Any of you guys thought about starting a food trailer with some eggs?

theyolksonyou

"Hold your horses, I've got a fish on for goodness sake!"

fishlessman

theyolksonyou said:

"Hold your horses, I've got a fish on for goodness sake!"

maybe get a bikini girl to run the eggs and take orders, look...my business just doubled.....get two girls

HofstraJet

Watch the movie Chef to see what life in a food truck might be like. 

Raymont

Slightly different (restaurant vs. food truck), but very interesting/related thread on BBQ Brethren forum "Open a BBQ Restaurant, they said, it will be fun, they said". Hats off to the those who go for it. 

HofstraJet

fishlessman said:

theyolksonyou said:

"Hold your horses, I've got a fish on for goodness sake!"

maybe get a bikini girl to run the eggs and take orders, look...my business just doubled.....get two girls

They had hot dog stands operated by girls in g-strings in SE Florida for years in the 80s and 90s until local law enforcement ran them off.

fishlessman

HofstraJet said:

fishlessman said:

theyolksonyou said:

"Hold your horses, I've got a fish on for goodness sake!"

maybe get a bikini girl to run the eggs and take orders, look...my business just doubled.....get two girls

They had hot dog stands operated by girls in g-strings in SE Florida for years in the 80s and 90s until local law enforcement ran them off.

we lost a topless coffee shop up here that way too. would be hard to enforce no bikinis in boats though

NPHuskerFL

@Thatgrimguy Fat finger disagree. 

NPHuskerFL

HofstraJet said:

Watch the movie Chef to see what life in a food truck might be like. 

And then **** slap yourself back into reality. 100℉ day with hot food truck and a wicked schedule to keep. If you think it's all rainbows and butterflies you are sorely mistaken. It's hard WORK. It's fun until it becomes a job. Just being real. 

badinfluence

Ok. Time for me to put in my .02. It IS ALOT of work. As of yet I still do NOT have a. Egg in my truck. Why you ask? For a lot of reasons already mentioned. I am allowed to have a smoker outside of the truck to cook on but the egg is just NOT the best choice for my truck right now.
Someone mentioned a commercial kitchen. Everyplace is different. Here EVERYTHING we serve must be cooked IN the truck or on the smoker. Take New York City or Chicago they are not allowed to cook anything on the truck it must all be cooked in a commercial kitchen then just kept warm on the truck to serve.
Hardest part was getting all the inspections and permits....the cooking is the easy part. If you don't need a lot of sleep I say go for it.
My day starts at 8pm when the butts go on...if doing brisket then I get up and it goes on at 11:00pm then back up at 4:00am to put the ribs on and wrap the brisket. Back up at 6:00am to wrap ribs and prep for the day. Keeping a eye on the meat. Get to my location by 10:30am to light the charbroiler and flat top grill. Finish prep to open the window at 11:00am.  Work till 7:00pm.....repeat!
I have found also that if its raining...enjoy the day off as it's not worth the gas in the generator to even open that day.
Another comment that was made was a cute employee....it DOES work. I have 2 other people in the truck with me at all times. One for the orders, one preping the buns and me cooking. I'm not the friendliest person to talk to so I leave the customer service up to my window girl.
I would be more then willing to help you in any way if you want any tips,or help.

Like I said the cooking is the easy part. I was in the restaraunt buss. for 10 years before I drove a truck for the next 16 years, but my heart told me to go for it. Do I regret it? Some days YES.

badinfluence

Oh yeah. Forgot the no a/c thing. I do have a/c to the roof...turn on the vent a hood and it sucks the cool air right out. So nope don't even turn it on when out working. It is nice when I'm out there doing prep work though.

