Even at the most modest outset of your fledgling business, think about what you really want to create for yourself. “Creating a food truck, and a job for yourself is fairly easy to do,” says Fields of Mmmpanadas. “Creating a business is much more difficult.”
Ekster’s CupcakeStop truck is available for events, and he does a lot of corporate store openings, such as Victoria’s Secret, and bar/bat mitzvahs. He tends to book the truck on evenings, so after it is done selling to the workday crowd in Manhattan, it can head out to Long Island for a party. And that income helps make the business model sustainable.
“You can make more money selling cupcakes outside than at an event, only an event is guaranteed,” Ekster says. “You sign a contract and, rain or shine, you get paid.”
Events are a reliable source of income for many new street vendors, and so is catering. The Streetza partners discovered this when offices started ordering their pizzas for lunch, because there weren’t fresh-out-of-the-oven pizza choices readily available in downtown Milwaukee.
Online sales are another promising arena for less-perishable food products, as well as t-shirts, and other novelty products. Distribution to coffee shops, grocery stores, and other vendors is another option. That’s exactly where Mmmpanadas is going. The company is already distributing empanadas, and is beginning to supply them to Whole Foods locally this month.
“We’re trying to create our wholesale business, but the truck only helps with that. It’s a moving, 20-foot-long billboard for us, that increases visibility,” Fields says
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