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In one of my first ever interviews, I asked a successful food truck entrepreneur what his biggest tip was for creating a profitable mobile food business. The entrepreneurs recommendation surprised me because it didn’t have anything to do with cooking great food, working hard or having a marketing plan (which of course are all important). His advice was to a hire an experienced food truck consultant to guide you through the process of launching this new business.
In today’s podcast, Dan Pennachietti of Food Fellas, LLC, shares some of the reasons you may want to consider hiring a consultant for your mobile food venture. In this interview, you’ll get an overview of what you’ll learn by working with a coach in addition to getting some free consulting tips not mentioned below like the importance of having a maintenance schedule for your vehicle.
Quotes From The Show
We want people to understand it’s not the movie Chef. It’s a great movie that highlights our industry. But it’s typical type A of every movie, which is not the truth. – Dan Pennachietti on the realities of starting a food truck.
Most people have never tried cooking a recipe on a food truck. So they cook it in their house and go ‘Oh this is great!’ but what if you’re trying to cook for 3,000 people. – Dan Pennachietti on the differences of cooking at home and cooking at scale.
4 reasons to hire a food truck consultant
- To better understand the entire process from concept, to menu, to equipment layout, to licensing, permitting, & registration, to training, to soft launch, and finally to successful formal launch.
- Understanding budgeting and financial planning
- (EG) How much should you budget for insurance, maintenance, operating cost, taxes, food cost, labor, etc.
- Understanding the 3 modes of food truck operation.
- Daily vending
- Catering
- Special Events
- Understanding the business behind food trucking
- Operations
- Marketing
- Social media Plan
- Event Management
Mentioned During the Show
Food Fellas, LLC – Food truck consulting agency with a combined 70+ years of experience that specializes in helping chain restaurants launch a mobile presence. Owned by Dan Pennachietti and Roman Hlutkowsky. You can learn more about their services here and here.
Philly Mobile Food Association – This was the association Dan Pennachietti started in an effort to promote food trucks in Philly and influence mobile friendly legislation within the city. At the time of this interview, over 120 trucks are members within this organization.
