In this episode we continue on with the journey of Anthony Salvangno as he shares how he developed a unique menu for his own food truck S’wich It Up, you can check out his current menu here. This is the second in a series of episodes I’m doing with Salvango as we follow him in-real-time as he builds a business. The plan is that we’ll have a real-world case study on what it takes to build start a food truck when we’re finished.

anthony salvagnoIn this interview, we reference a previous conversation about writing a business plan. If you’re interesting in reading Salvagno’s business plan or listening to our first interview, click here.

For some restaurant owners coming up with a unique menu is a challenge. I can understand why. The food you serve has a huge impact on whether or not the establishment will be successful longterm. Additionally, tastes change. If I were the owner of a frozen yogurt places that are popping up all over the place I would be very concerned about this.

Fortunately for Salvagno, he seems to be explicably guided to a certain type of food: PB&J’s. In this show we dig deeper into Salvango’s inspiration behind starting a truck that serves spreads and jelly’s, but not surprisingly his love for this food type stemmed back from childhood.

After discussing how and why Salvagno created the menu that he did. We get into sourcing product for the business. I love the realistic approach that Salvagno is taking when evaluating where to get his product, including the peanut butter and other spreads needed to get his truck. There is a major trend to create products that are locally sourced and organic. But those products often come with a higher price tag, which can be off-putting to a consumer. Would you want to pay $15 for a sandwich at lunch? Some would, but most people wouldn’t. Salvagno explains how he’s ensuring there will be a high-quality product without causing his customer base to have sticker shock.

Serious about Starting a Food Truck? Click Here To Learn How Anthony Salvagno’s Journey Can Help You Start a Food Truck Faster. 

In This Episode You’ll Learn

  • How Salvagno tested his product on friends and family members (AKA through a party) to get initial feedback on different potential menu items.
  • Why the Salvagno brothers brain stormed different ideas to see what would work and flesh out any ideas that really wouldn’t work well.
  • How Salvagno came up with the idea for his version of a S’more Sandwich that could end up being a signature dish in the future.
  • Why you should consider the time it takes to cook and serve all menu items prior to adding them to a menu. The more food items you can serve in a short period of time the more potential profits are possible.
  • The process Salvagno is using to determine the prices on his menu to ensure he’s making a profit off of each item at the end of the day.
  • The difficulty of sourcing all products locally
  • Why Anthony wants to be extremely educated about the processes behind where the food on his truck came from and the processes used to create it.
  • The number of customers per day Anthony will need to break even in his business.

Mentioned During the Show

365 days on a food truckS’wich It Up Promo Video – Pretty funny montage parody video.

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Hey! 👋I’m Brett Lindenberg, the founder of Food Truck Empire.

We interview successful founders and share the stories behind their food trucks, restaurants, food and beverage brands. By sharing these stories, I want to help others get started.

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