When it comes to the skills needed in a food truck business, the first line of emphasis is on technical ability. These are referred to as hard skills. Basic soft skills are often overlooked, but they will play an important role in the day to day operations of your food truck.

Mobile food vendors need to place equal importance on both hard and soft skills when hiring your food truck staff. If you’ve already hired dependable staff members, you should encourage them to develop these basic soft skills if they are lacking in any of them.

Basic soft skills go beyond an individual’s ability to cooperate with people at work. Focusing on your basic soft skills can improve your motivation, leadership skills, and conflict resolution skills. To help learn what the basic soft skills are we’ve compiled a list of the most important soft skills to focus on in your food truck.

4 Basic Soft Skills That Should Be Present In Your Food Truck

Work Ethic

This is a basic soft skill that is hard to define. If you will find employees that will either display a strong work ethic and the drive to complete assigned tasks, or those that don’t. Work ethic can be learned with proper training and motivation.

Some employees may be able to develop a stronger work ethic with incentives outside of threats.

Communication

Communication skills are the most important basic soft skills for any employee. Even if someone is going to work the fry station, they need to learn how to communicate with the rest of the team to make sure your orders are sent out hot and on time.

Communication skills can be learned and improved with the right training. It may take time for some employees to learn effective communication skills if they are shy.

RELATED: Effective Communications With Your Food Truck Customers

Problem Solving

Being able to make quick decisions, think on your feet, and solve simple problems are important for every food truck employee. Look for employees that have the ability to take charge of a situation. They should be able to guide the others through if they have difficulty. The employees who display great decision making skills are often excellent candidates for promotion.

RELATED: Make Sure You’re Solving The Right Food Truck Problem

Teamwork

The ability to work well within a team is another one of our important basic soft skills. Some employees may feel comfortable working within a group, while others may have problems and prefer to work alone.

It is necessary to spot these personality types before you hire them. Your food truck team should have a diverse set of personalities that mesh together. Building your team and consistently practicing team building exercises will help your employees develop this skill.

RELATED: Building Trust In Your Food Truck Team

The Bottom Line

Poor sales results are usually the result of poor soft skills and not lack of product knowledge. Ultimately, customers don’t care as much about your product knowledge, but more about that they like you, relate to you, and that you provide them with great value.

As a food truck owner, your ability to embrace challenges, communicate clearly, and motivate others are basic soft skills that will lead to transformative effects on your business. Even if you weren’t born with the technical culinary aptitude you wish you had, or you don’t have a resume littered with Michelin stars, you can still take your business to new heights by working on the skills you can control, your basic soft skills.

How have you improved your basic soft skills? Share your thoughts in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Facebook | Twitter