Food Trucking

Every sound business in food trucking begins with one clear customer and one clear problem. In São Paulo and the wider state, demand is real but crowded, so a small, well-described customer group wins before a broad one.

• In food trucking: Know your pitch: office lunch, event, night street; each sets menu and hours.
• Write the customer in one sentence: a street or event customer. Add the place, the moment of need and what they use today.
• List five rivals or substitutes within reach. For each, record price, strength, weakness and how people reach it.
• Interview at least eight real customers with open questions. Record exact words, not your summary.
• Count the market in units: how many meals could one area buy in a month? Use two public sources and your own count, then take the lower figure.
• Choose one first segment and say why the others wait.

Activity. Write the one-sentence customer, a five-row rival table and eight interview records. Share them with a peer for a challenge round.

Standard to meet. Define a specific customer, build a rival table with prices, and trace every claim to an interview or a source.

Brazil asks every trader to be visible and accountable. Know which register, tax regime and sector rules apply before the first sale, and check each against the current official text.

• In food trucking: Vehicles and food need city permits, health inspection and fire safety equipment.
• Choose a legal form: micro-entrepreneur (MEI) only if your activity appears on the official MEI list, or a company registered with a CNPJ. Regulated activities need their sector authorisation first. Check the current limits and lists on the official portal.
• Learn the tax regime that fits your size and write down which taxes you will collect and pay, and when.
• Find the sector rules for food trucking: licences, inspections, professional registers. List each with the office that issues it and the renewal date.
• Personal data of customers falls under Brazil's data protection law (LGPD). Collect only what you need, say why, keep it safe, and name who answers questions.
• Consumer law gives buyers clear rights on information, returns and complaints. Put your terms in plain Portuguese.

Activity. Build your own six-line compliance table for your first location. Mark what is done, what is pending and who confirms it.

Standard to meet. Cite an official source for every line, assume nothing, and date every pending item. Local law always wins over this course.

An offer states what the customer gets, how well, by when and at what price. For meals sold from a vehicle, the offer must make the quality visible and the next step easy.

• In food trucking: Short menu of five items, priced and timed for under 3 minutes per order.
• Describe the core offer in three lines: what is delivered (meals sold from a vehicle), the standard it meets, and the time it takes.
• Add one proof for each promise: a sample, a test result, a guarantee or a customer record.
• Price from cost upward and from customer value downward, then pick a price inside both.
• Write a simple one-page terms sheet: what is included, what is extra, how to cancel.
• Create two options at most, so choice stays easy.

Longer notes. Build a short menu of three or four dishes that you can cook fast from the same ingredients, and set one average price per meal that includes a drink or side. Cost each dish from the recipe card: ingredients, packaging and the waste you throw away. Compare your price with nearby lunch spots at your location. Plan peak hours and the days you will stand at each place. Confirm the street-food permit and the food-handling rules for your pitch before the first service. Taste-test each dish with ten regular customers before it joins the menu, and write down comments on portion size and speed. A dish that takes more than three minutes at the window slows the whole line.

Activity. Write the offer card, the proof list and the terms sheet. Test them with three customers and note every point where they hesitated.

Standard to meet. Check that promise, proof and price are consistent, fit the terms on one page, and record three customer reactions.

Good operations make results repeatable. For food trucking, write each step so a new person could follow it on their first day, and measure each step.

• In food trucking: Daily: prep, load, drive, set up, serve, clean, count, restock.
• Map the process from first contact to paid and closed. Typical stages: enquiry, quote, preparation, delivery of the meal, check, payment, follow-up.
• Name the key resource at each stage: a licensed, clean truck. Note what happens if it is missing.
• Write a one-page standard procedure per stage: who, what, tool, time, record.
• Choose three measures: speed, quality (errors per 100) and customer rating. Review them every week.
• Fix the cause of a defect, not the symptom. Ask 'why' five times and record the answer.

Activity. Draw the process map and write procedures for the two riskiest stages. Run each once and time it.

Standard to meet. Write procedures a stranger can follow, record weekly numbers for each measure, and trace one defect to a root cause.

