Your POS till should be a smartphone or tablet that can be used to track inventory and process customer payments. It should also present you with the ability to view important business reports, making your device an office in your pocket. However, that device—no matter how cutting-edge or portable it may be—will be largely useless without a mobile POS payment app to facilitate transactions.

A mobile POS payment app will turn a mobile device into the ideal food truck cash register. You will be equipped to securely accept almost any card-based or digital wallet payment type imaginable. A mobile POS payment app allows you to adopt a cashless business strategy, making checkouts faster, automating receipts, and eliminating cash management from your to-do list.

Web-Based Invoicing Further Streamlines Transactions

Mobile POS technology can help eliminate yet another bulky legacy piece of hardware from your food truck purchasing list: the receipt printer. These often require higher levels of service when in the field due to variable environmental conditions, and can often breakdown at the most inopportune times. Stocking disposable supplies for these printers, such as ink cartridges and paper rolls, as well as having them hard wired to your register add more limitations to this technology.

Web-based invoicing software that is integrated into your mPOS system is the optimal scenario for a food truck. Transactions are fed through the invoicing solution that creates a digital receipt that can be delivered to the customer via email or SMS text. This offers the customer an added convenience while giving further helping you to further enjoy the benefits of a cashless strategy.

Market Your Business Using Mobile POS Features

The mobile POS technology you use to manage your business should help you in one last, but very important, area of food truck operations: marketing. Marketing is an invaluable service that can be provided by an mPOS solution, especially if the solution you choose offers a fully mPOS integrated and branded online website. Having an online platform that is tied into your mPOS system gives you an immediate leg up in your marketing, and provides a great investment into the future of your business.

Announcements can be posted on your site to announce where and when you will be parked, making it easy for potential customers to find you. Your core menu, as well as any specials or promotions, can all be placed on your website as an added convenience for your customer, and an additional marketing tool for you. Customers will even be able to order and pay online, adding an almost contactless experience to the already great customer service that you provide.

So, What Is the Cost of a Food Truck?

It would be impossible to give you an exact cost of starting a food truck business, given all of the variables that go along with it. Vehicle and renovation costs, appliances, supplies, and insurance are just the start. But one area that will give you predictable costs to ease the squeeze on your budget is mobile POS technology. Once implemented, and when backed by a POS consultant who believes in your mission, your mPOS system can begin to eliminate many of your worries.

Discovering the best blend of POS technology for your food truck is something the staff at talech is standing by to help you with. We will leverage our experience with other food truck businesses so that your mPOS solution is perfectly aligned with your industry.