by staff

The food truck industry is booming, and of course, you can learn a lot from others who are successful in the food truck business. However, you can learn some important lessons from sit-down restaurants as well. Traditional restaurants do some specific things really well, and you can take notes and use some of the same concepts to make your food truck business successful. There’s always room for improvement, so here are a few important lessons you should learn and implement from traditional restaurants.

Lesson #1 – Immediately Welcoming Customers

Walk into a traditional restaurant and you’ll immediately be greeted and made to feel welcome. While restaurants often have a host or hostess to make customers feel welcome, you still can incorporate this lesson into your food truck business. You want customers to enjoy every part of their experience when they visit your truck, so you can take a page from restaurants and start welcoming your customers immediately so they feel right at home. Make them feel welcome and special and they’re likely to come back. Welcome newcomers immediately, ask about their day, and be friendly. It’s important to make that first impression a good one.

Lesson #2 – Using the Work for Tip Mindset

Restaurant servers have a work for tip mindset and they’re willing to go above and beyond to make sure customers are happy to get a better tip. You can incorporate this mindset into your food truck business as well. The goal is to make your customers happy, and not only will this help you bring in some tips, it can help you retain your customers, which boosts your overall success. When you have this work for tip mindset, you’ll offer better customer service, and that’s an essential part of growing your food truck business.

Lesson #3 – Creating a Unique Environment

Traditional restaurants like to set a certain ambiance for their customers. Some restaurants create a lively environment, others a tropical environment and some try to create a Zen, relaxing place where customers can kick back and eat. The great thing about this is that you’re able to create a unique environment that suits your food truck. Maybe you serve up Hawaiian food. If so, you can create an environment that makes customers feel like they’ve arrived in Hawaii when they visit your truck. It adds to the fun and a unique environment draws in more customers.

Lesson #4 – New Ways of Advertising

Pay attention to how restaurants are advertising. Many of them have pictures of deals right in their window. They often have ads for new items they’re offering up in the window as well. Learn from this to step up your advertising game. Offer pictures of your specials on your food truck. Feature ads that show off your new food. Remember, the food you offer is your main selling point, so make sure you’re showing it off at every opportunity. Advertise your food whenever you can, whether you use a big sign in front of the truck showing specials, flyers that offer special deals, or big pictures of your new items on your truck.

Traditional, sit-down restaurants are doing a lot of things right, and you can learn from them. Take these four lessons and implement them into your food truck business to boost your chances of success.