Have you ever fantasized about owning a Food Truck? A lot of people in my town want to but aren’t allowed to. Even if you had the cash and the smarts to go out and build one, and you could put it on the road tomorrow, there are apparently a lot of reasons you should have another think…
Read Roaster – Guess it’s chicken, eh? One of Ottawa’s very limited number
of high-profile, high-end-menu food trucks.
According to a recent post on Yahoo! FOOD, the drawbacks of owning, licensing and maintaining a Food Truck might just discourage you from even dreaming about owning one. It’s all depends on where you live (and want to operate) and what the local rules and regulations say. It’s also a matter of practicalities.
For instance…
You’re not on hard connections fort water, cooking gas, electricity or sewage disposal. You have to bring with you what you need every day (perhaps including running a generator to provide juice for your electric appliances and refrigeration), and you have to take your used water home with you.
Allow an hour each way for driving to your location du jour and back to the barn again at night. Of course, you could obviate this obstacle buy parking your truck in a great spot and leaving it there, rather than roving around. But, then, you’ve still got to get yourself and your employees there every day, along with supplies. Six of one…
At first glance, you say, ‘Yah, but I don’t have to pay property tax or rent!’ Sure. But, if you want to park your truck on a street, you’ll need a City license – something that isn’t easy to come by in some towns, such as mine. Here, in Canada’s Capital, there are only a few (less than a dozen) designated Food Truck spots on the city’s core streets. it’s harder to win one of those than to get a cab license, here! If you park your truck on private property, remember that you will be paying rent. And you’ll still, likely, have most if not all of the logistical issues associated with a fully mobile Food Truck.
Discouraged yet?
If you’re still bent on running a food truck, remember a few other things…
Wherever you park your truck, you’ll have to put up with cramped working spaces, a limited menu and a lot of hassle prepping your ingredients for the day, Did you know that many Food Truck operators actually rent or maintain their own bricks and mortar commissary kitchens, where they can prep and pre-build ingredients and dishes that they go through in volume each day?
Anyway… While I hate to be a dream-killer, I also don’t want to see good folks like you get into the deep end trying to capture the Food Truck unicorn. All I’m saying is, give the proposition a really close, critical look before you bet the farm!
~ Maggie J.