When mobile food vendors don’t achieve their business goals, some have a tendency to declare that it’s time to change the culture. But sweeping, large-scale culture change efforts rarely cure what ails a food truck business. Food truckers get better results when they make small changes to create a few smaller successes. Start with one problem, for example a performance challenge.

Get some your staff to run a couple of test runs on experiments that might solve the issue. Pay careful attention to what works and how. Incorporate the successful ideas into subsequent steps.

Keep advancing an increasing number of performance improvements based on those early wins — and continue to learn from each subsequent experiment. Eventually you’ll have changed the culture in your food truck by taking it one problem at a time.

How To Make Small Changes In Your Food Truck

Whatever changes you want to implement, try this method for identifying, testing and optimizing those small changes.

  • Experiment. When asking why you do things a certain way, don’t ever let your response be, “This is how we’ve always done it.” While your current method may work, there’s almost always a more efficient way to do things. Don’t ever stop asking your team, and customers how you can improve.
  • Do a trial run. Pick an area of your food truck business or one of your systems that is ready for an update, and give the change a two-week trial period. Tie the results to something measurable (such as profit per ticket) to determine success.
  • Track the results. All decisions should be based on a combination of metrics, feedback and your gut. Track how things go during the two-week trial and compare your results to old information.
  • Review the change. When you explain the trial to your staff, your team members may tell you the change worked great;  or they may say it actually caused problems. Take in their feedback and determine whether you should stick with the change.
  • Keep learning. An effective food truck owner knows that you’ve never got it all figured out. There’s always something you can learn to make your food truck business more efficient. By seeking new ideas and approaches, you can find the keys to even better efficiency in your truck.

RELATED: Menu Changes To Make Your Food Truck More Profitable

The Bottom Line

Too many vendors wait until something is wrong before they try to fix it. Changes don’t have to be huge to make a difference. Remember to make small changes since it’s the little things that count.

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