Food truck upselling is an important part of any vendor’s marketing and sales strategy and an obvious way to boost revenue. However, there’s a delicate balance between offering helpful suggestions to your customers and becoming an annoyance. Every mobile food business strives to ensure its customers have the most enjoyable dining experience possible, and therefore, the last thing service staff should do is overly push them to order extra things they may not want.

On the other hand, many times customers are very receptive to or even appreciative of a server who goes the extra mile to suggest additional menu items they may not have thought to order on their own.

So how should your food truck strike the right balance between too much food truck upselling and not up selling enough? Easy, follow these four simple food truck upselling tips.

4 Simple Food Truck Upselling Tips

Know the customer

Your service window staff should take the time to personally know their customers, especially loyal ones. To do so, train them to ask certain questions. This will allow them to better understand their customers’ personal preferences and then offer particular menu suggestions, accordingly.

Make the upsell enticing

When upselling, customers will only be excited about their server’s suggestions if they are. To help service staff be more convincing up sellers, during your regular staff meetings try slotting out time for mock scenarios, whereby service staff can test and fine-tune their upselling techniques with each other. Another great way to do this is by regularly featuring different menu items with visual photos on your food truck’s Facebook page.

Look for queues from customers

Typically customers will let their server know, even if subtly, how they are feeling throughout the dining experience. By asking basic questions, such as: “Do you know about our specials today?” will let the server know whether or not their guests are receptive to additional menu suggestions.

Make sure service staff is knowledgeable about the menu

Every member of your staff must know your menu inside and out to be effective up sellers. This includes making sure they have an opportunity to try different food/drink items. Also brief them prior to their shift about any changes or specials that have been added to the menu. Knowledgeable staff and stellar server interaction is always a must.

RELATED: Marketing Truths ALL Food Truck Owners Should Know

The Bottom Line

With these basic tips and techniques, you can ensure that upselling provides your food truck with a nice additional revenue flow. The best part is that is won’t compromise the customer experience.

Do you have any additional food truck upselling tips that could help our readers? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Twitter | Facebook