RRP

badinfluence said:

Ok. Time for me to put in my .02. It IS ALOT of work. As of yet I still do NOT have a. Egg in my truck. Why you ask? For a lot of reasons already mentioned. I am allowed to have a smoker outside of the truck to cook on but the egg is just NOT the best choice for my truck right now.
Someone mentioned a commercial kitchen. Everyplace is different. Here EVERYTHING we serve must be cooked IN the truck or on the smoker. Take New York City or Chicago they are not allowed to cook anything on the truck it must all be cooked in a commercial kitchen then just kept warm on the truck to serve.
Hardest part was getting all the inspections and permits....the cooking is the easy part. If you don't need a lot of sleep I say go for it.
My day starts at 8pm when the butts go on...if doing brisket then I get up and it goes on at 11:00pm then back up at 4:00am to put the ribs on and wrap the brisket. Back up at 6:00am to wrap ribs and prep for the day. Keeping a eye on the meat. Get to my location by 10:30am to light the charbroiler and flat top grill. Finish prep to open the window at 11:00am.  Work till 7:00pm.....repeat!
I have found also that if its raining...enjoy the day off as it's not worth the gas in the generator to even open that day.
Another comment that was made was a cute employee....it DOES work. I have 2 other people in the truck with me at all times. One for the orders, one preping the buns and me cooking. I'm not the friendliest person to talk to so I leave the customer service up to my window girl.
I would be more then willing to help you in any way if you want any tips,or help.

Like I said the cooking is the easy part. I was in the restaraunt buss. for 10 years before I drove a truck for the next 16 years, but my heart told me to go for it. Do I regret it? Some days YES.

Man-o-man was that a testimonial with teeth in it! You didn't pull any punches and that should be an eye opener for anyone even remotely considering the biz! Well done!!!

Acn

NPHuskerFL said:

HofstraJet said:

Watch the movie Chef to see what life in a food truck might be like. 

And then **** slap yourself back into reality. 100℉ day with hot food truck and a wicked schedule to keep. If you think it's all rainbows and butterflies you are sorely mistaken. It's hard WORK. It's fun until it becomes a job. Just being real. 

Also the chances that Scarlett Johannson and/or Sofia Vergara actually sleeping with a food truck owner are infinitesimally small.

nolaegghead

Acn said:

NPHuskerFL said:

HofstraJet said:

Watch the movie Chef to see what life in a food truck might be like. 

And then **** slap yourself back into reality. 100℉ day with hot food truck and a wicked schedule to keep. If you think it's all rainbows and butterflies you are sorely mistaken. It's hard WORK. It's fun until it becomes a job. Just being real. 

Also the chances that Scarlett Johannson and/or Sofia Vergara actually sleeping with a food truck owner are infinitesimally small.

<restrain>...must....not....make....wiener.....joke...</restrain>

Grillin_beers

Thanks @badinfluence for your no holds bar preview of the life of a resterauntuer.  Most people don't have the work ethic necessary to make it work.  If I were the OP I would think about starting out in catering.  You could have some fun doing tailgate cooks on the weekend and see if you love being in the food business. 

tarheelmatt

I think people fantasize when others stroke their ego... "oh you can cook, start a restaurant" is what they generally say.  They have no clue.  

Grillin_beers

tarheelmatt said:

I think people fantasize when others stroke their ego... "oh you can cook, start a restaurant" is what they generally say.  They have no clue.  

My father in law always tells me to start a rib shack.  I always tell him the same thing, "I don't know anything about running a resteraunt or cooking on a commercial scale" it is flattering to hear though.  However the illusion vanishes when I come to this forum. Lol

nolaegghead

HofstraJet said:

fishlessman said:

theyolksonyou said:

"Hold your horses, I've got a fish on for goodness sake!"

maybe get a bikini girl to run the eggs and take orders, look...my business just doubled.....get two girls

They had hot dog stands operated by girls in g-strings in SE Florida for years in the 80s and 90s until local law enforcement ran them off.

Yep, we have the christian version of sharia law here too.  In some places more than others.

DoubleEgger

There's a reason most restaurants fail. It's a terribly difficult business with stiff competition and fickle customers. 

nolaegghead

DoubleEgger said:

There's a reason most restaurants fail. It's a terribly difficult business with stiff competition and fickle customers. 

Mostly they are some combination of bad businessmen cooking worse food than the competition.

DoubleEgger

nolaegghead said:

DoubleEgger said:

There's a reason most restaurants fail. It's a terribly difficult business with stiff competition and fickle customers. 

Mostly they are some combination of bad businessmen cooking worse food than the competition.

Darwinism at its finest

johnkitchens

I have also thought about getting into the biz more than once. We have 1 BBQ joint here in town. It is a family business that has been run by the same family since the late 50's. 

