Corporate Job To Food Truck: What You Need To Know

Are you someone that is trying to make the corporate job to food truck transition? Well, then today’s article is for you! After working in the corporate world for the majority of your career, a new food truck vendor who launches on their own truck may quickly find this change a shock.

Corporate Job To Food Truck: What You Need To Know

Today we discuss a few of the things very few vendors think about until they’ve already hit the streets.

Owning a food truck can be lonely

The first thing you should know when making the corporate job to food truck transition is food trucking can be a lonely existence. Yes, as a food truck owner you will see people walking up to your service window (or past it) all day long, but there is more to it. Because your food truck is a startup, you have no HR division, accounting department or an administrative assistant.

So it’s just you, overseeing all these administrative tasks. And when you’re out on the road feeding your customers, none of the out of truck tasks get done because you’re not there to do it.

Finding talent isn’t easy

If you plan to start your food truck business with employees, or once you’ve grown enough to bring people on board, you’ll run into this issue. As passionate as you are about your food truck, the person you might try to hire may not be. Top candidates rarely want to join a company they don’t know for less pay, fewer benefits and less job security.

You need to market food truck as well as yourself. Share your vision with potential employees so they will see the positives of joining a startup food truck. Also let them know that by working for you they will gain a chance at more responsibility and the opportunity to learn new skills.

RELATED: Passion vs Talent When Hiring

Convincing customers to buy your food can be hard

Marketing a new food truck is no walk in the park. You want customers to buy into your mobile food business. But they don’t know your brand and in some cases, they don’t know the cuisine you are selling, so you have to work extra hard.

If you are serving great food, in time, word will get out but gaining market recognition for your food truck requires persistence.

There’s a personal toll

The final area where the corporate job to food truck transition will be different is you life outside of work. While many food truckers start up alone, most are passionate about their food truck business. Because of this, a new food truck vendor must consider the costs to their personal life.

The Bottom Line

There’s no such thing as a 9-to-5 schedule for a food truck. There is also no holiday when they should take a complete break from work. Sure you may not be on the streets vending, but there is a lot of work involved outside of your truck. Unless you have a business partner to share the workload, you cannot just park the truck and head out the door.

Do you have any additional advice to someone making the corporate job to food truck transition? We’d love to hear your suggestions and advise. Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Twitter | Facebook