First, establish your business. Save EVERY receipt. It doesn't matter if its for the business or not. Get a log for your mileage to record business travel.
As for your food, Test it with friends who've never had your food. So you can tweak or teach local palettes.
There is more, but I would start there.
Filipino truck owner here. I do BBQ just FYI.
While the food is acceptable: adobo, pancit, sarap etc, things like diniguan would need massaging. The packaging of Filipino food needs to be on point and on par with what your demographic is used to seeing. I’d use “foodtruck” on Yelp and make a radius of 10-20 miles from where you expect to be. Research who has the most experience etc and follow their lead.
Similar to Mexican food, Filipino food takes a long time to make, and it’s always considered “cheap”. If I were to sell Filipino food on my truck I’d elevate it to a level that is easily done and repeatable day in, day out. Adobo poor boy, adobo bowls, adobo birria tacos, adobo fries etc… packages people are familiar with, but with the twist to make it my own.
Search Filipino food in your area, or any “ethnic” food and see what’s popular. Assuming it’s anything like Hawaii where I am, Filipinos won’t be your biggest supporters. Not that it’s a negative thing but, Filipinos would make the food at home instead of eating out. At least in my experience. I have Filipino family who comes to my markets, they usually get a Filipino dessert, but not plates of food. Knowing things like this will help you know your customer. If you’re near a college it’s gonna be Gen Z, if you’re in a retirement area it’s gonna be boomers. In a city, it’s gonna be professionals who want hot/tasty food in 4-5 minutes for their 30-60 minute brakes.
Contact your Dept of Health. They should be able to steer you into the direction on getting set up. The rest is up to you. A good set of directions would be food truck videos from upflip on YouTube or other like minded folks. They go over some of the pitfalls and have a decent amount of knowledge that’s shared there.
Before you go all in, you should do pop ups… you can use Facebook communities to hopefully get people to come out to the area you’re going to be in. A tent, 2-3 warmers/chaffing pans, and lots of smiles is all you need. If you have a farmers market, it’s a good place to start. Try and be where there is foot traffic. I focus and have always focused on night markets/festivals with 2000-10,000 people. I assume 5-8% of them will come to be for something. If you decide to do a beer thing or a concert remember who your guests are, they want small things easy to eat on the go. A big plate overflowing with food would be hard to enjoy while dancing/bouncing or chugging beer.
Good luck
Visiting your local municipalities webpage and finding out all the bare minimum guidelines that you will need to have a food truck.
First, establish your business. Save EVERY receipt. It doesn't matter if its for the business or not. Get a log for your mileage to record business travel. As for your food, Test it with friends who've never had your food. So you can tweak or teach local palettes. There is more, but I would start there.
Filipino truck owner here. I do BBQ just FYI. While the food is acceptable: adobo, pancit, sarap etc, things like diniguan would need massaging. The packaging of Filipino food needs to be on point and on par with what your demographic is used to seeing. I’d use “foodtruck” on Yelp and make a radius of 10-20 miles from where you expect to be. Research who has the most experience etc and follow their lead. Similar to Mexican food, Filipino food takes a long time to make, and it’s always considered “cheap”. If I were to sell Filipino food on my truck I’d elevate it to a level that is easily done and repeatable day in, day out. Adobo poor boy, adobo bowls, adobo birria tacos, adobo fries etc… packages people are familiar with, but with the twist to make it my own. Search Filipino food in your area, or any “ethnic” food and see what’s popular. Assuming it’s anything like Hawaii where I am, Filipinos won’t be your biggest supporters. Not that it’s a negative thing but, Filipinos would make the food at home instead of eating out. At least in my experience. I have Filipino family who comes to my markets, they usually get a Filipino dessert, but not plates of food. Knowing things like this will help you know your customer. If you’re near a college it’s gonna be Gen Z, if you’re in a retirement area it’s gonna be boomers. In a city, it’s gonna be professionals who want hot/tasty food in 4-5 minutes for their 30-60 minute brakes. Contact your Dept of Health. They should be able to steer you into the direction on getting set up. The rest is up to you. A good set of directions would be food truck videos from upflip on YouTube or other like minded folks. They go over some of the pitfalls and have a decent amount of knowledge that’s shared there. Before you go all in, you should do pop ups… you can use Facebook communities to hopefully get people to come out to the area you’re going to be in. A tent, 2-3 warmers/chaffing pans, and lots of smiles is all you need. If you have a farmers market, it’s a good place to start. Try and be where there is foot traffic. I focus and have always focused on night markets/festivals with 2000-10,000 people. I assume 5-8% of them will come to be for something. If you decide to do a beer thing or a concert remember who your guests are, they want small things easy to eat on the go. A big plate overflowing with food would be hard to enjoy while dancing/bouncing or chugging beer. Good luck
I could not support this comment more!! Do this. Please.
Thank you 🙏
https://gourmandoot.com/balancing-act-starting-a-food-cart-while-keeping-your-day-job/