Got a huge podcast for you today with Dave Danhi, the CEO and Founder of the The Grilled Cheese Truck, arguably the most popular food truck on the planet and the number one followed food truck on Twitter.

In this exclusive interview, I get the opportunity to speak with Dave about how he leveraged Twitter to build anticipation for his business prior to owning a truck and fast forward to today where he’s launched a franchise opportunity powered by the military veterans.

Also, I’ve got a ton of news this week regarding the future of the FoodTruckEmpire.com podcast, including news about a sponsor and a call to action to let me know about any aspiring food truck owners that need funding. It’s all great stuff and thank you so much for listening.

Awesome Quotes

We had 2,500 followers on Twitter before we had keys to a truck. – Dave Danhi

One of my favorite Tweets in the pre-truck days was “If this is a hoax this is brilliant.” because it went on for about 5 months of me just taunting the crowd with pictures and menu ideas and stuff like that. So that’s what really kicked us off was our social media presence. – Dave Danhi

Make sure you want to do this. – Dave Danhi, on starting a food truck.

Dave’s 3-Rules to Operating a Successful Food Business

1.) Take care of your people.
2.) Put out the best product possible.
3.) Customer service has to be through the roof.

According to Dave, if you can get these three things right everything else usually falls into place.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • How to use Twitter for way more than simply posting location information and food photos
  • Why Dave Danhi transformed his brand into a franchise opportunity
  • Why Dave believes veterans are the best group of people to operate a food truck
  • Why you should be 100% confident you want to start a food truck business prior to getting the keys
  • How to find the food niche you can fill in your area

This podcast is approximately 23 minutes in length.

Mentioned During The Show

The Grilled Cheese Truck – This is the official website of The Grilled Cheese Truck. Find out where all the Grilled Cheese Trucks will be over the next 7 days in addition to learning more about this unique franchise opportunity available exclusively to veterans.

@grlldcheesetruk – Find out where The Grilled Cheese Truck will be next by following them on Twitter. If you’re a food truck entrepreneur this is a great account to follow to see how Dave engages with his audience and builds interest in his business via social media.

@KogiBBQ – Another popular food truck serving the Los Angeles area that was referenced by Dave during the interview. This is another smart profile to follow to see how they engage with their customers.

General Wesley Clark – Involved in connecting veterans with the food truck industry and The Grilled Cheese Truck.

Thank you so much for listening and I look forward to seeing you next Friday morning!

Want to start your own food business?

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.

If you liked this story, sign up for our newsletter that includes our food business startup kit and most popular interviews sent straight to your inbox.

Know someone interesting that should be interviewed on the website? Tell us about them here.Â