The current owner and his wife run it. They are approaching 70 and have asked me more than once if I was interested in buying them out. 

I think about, but I don't have the balls to actually do it. It is fun to daydream though. 

tarheelmatt

johnkitchens said:

I have also thought about getting into the biz more than once. We have 1 BBQ joint here in town. It is a family business that has been run by the same family since the late 50's. 

The current owner and his wife run it. They are approaching 70 and have asked me more than once if I was interested in buying them out. 

I think about, but I don't have the balls to actually do it. It is fun to daydream though. 

Honestly, this would be the best way to go, IF you are serious (unless the reputation is horrible, but it doesn't sound that way).  Customer base is there.  Equipment is there (for the most part), numbers to "go by" should be there.  They'd probably be willing to have your shadow them to get an understanding. 

A ground up operation is just daunting because all the uncertainty and inexperience.  

Ladeback69

nolaegghead said:

DoubleEgger said:

There's a reason most restaurants fail. It's a terribly difficult business with stiff competition and fickle customers. 

Mostly they are some combination of bad businessmen cooking worse food than the competition.

Or just plain bad management.  I would just like to get into a little catering business like what @cazzy has been doing to see if it is something I would like to do for a living, but it is hard to get into the business and where I live there is a lot of competition.  Cooking food for money and serving it is a fickle thing and it is tough, but think I would like it better then what I am doing now.  I agree with @badinfluencethat cooking the food is the easy part and what he enjoys the most and the next thing is seeing people enjoy the food I bet. 

dldawes1

I think about it everyday about 4am when I get up to go to work !!!!! As well as other times throughout the day and night !!!

Toxarch

nolaegghead said:

DoubleEgger said:

There's a reason most restaurants fail. It's a terribly difficult business with stiff competition and fickle customers. 

Mostly they are some combination of bad businessmen cooking worse food than the competition.

In my smaller suburb city, you can have the best food with the best managers and great wait staff and still go out of business. People around here love either really old restaurants or brand spanking new restaurants. All the ones in-between run out of money and shut their doors. When you open a restaurant here, I've noticed that you have 9-15 months of awesome business. Customers lined out the door waiting for a table. Around 12 months, you notice a huge decline in business. Why? Because some other new restaurant opened up and everyone is going there. Doesn't matter how awesome your food is, people around here love the next new thing.

nolaegghead

If they go into the business knowing what you stated but just accept it and do the same thing after 9 to 15 months and go out of business....is that a good or bad business decision?  You seem to know this but they don't? 

pgprescott

Like @badinfluence has described, you had better really like/love it because food service is tough. Looooong hours. 

NPHuskerFL

Toxarch said:

nolaegghead said:

DoubleEgger said:

There's a reason most restaurants fail. It's a terribly difficult business with stiff competition and fickle customers. 

Mostly they are some combination of bad businessmen cooking worse food than the competition.

In my smaller suburb city, you can have the best food with the best managers and great wait staff and still go out of business. People around here love either really old restaurants or brand spanking new restaurants. All the ones in-between run out of money and shut their doors. When you open a restaurant here, I've noticed that you have 9-15 months of awesome business. Customers lined out the door waiting for a table. Around 12 months, you notice a huge decline in business. Why? Because some other new restaurant opened up and everyone is going there. Doesn't matter how awesome your food is, people around here love the next new thing.

Interesting. So you're basically saying any brick and mortar restaurant is doomed there from day one.  
I'm around restaurants virtually everyday. Everything from brick & mortar to food trucks. From a business standpoint you first need to know your market and what works and what fails in that area.  Knowledge is power. 

NPHuskerFL

The more successful food trucks that I know are more profitable because of catering.  Cheap food doesn't automatically win. The ones I speak of are reasonable but, definitely not cheap and they make everything fresh even their bread. It all varies region to region. 

golfguyjosh

Thanks guys for the insight. The work ethic is not the issue. The no sleep either lol. Running a tow company and a construction company and going to college at the same time.... Yea many weeks i could count the amount of sleep on two hands. The requirements for inspections will be my hard part. This would not be my only job, i will still do construction and run this 2 days a week. I know a lot of guys think they can cook, you hear it all the time... But i will put my food up against just about anybody's. My chef at my club wants to hire me to cook so he gets days off lol.