Use Cold Days To Prepare Your Food Truck For Next Year

In many parts of the country, this time of year, work for food trucks can seem to grind to a halt. Instead of sitting around waiting for temps to rise, use cold days to prepare for the New Year.

Use Cold Days To Prepare Your Food Truck For Next Year

Business Paperwork

If your mobile food business has business paperwork due in the first quarter of the year, why not get a head start on them now? Waiting until the last minute only increases the likelihood that you’ll forget to file them, and then you risk a big, fat fee from your state’s business agency. Typically, this paperwork is due on the anniversary of the date you filed your business structure, so check to see if that deadline is looming.

If you haven’t incorporated or filed as an LLC, now is a great time to do so.

RELATED: Forming A Food Truck LLC

Hiring Plan

Do think that you’ll need to hire additional food truck staff in 2014? Determine what roles you’ll need to fill, list out the responsibilities for each role, and consider starting the actual hiring process.

It’s smarter to hire an employee before crunch time so that there’s ample opportunity to train them and get them comfortable in their new roles. Don’t put it off until you’re short-staffed to hire.

File Articles of Amendment

If you made any changes to your mobile food business last year, (change your business address, departure of a board member), you’ll need to file an official notification with your state.

Set Goals

Just like you would create New Year’s Resolutions for yourself, now is the ideal time to set business goals. What do you want to achieve this year? Consider:

How much you want to increase sales?
New markets you would like to enter.
How many customers you’d ideally like to be able serve daily?
Ways you want to brand yourself and your food truck business.

The more specific you can make your goals, the easier it will be to achieve them. So don’t stop at “we want to increase sales.” Say “we want to increase sales 35% by December.”

Clean Out Your Desk and Computer

You know how you’re always complaining that you don’t have time to work on office tasks? Now’s the time to throw out useless files and reorganize so that you’ll be super-efficient when you find a few minutes every day to take care of the office work.

Review Your Estimated Tax Payments

If you set up your tax payments to be due at the end of the year, you want to review what your business has made year to date and assess your estimated tax payments so that you don’t over- or underpay. You’ll want to adjust your final payment.

Write

You know that marketing is important in branding your food truck, but you never seem to have time to write blog posts for your website. If you have a few days over the days your truck is forced off the road due to inclement weather, block out a few hours and just sit down and write. You can create enough content to use for the rest of next year if you put your mind to it!

The Bottom Line

Don’t fritter away the time you find available on these days you choose not to take your food truck out on the street. Use cold days and make them work for you, and make this year even easier to succeed in.

What do you use cold days for? How do you help your food truck? We’d love to hear your thoughts. You can share your ideas in the comment section or on social media. Facebook | Twitter