Food Truck Bonanza

I love macaroni and cheese. Seriously. I didn’t know I would love macaroni and cheese covered with sloppy Joe and crispy fried onions until I met it at a food truck. Food trucks at an event are a great way to serve a lot of people quickly, serve some amazing food, and support locally owned businesses all at the same time. But, often the combination of number of trucks versus number of people mixed with the amount of time to eat at an event is not quite right. Let’s break it down.

What is the right number of food trucks to have at your event? There’s no perfect formula, but you know where I’m going to start, right? It starts with understanding what the goals and objectives are for your event. If the event is a festival where people can come and go all day in between rides and activities, the answer is different than if the food trucks are your main source of lunch for 1000 conference attendees with limited, condensed time to eat. Either way, it’s better to overestimate the number you need than to have attendees standing in line for 45 minutes waiting to eat.

And speaking of lines, what’s the best way to set up the space around food trucks? Again, it will depend on the space you have available and what you are trying to accomplish, but where possible, make sure there is plenty of space for lines. Try to snake the lines so they don’t cross each other and, where possible, try to have the lines go in a direction that won’t impede people who are walking through looking to get, or walking away with, their food.

What types of food should you have at the event? This is one of those instances where you better know your attendees. Who is coming to your event? Do you serve a more mature audience? Perhaps some less spicy options would be smarter. Are your attendees a gang of hungry teenagers on a retreat? You’d better select some hearty meals and book extra food trucks. Do you serve moms coming for inspiration? Multiple coffee trucks in the morning will save your life. Trust me.

Do you work with volunteers or have staff that eat lunch in shifts? If you’re not providing lunch for them separately from the food trucks, make sure they can get to the front of the line quickly. Let your attendees know these hard-working folks are on a time crunch before dismissing them to lunch. Identify your volunteers with different colored shirts, lanyards, or nametags, hang signs at the food truck windows reminding attendees to let volunteers cut in line, and ask the food truck vendors to have an option either partially pre-made or one that can be assembled quickly for these folks.

One last thing to mention, if you are overwhelmed planning your event and can’t think of taking on one more thing, there are companies out there who will do the legwork for you. You tell them all about your event, and for a small fee per truck, they offer you a selection of trucks and make sure they are insured, inspected, and show up on time. I have used this service and it saved me a lot of time.

Have you used food trucks at your event? Which one was your favorite? Tell us here or
send me an email, I’d love to hear about your food truck experience.

Please share this blog on your social media and with others who plan events!

Do you work with volunteers during your event? Then you need Tracy Baer’s book Cultivating a Healthy Volunteer Team! Find out more at tracybaer.com.