The Growing Trend of Restaurant Chains’ Entrance Into The Food Truck Industry

It takes a large investment to open a brick and mortar restaurant. Even small to large restaurant chains or franchises need to risk spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to open a new location with no guarantee that the restaurant will be successful. This is one of the reasons that many of the top restaurant chains around the United States are turning to the food truck industry. “Research indicates that food trucks are not just a fad, but a viable market segment with significant competitive advantages relative to quick serve, fast food and take-out food vendors,” states Mobile Cuisine. Some of the most-well known restaurant franchises have jumped on this bandwagon, including Taco Bell, McDonald’s, California Pizza Chicken, In-N-Out Burger, etc. Financially, there are fewer risks for restaurant owners to invest into a food truck than opening a physical location, on top of numerous other benefits, such as:

1. Catering – A mobile food truck allows restaurants to expand their services by offering catering. While some locations may offer delivery, or food for pick up, an actual truck or trailer can provide an efficient way to deliver to both personal or corporate events, such as weddings, meetings, dinner parties, etc. A mobile food truck offers many benefits for clients that choose catering, such as no clean up and a worry-free event without the need to estimate the exact amount of food beforehand.

1. Mobile Advertising and Brand Awareness – A brick and mortar restaurant location often gets traffic from local residents or those who happen to hear about it by word of mouth or through an online search; however, mobile cuisine offers huge brand awareness opportunities. As the truck drives around town, it creates free mobile advertising, saving restaurant owners anywhere from the $50,000-200,000 it usually takes to advertise per month. As the truck serves new neighborhoods, it will promote the brand, and recruit new, loyal customers.

1. Franchise Opportunities Testing – A mobile unit allows new franchise restaurant owners to conduct research before investing into a brick and mortar site. Without gambling with high upfront costs for a new physical location, owners can take the guesswork out of finding the perfect location by testing which areas provide the most business. The food trucks provide vital location information and demographics statistics which will help owners make a wise choice before committing to a particular neighborhood.

1. New Menu Selection – Restaurants take a big chance by replacing traditional favorites with new items on the menu. However, food trucks provide a unique ability to allow customers to try brand new dishes that may be edgier or more risque than those served at the brick and mortar site. These new menu offerings will help create a buzz for the restaurant around town.

1. Charity – A mobile food truck can provide new opportunities for customers to conduct fundraising for local charities and organizations. A well-known brand can boost the attendance, providing extra revenue for the fundraisers. Furthermore, many food trucks promote their services on social media; a strategy that can bring additional guests to the event.

Food trucks offer restaurant chain or franchise owners an inexpensive way to promote their brand, offer extended services, and test out new menu selections. Additionally, mobile units provide an extra source of revenue in addition to or in replacement of brick and mortar locations. Prime Pinnacle’s research has shown that about 15 percent of the top 200 restaurant chains have entered the food truck industry, with that number expanding exponentially every year.

Some of the content and information provided by Jeremy Adams – CEO/President of Prestige Food Trucks – The World Leader in Custom Manufactured Food Trucks & Trailers. www.prestigefoodtrucks.com.

For more information about entering into the food truck industry, contact Prime Pinnacle, which is a private investment firm that seeks to provide safe, secure, consistent, and maximum return on investments for individual investors and groups. Our investment are mostly asset based in real estate, secured loans, capital equipment, commercial vehicles, and etc.

By: Tracy Stein – Article