One of the more grueling tasks in running a food truck is marketing and promotion. You are busy operating your truck and many vendors can’t afford to hire a marketing agency to do this work. We try to make things easier by providing articles you can use to spark the idea process. Timely promotions resonate well with consumers so feel free to use these May marketing tips for your food truck promotions.

May Marketing Tips For Food Truck Vendors

Here are six May marketing tips to target the things happening next month.

Food Holidays (Every day of the month)

Since our start, we’ve shared the various food holidays throughout the year. With May around the corner, take a look at our May Food Holiday calendar to get an idea which of your menu items you can highlight. It will also give creative chefs the chance to plan to create new menu items that incorporate fun ingredients to market on big food holidays.

RELATED: May Food Holidays

National Small Business Week

If you didn’t know, National Small Business Week is the first week of May. It is dedicated to raising awareness about small businesses and celebrating the hard working owners behind them. This week is packed with marketing opportunities for your food truck. Here are some examples…

  • Run a deal a day for the week. Promote different menu items each day.
  • Get return customers. Give out coupons with purchases this week, that can only be redeemed on an upcoming holiday or on the last day of Small Business Week.
  • Increase your exposure. Use #NationalSmallBusinessWeek and other relevant hashtags in your social media posts and promotions.
  • Run an Instagram giveaway. Entrants post a photo to Instagram of themselves at your truck, using a custom hashtag. Announce the winner at the end of the week.
  • Build community and expand your reach. Team up with complementary small businesses and create a food truck event.
  • Give back. Make an extra effort to give back to your community by shopping at, posting reviews, and engaging in social media with other small businesses during the week.

Cinco de Mayo (May 5)

Cinco de Mayo falls on a Friday this year, which makes it all the more fun. There are many ways to infuse a Mexican-American spirit into your food truck marketing even if you don’t serve Mexican cuisine.

  • Give out coupons the day before or a few days before, redeemable on Cinco de Mayo.
  • Share a festive discount “code word” on social media, customers who mention the code at the truck get 10% off.
  • Use the number 5 in your promotions, such as get the fifth one free, $5 specials, 5% off, 5 for 5, etc.
  • Throw a food truck event or cooking class revolving around Mexican food and culture.

Kentucky Derby

Use the Kentucky Derby in your May marketing efforts. Get creative with derby fashion or horse-themed decorations, promotions, contests, and events.

  • Decorate your truck or rename menu items for the day with a derby theme to grab attention and attract customers.
  • Throw a food truck event with derby hat contests and mint juleps.
  • Run a derby hat contest on Instagram or Facebook.
  • Use derby hashtags such as #kyderby so that people can find you and follow along.

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is prime time for any food business.

  • Offer special Mother’s Day menu items, and discounts for Mother’s Day gift givers, either on this day or the day before as well.
  • Combine menu items into attractive meal deal that make gift-giving easy.
  • Many food trucks get a spike in traffic on Mother’s Day. Hand out coupons with purchases that are redeemable at a later time (ideally a time when business typically gets slow).

RELATED: Mother’s Day Food Truck Marketing Tips

Memorial Day

Here are some ways to show your patriotism and love for the USA through your marketing efforts for Memorial Day.

  • Red, white, and blue themed recipes, outfits, flower arrangements, etc. and promote on Pinterest and Instagram.
  • Host a food truck event for your community, and give out branded swag.
  • Participate in or sponsor a local food truck event.
  • Use quotes, images, and other posts on social media to show your support for those who have lost their lives for our country.

RELATED: Memorial Day Promotions Can Jump Start Your Summer Profits

The Bottom Line

Get started on promoting your food truck business for the Spring and Spring Holidays with these marketing ideas for the month of May. These promotional ideas should get your marketing gears going while allowing you to harness the momentum of each promotion. Make sure to check back each month as we’ll continue this for the remainder of the year.

Do you have any May marketing tips we may have missed? Share your thoughts on this topic on social media. FacebookTwitter