Food Truck Innovation Should Never Stop | Mobile Cuisine
In the consumer world, most people are always waiting for the next best update for their current technological “toys”. From cars to computers to smartphones, consumers are always looking for what the new features the next generation will offer. As a vendor, it’s your job to provide food truck innovation with your menu and your processes. If you aren’t aware of that, you’re business is in trouble.
Of course, you started your food truck with a great menu concept, but what have you done for it lately? The only way to survive in this hyper-competitive mobile food industry is to step onto your truck every morning willing to accept innovation.
As a mobile food vendor, your food truck innovation can never end.
When you innovate, you take the common and shake it up. Food truck innovation is about how you approach an issue by either creating a new solution or creating a solution that achieves the result in a different way.
Today I’ll show you some ways a food truck owner can step up their food truck innovation.
Three Ways To Keep Food Truck Innovation Top Of Mind
Never Stop Innovating
Even the most successful food truck vendors need to continue innovating once their trucks reach success in their local market. Just think of Roy Choi. What if he had never driven himself to innovate beyond Korean tacos?
Keep An Eye On The Competition
Even the smallest edge can have a big impact in the competitive world of food service. The only way to stay competitive is to differentiate your food truck from other trucks as well as the restaurants in your market.
Innovation makes your menu unique in a consumer’s mind. But once you’ve introduced an innovation, there’s a good chance competitors will adopt it, (or something similar) as well. That’s why you always have to stay one step ahead.
Innovate Beyond Your Menu
Food truck owners consistently think about new menu items, but you have to look at every aspect of your food truck operation, as well. Perhaps your next innovation is to surround your menu with exceptional customer service.
These process innovations may be hidden to your customers, but that’s alright. Time is a food truck vendor’s most valuable resource. Every innovation that makes you more efficient in the kitchen or in the office leaves more time for you to improve upon another.
When food truck innovation becomes part of your daily thought process, you’re constantly thinking about how you can improve your menu items, even if they seem perfect as they are. The trick is to think about your menu from a consumer’s perspective. Ask yourself what you’re selling, what needs it serves and what a typical consumer experience is. These questions should be looked at on a regular basis because the answers will change over time.
Please Note: It’s important to keep an eye on your competitors, don’t fall into the trap of copying them. If you’re always chasing trends, you’ll watch your customers leave for your competitors.
The Bottom Line
One common thing I’ve seen in regards to food truck innovation is that success can put a halt to innovative thinking. It doesn’t matter how you’ve always done something. While it may have worked in the past. If you get locked into your successes, you won’t improve.
As your food truck empire grows, you’ll need to have your whole team’s energy, not just your own, pushing inventive ideas forward. Everyone on your team should be challenging or questioning the way things are done.
Have you come up with a food truck innovation you’d be willing to share with our readers? We’d love to hear your ideas. Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Twitter | Facebook