Food trucks truck owners often tell me how fast paced their days are. Now matter how slow it can be at times, there always seems to be part of a shift that is utterly nuts. So how do they keep their food truck lines moving and tickets processed without losing their mind? 

How To Keep Your Cool When Food Truck Lines Stack Up

Here are few simple steps to take to make sure you and your food truck staff can stay cool when the pressure increases:

Mise en place

This French phrase means to put things in place, to prepare. Whether you are a classically trained chef or learned your cooking technique in your home kitchen, every successful food truck vendor understands the importance of having everything in its right place.

Without proper attention to mis en place, things can get chaotic very quickly; and chaos in a food truck kitchen results in unhappy customers in long food truck lines.

Measure twice

You know the old woodworking adage “measure twice, cut once”? That applies to food prep as well, so be sure to double check the conversion rates of your ingredients.

Landing zones

It may feel redundant, as you may unnecessarily dirty a bowl for just holding ingredients, but organization is key. For example, you might have an ice-bath landing zone for chilled items such as blanched asparagus or hard-boiled eggs, or a warming zone for hot items.

Keep the end result in mind

Otherwise, you can get hung up one task while other ingredients continue to cook. This is important but easy to forget.

Divide and conquer

Divide tasks, and refine them until you’re food truck staff is a model of efficiency and your food truck lines move smoothly.

Clean as you go

A clean work zone at every station in a food truck is a healthy and efficient work zone. This is good to do in between each major task or prep work.

Take good notes

When the dust finally settles and your line is empty, take stock. What worked, and what didn’t? What steps can you add or skip in the future? Don’t assume you’ll remember the next time you’re service window seems to have and endless stream of customers. Take good notes so you don’t have to keep learning the same lessons over and over.

RELATED: Keep Your Customers Warm While They Stand In Line At Your Food Truck

How to you keep your head when your food truck lines are long? We’d love to hear how you do it? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Facebook | Twitter