Using Your Time Wisely When Dealing With Slow Shifts

If every location you park your food truck is busy, chaotic and filled in sales – stay where you’re at for as long as you can. If you’re like the majority of food trucks, you will encounter some slow times while you are on the streets. Instead of being bored to tears or leaning out the service window to people watch, here are 5 things you can do during slow shifts that will contribute to the overall business goals.

5 Things To Do During Slow Shifts

Get ahead of the game

Wash your dirty cookware to be prepared for the next busy rush.
Prep garnishes, or other ingredients ahead of time if permitted.
Why not broaden your business industry knowledge and do some research here at Mobile Cuisine? This information you pick up could give you a step up among other food trucks.

Customer Engagement

With the increase and emphasis on social media and engagement, tap into your creative side and create a contest or social media messages for your followers to enjoy.
Take photographs of interesting things occurring around the truck and upload them to your various social accounts.

Sales and Marketing

Plan the next pre-shift meeting by coming up with points to cover that will help increase sales by utilizing unique marketing tactics.
Think of new weekly menu promotions that include your customer’s favorites.
Develop new content for your food truck’s website. Try to think outside of the box and use appealing visuals and language to snag customers’ attention.

Clean, clean, clean

Having a clean and pristine food truck kitchen is one the most quintessential qualities of a successful mobile food business. Customers will notice dust and grim on windows or the counter. Remember, you are trying to increase the number of customers, not scare them away. Wipe down every square inch if time permits. If not, here are a few essential pieces of equipment you should ensure are clean.

Countertops
Kitchen Equipment
Your POS terminal
Cabinets

Organize

Remove old products and make sure you have the best looking food in plain sight for customers to view.
Think of a busy shift at the truck and how a streamlined process for all staff members would help facilitate easier and faster transactions. Running back and forth, bumping into each other, inhibits such transactions.

The Bottom Line

No matter how slow any of your slow shifts are, find a task or two to accomplish which will help your food truck business. Whether you’re cleaning, creating new ways to engage with customers, designing new promotions or menu items, or simply lending a help hand to a fellow co-worker, your time and effort are always needed.

Share what you do during a slow shifts at your food truck in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Facebook | Twitter

By Richard Myrick|2019-08-06T08:44:36-04:00Aug 6, 2019|Business|

About the Author: Richard Myrick

Richard Myrick is an architect by degree (Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan) who began his career in real estate development and architectural planning. In September of 2010 he created Mobile Cuisine Magazine to fill an information void he found when he began researching how to start a mobile hotdog cart in Chicago. Richard found that there was no central repository of mobile street food information anywhere on the internet, and with that, the idea for MCM was born. Richard also wrote the "Running a Food Truck for Dummies" available in bookstores everywhere and Amazon. You can reach out to Richard by email at: [email protected].