The most serious risk in this field is food poisoning or a fire. A calm, written risk routine protects people first and the business second.

• In food trucking: Gas, hot oil and cross-contamination are core hazards; fire extinguisher and cold chain log.
• List ten things that could go wrong. Score each for how likely (1 to 5) and how serious (1 to 5). Multiply and sort.
• For the top five, choose a control: remove the hazard, replace it, guard it, train people, or use protective gear, in that order of preference.
• Write who does what in an emergency, and rehearse it once a quarter.
• Keep an incident and near-miss log. Near-misses are free lessons.
• Check that insurance and legal duties match the risk you actually carry.

Activity. Build a ten-row risk register and a one-page emergency plan. Run a ten-minute drill with a peer and note two improvements.

Standard to meet. Rank controls by preference for the top risks, run the drill, and start the log. Where a regulation applies, follow the official rule.

People deliver the promise. Define roles, train to a standard and give feedback in the open.

• In food trucking: Train staff in hygiene, cash handling and queues.
• Write a role card for each person: purpose, five tasks, the standard for each, and who to ask for help.
• Train by showing, doing with support, then doing alone with a check. Record sign-off per task.
• Set service rules for answering customers: reply times, tone, how to apologise and fix.
• Hold a ten-minute team check each day: yesterday's problem, today's plan, one risk.
• Build a growth path: what a new person can do in week 1, month 3 and month 12.

Longer notes. Give each crew member one station, such as grill, assembly or cash, and write the order of steps on a card at the window. Practise the lunch rush before opening for real, with a timer. Teach handwashing, glove changes, temperature checks and closing clean-down, and check them each day. Agree shift times, breaks and pay in writing, and confirm what rules apply to food handlers working on the street. Post the cleaning schedule inside the truck, with a name against each task and a tick box for the end of service. Shared jobs without names are the ones that are left undone, and inspectors notice.

Activity. Write two role cards and a training plan for one new hire. Role-play a hard customer conversation twice and review.

Standard to meet. Write role cards with measurable standards, show the sign-off steps in training, and write the service rules in plain words.

A business lives or dies on a few numbers. Know your contribution per unit, your fixed costs and the volume you need.

• In food trucking: Margin per meal after waste, fuel and permits; weather days matter.
• Contribution per meal = price minus variable cost. Fixed costs are paid whether you sell or not.
• Break-even units = fixed cost divided by contribution. Plan to pass it by a safe margin.
• Make a 12-month cash plan. Cash timing matters as much as profit: customers may pay late, suppliers may want money first.
• Keep money for business and money for the owner apart.
• Test the plan: what if sales fall by a quarter, or cost rises by a tenth?

Activity. Build your own table: price, variable cost, contribution, fixed cost, break-even and a downside case at 75% of sales. Show it to a peer or mentor.

Standard to meet. Calculate correctly, give every figure a source or mark it as an assumption, and show a downside case.

Growth should follow proof. Measure, learn, then add; and keep returning to the customer.

• In food trucking: Grow with regular spots and catering orders.
• Pick one growth lever at a time: new customers, a higher repeat rate, a better price, or a new offer.
• Set one measurable target for 90 days, such as 'raise repeat customers from 20% to 30%'.
• Ask each customer how they found you, and record it. Spend more where the record shows results.
• Review monthly: numbers, defects, complaints, cash. Write three decisions each time.
• Plan the renewal of licences, equipment and skills a year ahead.

Longer notes. Record meals sold by location, weekday and weather, plus waste at close. Compare locations by meals per day against your break-even and drop the ones that stay below it. Build a list of repeat customers through a loyalty card or a message group, with consent. Offer your truck for private events and quote them in writing. Test one new dish at a time, and keep it only if it sells and the margin holds. Photograph the day's board and queue at each location, since a picture of a busy line helps later when you ask an event organiser for a place. Count customers who come back within a week.

Activity. Write a 90-day plan with one target, three actions and a review date. Present it in five minutes and take questions.

Standard to meet. Set a measurable, dated target, break the actions down small enough to start this week, and put the review date in the calendar.