Food trucks have been taking the catering industry by storm and often they can be a stepping stone to opening a restaurant. However, increasingly the opposite is happening and many restaurants are opening successful food truck businesses alongside their restaurant business. But what benefits could this have for an already established restaurant?

Reaching new customers

Suppose you live in a large city - how do you reach customers across the whole city? What about lunchtimes, when people have a limited time for their lunch break? This is where a food truck comes in. Parking a food truck in different locations around town widens your audience and broadens your restaurant’s appeal. You can introduce people to your restaurant through your food truck and will be able to develop a broader following, inspiring them to try out your larger in-house menu.

Promote a signature dish

Take your restaurant’s style and signature dish to the masses by serving it in your truck. Serve a short menu that blends well with your signature dish, encouraging diners to try out your restaurant and helping you capitalise on your most popular items. It is also a great way to test out new menu items.

Offset the slow season

Your food truck not only allows you an additional revenue stream, and although it might not be vast it can offset the slow season for your restaurant and enable you to keep staff all year rather than laying them off.

Offer Full-Service Catering

Your food truck is a professional kitchen wherever you need it to be; the beach, the park, the street, the market as well as private events and bookings. A food truck allows you to extend your restaurant operations into a full-service catering option as well as continuing to increase your restaurant’s reach and encouraging new customers to seek out your food truck and your restaurant.

Get involved in the event circuit

Foot-fall traffic is a great customer base, but don’t miss out on the event circuit that offers up easy customer pickings as well as highlighting your truck and restaurant at the same time.

Cross promote

Running both a restaurant and truck expands your brand and increases the number of dining customers. Be sure to take full advantage of the opportunity and brand-up your truck, adding logos to the sides and back to promote both the truck and restaurant - name recognition is key to bringing customers to both venues.