Select Page
Food Trucks Going Digital in New York City

Food Trucks Going Digital in New York City

by | Mar 9, 2017 | Neighborhoods, New York City

Digitally savvy equals success for trucks and foodies alike.

Hot dogs, pupusas, kebabs, bamboo rice sticky bowls, fried chicken, falafel, bulgogi, and tacos made from any and all of the above. That’s “Food Truck Food,” New York City style. Every type of ethnic, fusion and fabulous food, prepared fresh daily, in food trucks on every block and in every borough.

Officially there are 4,235 food vendors in New York City, but unofficial estimates (which include non-permitted vendors, as well as rented and black market licenses) are at least double that number.

Entrepreneurial, fun, and, with a rapidly growing market, food trucks are beyond popular. But, it’s also a competitive market so it takes more than wonderful waffles, like the Belgian awesomeness of Wafels & Dinges, to keep customers coming back and to turn a profit.

It takes technology—starting with the right dongle.

No, a dongle isn’t a type of donut fusion with some exotic glaze. It’s the small credit card reader that attaches to phones, tablets and laptops so people can pay using a card.

Square has been the popular choice for this task since at least 2011, according to an article in Mashable. It, and digital tools like it, “make running a mobile business much easier and more efficient, since you don’t have to waste time counting cash or getting change from the bank.”

Square also has services to track sales, set up price lists (including specials!) and manage inventory. Square charges, on average, about 2.75 to 3.5 percent of the sale which makes them affordable on a lean budget. Other, similar, merchant vendor devices and services are offered by PayPal.

Once a food truck has the ability to accept payment in all forms, the next step (a daily step!) is to let customers know they’re open and ready for business.

This requires social media, including Twitter and Facebook, as well as membership with a mapping and food truck-tracking website and app.

Why the need to have multiple, facile, platforms and apps?  

The most obvious reason: food trucks are mobile. With traffic, construction, protests and parades trucks need to be able to adapt to ever-changing landscape of city—yet still let people know where to find the food.

Social media lets food-truck-fans follow digitally so that following the path of favorite trucks literally is easier. Also, in order to make ends meet many trucks offer catering and delivery—usually via-online-ordering.

That’s where joining up with a site like RoamingHunger really comes into play. The company has been around since 2009 and has maps of multiple cities where all the best food trucks are listed, mapped (with time as well as place!) and tracked.

Based on the site’s list of popular trucks, including Korilla BBQ which won the Rookie of the Year Vendy in 2011 and is still going strong, connecting to a website like RoamingHunger is mandatory for mobile eateries. It effectively gets the word out and brings customers in.

For those on the other side of the counter, the food-truck-foodies, technology makes finding new options and old favorites easy. In addition to RoamingHunger, FoodTrucksIn offer location and contact information for food trucks (if the truck has “checked in”) as well as a sort feature for hungry foodies to look for the exact type of food in which they’re interested.

Of course, for calorie-free enjoyment there’s always Pinterest and Instagram. Many food truck vendors use these sites to highlight their really “wow” menu items.

Though you may still be uncertain which food trucks to visit for lunch as the weather gets warmer, one thing is for sure: food trucks and technology may both be mobile, but as a pairing they aren’t going anywhere.

How Food Trucks Give Real Estate a Delicious Boost

How Food Trucks Give Real Estate a Delicious Boost

by | Dec 1, 2016 | Neighborhoods, New York City

We are all aware that the way of shopping is changing: more people are opting to shop online and sales in brick-and-mortar stores are suffering. Closures of JCPenney and Sears have threatened to close entire malls, since these anchors – otherwise known as key tenants — tend to drive traffic to the rest of the mall.

Surprisingly, even Macy’s flagship store in New York City considered selling its space. Although e-commerce may be driving consumers away from malls and shopping centers, food is reeling them back in.

From Necessity to Obsession

This growth may have something to do with the newfound food obsession taking over social media. Just think about the number of “food porn” posts, enticing recipe videos from BuzzFeed’s Tasty, and the unique “how it’s made” videos from INSIDER food you see daily. In addition, millennials now value experiences — such as eating interesting and unique foods – over owning material items. And according to The Pew Research Center, millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest living generation, meaning this is the core group advertisers want to appeal to the most.  

So, what type of food is bringing people back to shopping centers? You would expect that it might be trendy fast-casual restaurants like Shake Shack or Panera that are bringing people in. However, it’s the fast-changing and diverse population of food trucks that are bringing crowds back to these shopping locations.

Why Food Trucks?

“Food trucks are basically the pop-ups of the restaurant business,” said Melina Cordero, CBRE’s head of retail research in the Americas. “They come in, they can set up, they’re low cost, and they’re constantly changing.”

Today’s consumers are craving diverse options of specialty ethnic foods that are prepared and served quickly. However, food trends change so rapidly that it’s hard for brick-and-mortar restaurants to keep up. This is a perfect storm for food trucks. It’s a low-cost and fast way to give consumers what they want, and restaurateurs who don’t want to take a big risk can still cash in on the restaurant business. The trends and trucks change and move so frequently in fact, that this website tracks where food trucks are based on your zip code or the type of cuisine you’re looking for.

With all these amazing “blink-if-you-miss-it” opportunities to experience a diverse array of food, people want to try it as soon as they can so they don’t miss out. So let them focus on eating at a specialty food truck that’s parked outside your store – because these customers might wander in to take a look at, and maybe even purchase, your merchandise.

What This Means for Real Estate

Let the food trucks do the work for you to bring sales to your stores. If the truck is extremely popular and lines are always long, you can almost guarantee there will be a lot foot traffic – to both the food truck AND your store.

While people are waiting in line, they’ll look around at their surroundings. If they happen to be standing in front on your store, they might want to purchase the warm fleece jacket on display in the window. If you get enough people who plan to buy your merchandise while waiting in a food truck line, you’ll make a profit without having to put out any money yourself.

Although it might seem like a large crowd outside of your store can be a nuisance, this might be a sure-fire way to bring more foot traffic into your store, which will bring more money into your company’s pocket.