Running a Food Truck For Dummies

Title Page
 Copyright Page
 Table of Contents
 Introduction
 About This Book
 Foolish Assumptions
 Icons Used in This Book
 Beyond the Book
 Where to Go from Here
 Part 1 Rolling into the Food Truck Industry
 Chapter 1 Food on Wheels: The€Lowdown on Food Trucks
 Checking Out a Typical Day in the Life of a Food Truck Owner
 9 a.m. to noon
 High noon to 12:30 p.m.
 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.
 2:30 a.m. to 5 a.m.
 Discovering Whether You Have What It Takes to Run a Food Truck
 Monitoring your motivations
 Tracking key traits. Doing Some Initial Work to Start Your Food TruckPreparing to Launch Your Business
 Keeping Your Food Truck Business Running Well on All Levels
 Luring (and Keeping) Crowds
 Chapter 2 Deciding What Kind of Food Truck Is Right€for You
 Generating Your Food Truck's Concept
 Focusing on your food options
 Starting the selection process
 Narrowing your concept according to your customer base
 Understanding the importance of atmosphere as you generate your concept
 Evaluating Different Types of Vehicles
 Trucks
 Carts
 Trailers
 Buses
 Figuring Out How to Get the Vehicle of Your Choice. Leasing a vehicleBuying or building a new vehicle
 Purchasing a previously owned vehicle
 Naming Your Food Truck
 Coming up with name options
 Researching and registering your chosen name
 Another Possibility: Joining a Franchise
 Picking out the pros
 Checking out the cons
 Getting more information
 Chapter 3 Understanding and Researching Your Local Food Truck Market
 Understanding the Importance of Competition in the Food Truck Industry
 Connecting Profitability to the Competitive Response Cycle
 Identifying and Analyzing Potential Customers. Delving into the demographics of your target customersListing your truck's features and benefits
 Keeping an Eye on the Competition
 The differences between direct and indirect competitors
 What you need to know about your competitors
 Where to find data on your competitors
 Building Your Food Truck Battle Plan
 Creating a competitive analysis
 Drawing up a SWOT analysis
 Acting on the data you've compiled
 Part 2 Getting Your Food Truck Ducks in a Row
 Chapter 4 Writing a Food Truck Business Plan
 Understanding Why a Business Plan Matters
 Looking at the Parts of a Business Plan. The executive summaryThe table of contents
 The market analysis
 The financials
 The management team
 The appendix
 The Bottom Line: Looking Deeper at the Financials
 Beginning with a few basic guidelines
 Forecasting sales
 Forecasting expenses
 Analyzing your break-even point
 Estimating profits
 Projecting cash flow
 Creating a balance sheet
 Chapter 5 Securing Financing for Your Food Truck
 Do the Math: Knowing How Much Money You Need for the First Year
 Figuring out start-up costs
 Accounting for operating reserve
 Considering the Use of Your Own Funds.