As the mobile food industry grows a large number of culinary entrepreneurs are looking to enter the market. This is why you need to have an effective strategy in place to help put together a plan for your food truck grand opening.

By the time you launch your grand opening, you should have worked out all of the kinks. This will allow you and your staff to be ready to impress your customers. Planning for your food truck’s opening should take place over the course of several weeks.

Here is a quick list for planning a food truck grand opening:

Simple Menu

Develop a relatively simple menu to start off your food truck. As time goes by, you can add more selections. Keep the menu simple in the beginning to help keep your supply costs down.

A simple menu also gives your chefs a chance to develop their cooking procedures in your truck’s kitchen. When you start to grow the menu, your chefs will be better able to expand on the processes they have created, and keep your mobile food business running smoothly.

RELATED: Food Truck Business Tips To Get Started On The Right Foot

Review Paperwork

Review all of the paperwork associated with running your truck, such as employee forms, supplier agreements and work schedules to make sure everything is in order.

You should have at least two hard copies of this information. One in your office file and one set on board your truck. Don’t get tied up having to run home or to the office to get a document you need.

Set The Date

Set the grand opening date and begin to design some marketing material and how you plan advertise. Plan to start advertising at least two weeks before the opening day.

Unless you have an actual advertising budget, consider developing a social media strategy (for Twitter and Facebook) or put together a press release that you can get into the hands of local news organizations and food bloggers.

Consider making your opening day at a food truck event where you can tap into the popularity of the other trucks scheduled for the event.

Soft Opening

Open your food truck one or two weeks before the scheduled opening day. This is what the food service industry refers to as a soft opening. Start with a limited staff and very limited advertising.

The point of a soft opening is to work out any problems you may have in your mobile food business before the grand opening. You will be able to determine employee scheduling concerns, problems with suppliers, issues with the truck and kitchen equipment before your grand opening.

Correct any problems that surface during the soft opening. Then begin to increase staff levels to accommodate your grand opening day.

RELATED: Soft Opening: A Great Way To Have A Fantastic Grand Opening

Invite The Press

Invite local food and restaurant critics to your food truck once you begin grand opening advertising. If you time it right, you may be able to get a review that can accompany your official launch.

RELATED: How To Get Free Local Press For Your Food Truck

The Bottom Line

Don’t miss out on a great way to introduce your new food truck by throwing a food truck grand opening. Do it properly and you’ll be on the road to success.

If you are planning a food truck grand opening, please feel free to send a press release to us at admin [at] mobile-cuisine [dot] com and we will share your story. Do you have any advice you’d give to new trucks getting ready for their own food truck grand opening? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media Twitter | Facebook