The quote of very famous chef says “The greatest dishes are very simple. –Auguste Escoffier” Food & Beverage industry is one of the widest sectors of hospitality where Simplicity is defined by various prospects. “FOOD TRUCK” is the simplest example of street food served by moving vehicles. With a rise in disposable income of middle-class; expenditure on fast food, awareness of nutritional aspect, mobile lifestyle and requirement of food on the go has made this model a popular choice among the Indian population, both as customers and investors. According to a study, this industry shall achieve revenue growth at the rate of 3.7% in the next five years, which is a significant growth for a newly introduced industry.
It is becoming a selective choice over a regular restaurant for new entrepreneurship activity with low investments and minimal risks involved. Few of its benefits are listed below.
It is considered to be low investment with high-profit food business ideas, mainly because it involves least economical investment as against a sit-down restaurant. This is one of the main competitive advantages of running a food truck instead of a regular restaurant. Moreover, to lessen the capital investment buying a truck can be replaced with renting. Next, selection of equipments & machinery required can be managed according the span of menu, like kitchen equipment, including exhausts, grillers, heat lamps, and any other specialty equipment your particular food needs.
Another advantage is it does not require the investment in expensive utilities, hiring a wide range of staff and taxes applicable on regular restaurants. This cuts down the most of capital & operational investment, providing disposable income from the capital to spend on menu engineering & marketing. On the other hand, its operational costs are month-to-month and limited as per the need & scope of operations or can be paid flexibly to manage the cost factor, as well as it does not require to disturb the routine operation maintenance & repair are easily manageable & even replaceable without major capital investment.
They are more eye appealing & hygienic with better quality food value for money as described by most customers, so they have become the latest fad in food & beverage world.
It offers pocket friendly deals for all verity of consumers. Price range starts from Rs 10 to Rs 200 to Rs 500 varying in all possible aspects- veg or non-veg, starters to complete meal. In country like India, where there is no end for the street food items, menu changes at every 5 km providing infinity varieties to please the customer with budget friendly meals.
In comparison to street food, Food truck foods & services are observed more hygienic & better option because of many reasons like use of disposable cutlery, moveable structure which makes it easier to maintain & clean, set up is similar to restaurant so it can offer better nutritional quality in food as compared to street food, etc.
When it comes to take risk in business, this model is superior than regular startup restaurant with low risk factor. Restaurants are bounded with location, whereas, the food trucks are flexible. Location plays a major role in success of food & beverage outlet as it generates major footfall. This concept works on low price quality food so quantity sale is required to generate maximum revenue where location plays a major role.
Its mobility feature also works as marketing tool to create brand of own product & provides flexibility in operation like shifting from regular sale to being part of larger event as secondary source or certain part of menu & many more where the imagination of person takes.
They are also flexible in terms of modification of structures (menu engineering, service management, product designing & exploration of new products) as well as expansion of concept (product or business). As compared to regular restaurant, its dynamics are more versatile & adaptable to changes over time because of small set up, limited equipments & staff.
This has become the best platform for the new entrant in food & beverage industry, it allows having better control and more flexibility. This is seemingly the best avenue for first-time entrepreneurs since they can research, and experiment with their model before they venture into establishing a sit-down restaurant with high investments and risks. After gaining a comprehensive knowledge, one can then dive into a conclusion about what would work the best for their sit-down restaurant. The future of food trucks seems to move high on the profit graph in developing India.
