Finalize your menu, hire additional employees, and secure local connections.
Waiting on your trailer to be built? Start working NOW on all the other things you can be doing.
1. Is your menu finalized?
Make a list of the items you'll be serving as well as their ingredients. What relationships will you lean on to purchase fresh ingredients? Do you have the necessary equipment to serve the food you want?
2. What type of targeted Marketing are you going to be doing?
Have you thought about your ideal customer? Who will you be serving to and how can you market to them? Think outside the box! Find local areas that might be lacking in restaurants. How can you strategically make yourself known?
3. What additional supplies do you need for your trailer?
You'll want to make sure you have all the pots, pans, and cooking utensils you need. Begin gathering cleaning supplies, food prep gloves and other essential items. Do you have a POS System? What kind of signage do you need?
4. How are you planning on prepping food?
You may need to secure a local commissary depending on your local regulations. If that's so, begin by searching out a commissary and get connected so that you can start using them as soon as you have your trailer.
5. Do you need to hire additional employees?
Think about what times you'll be open and what kind of help you will need to run your food trailer. Do you need someone with cooking expertise or just someone to run through the POS System. Make a list of the additional employees you will need to hire when the time is right. Start with the least amount of people that you need to make your trailer run. You can always add more later!
6. Build your customer base
Partnering with local businesses to do pop-ups can be a great way to test your menu staples, establish a customer base, and create great local connections. This is also an opportunity to see what it will be like to take orders and serve your food in an efficient way. Your work-flow and ability to serve a lot of food in a short amount of time are critical to financial success, so anything you can do to improve this ahead of time will be helpful.