Do you want to know what a food truck park business model is and how it works? If YES, then here is everything you need to know. A food truck park, or pod, is a well organized space that hosts a community of food trucks and carts, attracts customers eager for a mass gathering for food options, and provides an area with eating amenities such as tables, tents, and bathrooms.
Advocates of food truck parks believe that these parks can revitalize neighborhoods, attracting business to little-visited areas and offering dining options where there once were few. Since trucks have much lower start-up costs than brick and mortar restaurants, they are a way for new chefs to establish themselves in the community.
If you are looking to start a food truck park, the first thing to do is to research zoning regulations and permitting within the geographic region of interest. Although you don’t have to knuckle down all the exact specifications since you’ll need to constantly keep pace with this in the future as you move along, but a general idea of all city requirements needed will help you determine if you have the resources and funding to go through with the project.
One sure route is to partner up or reach out to a city planner or developer to see what’s possible, which areas are developing and where a food truck park would add value. After you must have determined that you have the resources and funding to open a food truck park, the next step is to find an empty lot or venue that would serve as a great location for a food truck park.
However, if this lot falls outside of the zoning district or city you originally did the research for, go back through and research all regulations and permitting needed to go through with this location. Once the location is decided, a lease or purchase agreement for the land will need to be negotiated and executed. Just ensure the location not only allows for food truck setup but also for pedestrian flow and parking.
After you must have decided all these, follow through with all requirements by the county, city, fire department, and health department. This most likely entails providing access to restrooms, running water lines, drainage, and proper seating/eating areas.
You will need to get together with an architect to help design the layout. From there you will also have to hire contractors to develop and build as well as acquire all items required to execute the job. Once again, having a land/city developer as a reference is highly beneficial.
It is imperative that you have all permits, contracts, architectural designs signed off on and approved by the governing authority before moving forward to the next step. Don’t forget that government departments do not communicate with each other – this means it is your job to go back and forth between all parties keeping them up to date and aware of the steps.
In the United States, one government department may contradict the other causing confusion, so it is recommended to have a point of contact you can trust at each department. Also, make sure to ask if there are any requirements regarding green space or landscape on your part regarding the land space.
Once you have successfully completed all the steps for a food truck park, it is finally time to reach out to a food truck booking company or a coordinator to get you connected to trucks to get your space leased out.
How Food Truck Park Business Models Work
If you are considering owning a food truck park, there are a lot of questions and information to take into consideration. The cost of starting a food truck park can range from a few hundred dollars for just licensing and permits to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for a permanent indoor park. Here are basic ways these markets operate.
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Bylaws
Bylaws explicitly spell out a formal process of how a park will be run. They state the purpose of the park, where it is located when the park operates, and who the officers and directors are. Bylaws also describe the basis for decision making, covering issues such as:
- Membership
- Meetings, elections, and amendments
- Dues and liquidation
- How fees will be determined
- The role and duties of officers and directors
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Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is composed of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and several directors. Usually, both the President and Treasurer have signatory power on checks. Note that an effective Board of Directors for a food truck park may be composed of many types of people. Howbeit, consider electing a diversified group to represent the various interests involved.
Include vendors, local business people, community officials, sponsors, and consumers. Having people with legal knowledge and solid business, marketing, or fund-raising experience can be very useful. Three important duties of the Board of Directors are forming a budget, setting fees, and hiring a park Manager.
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Market Management
There are many aspects of park management that will have to be taken care of or you can find volunteers to accomplish them. To keep things simple, let us assume that you have decided to hire a park Manager. The main duties of the park manager are: recruiting vendors, promotion and advertising, and day-to-day operation.
Daily operation includes pricing, space allocation, and if your park is purely a retail site for vegans, that only those are sold. Since disputes are likely to arise, set up an independent appeals committee before the market opens. This committee could be composed of vendors, directors, and the Park Manager.
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Space Allocation
Another potentially troublesome area is space allocation. A flourishing food truck park will need policies and rules determining who gets which space before the park opens. You may allocate on a first come, first served basis, drawing straws, or on a seasonal, monthly, or daily fee basis. Whatever rules you make, adhere to them strictly. If problems still arise, let the appeals committee handle them.
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Vendors
Most food truck parks tend to seek for amateur or professional food truckers online in places like Craigslist and other websites oriented toward food trucks, as well as in print publications of the “Penny Trader” variety. The mix of vendors you can offer the public is also crucial to your success.
The greater the variety of offerings, the more customers your food truck park would attract; vendors also will appreciate your good judgment in this area. You may need to offer discounted selling spaces during your start-up period. Once you’re established, you can gradually increase this rate.
Conclusion
Indeed an enormous amount of work goes into establishing a food truck park, but once it is up and running, it can provide a steady stream of reliable income. A good number of food truck park operators, in addition to renting spaces to vendors, also operate food concession stands.
Many factors, such as your advertising and public relations efforts, the mix of vendors, and word of mouth among customers and vendors alike, will contribute to your flea market’s success, but the single most influential factor will be the three main rules of real estate: location, location, and location.