Skip to main content

Original text


Powered by Google TranslateTranslate
Powered by Google TranslateTranslate
Starting a Food Truck Business - Northeast Ohio
by Mark Krosse
>
June 2, 2023
Rating

Starting a Food Truck Business

“It’s Not Just About the Food”: The first step to a successful food truck business is developing your concept into a credible, effective written business plan, including marketing, operations, and financial projections. Having a written business plan is required for most funding sources, including bank loans that might be guaranteed by SBA, and for partnerships.

Not having a business plan is one of the top reasons for food truck business failures 

The plan should address critical areas for a successful food truck business:

  • Market Research to test the feasibility of your concept
  • Marketing, including the critical use of Social Media
  • Financial Budgeting, particularly capital needs and cash flow planning
  • Operations, including menu creation & testing (costing, pricing, & truck/commisary kitchen production), customer service, food handling & storage, hiring & training, etc
  • Licensing & Regulations, which unfortunately is complicated, varying by state, county, and municipality

We recommend your use of our Startup Roadmap online learning series to help step you through the key elements of business planning, marketing, finding funding, hiring, etc. See the SCORE StartUp Roadmap and download the Simple Steps to Starting a Business Workbook. We can provide you feedback on your plan as you develop it to help you make it the best possible.

We also found food truck startup resources at https://foodtruckempire.com/how-to/case-study/   [See their Food Truck Startup Kit] Also see another sample business plan for food trucks at https://www.webstaurantstore.com/article/54/how-write-food-truck-business-plan.html

Here are other resources to consider as you develop your business plan:

Remember, SCORE provides free mentoring - we can help you navigate the startup process, provide feedback on your plan, and assist you with advice once you have launched - request free mentoring at www.score.org/find-mentor

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Zac Rheinberger and David Miller of Cleveland's Central Kitchen, Jessica Hatfield and Lee Negrilli of the Northeast Ohio Food Truck Association, SBDC Northern California, Score Miami mentor Frank Taylor, Score Fort Worth mentor Greg Kalina for their help and feedback on this article

Here's Recording of our Mar 20, 2021 Webinar

For fun, listen to the Food Truck Blues playlist on Spotify.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
About the author
Mark Krosse
Since joining the SCORE volunteer team in 2005, Mark has served hundreds of entrepreneurs helping them launch and operate successful small businesses. Some have since expanded nationally.
Read full bio
Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks has extensive experience in the Hospitality Industry
Read full bio
CONNECT
1350 Euclid Ave, #216
}
Cleveland, OH 44115
1-800-634-0245

Copyright © 2024 SCORE Association, SCORE.org

Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

Chat generously provided by:LiveChat

In partnership with
Jump back to top