Running a business, even a food truck, can be quite a challenging balancing act. You’re trying to divide your time between the business, your family, and whatever other obligations you have. You’re also constantly balancing what you earn against what you need to purchase and what you have to pay employees. So it’s understandable if you want to learn how to have your current food truck business make more money than it’s currently making, whether it’s a burger joint you started on a budget or a food truck that focuses on a particular cuisine. 

Before you start counting your extra cash, though, remember that there is no get-rich-quick scheme. How much more you can earn depends on what you’ve already done, and what you haven’t, not to mention what you’re willing to try and how much effort you want to put in. Given all that, here are three ways you can get your food truck to start making more money.

Add to What You Know

Learning more isn’t going to lead you to a big payout right away, but it can and will help you determine what’s worth investing in and what isn’t, among other things. Start by building up what you know about business, so you can pinpoint business strategies that can benefit your food truck. Think you need to know more about social media, or marketing and advertising, so you can spread brand awareness and run proper promotions? Go for it! 

The truth is, no matter what industry you’re in, the learning never stops, nor should it. If you stop learning, you stop growing as a person and as a business owner; eventually, your business will stagnate, too. The good news is, information gets more accessible with each passing year, so there’s no reason you can’t start learning something new. The best news? Getting started can be as simple as reading a book or an article. If you search long enough, you can find business conferences that you can attend for free or for a nominal fee. 

What it all boils down to is, the more knowledge you have, the better you’ll be able to see what your business can do better, and you’ll be better equipped to apply what you’ve learned to improving your food truck. The more the improvements to your business, the more it will eventually earn.

Give Catering A Try

This is actually one of the easier ways your food truck can earn more, since any catering gig often means more money for a few hours of work; in fact, if the event is big enough, a day’s work will see you earning as much as you normally would in a week. 

As if that weren’t enough, you’re also expanding your customer base, since event participants may not have known about your business before you catered the event whether it was a birthday party, a wedding, or an outdoor conference. If event-goers liked your food enough, they may look for your food truck again, so don’t forget to have your contact details and where you usually set up shop on somewhere that’s easy to find and read.

Of course, getting tapped for a catering gig is easier said than done. It takes some work to get your food truck’s name out there along with the information that you’re open for catering. Fortunately, the more you practice marketing your food truck as a potential catering partner, the easier it will be. Plus, it may happen slowly at first, but the more your brand’s name is mentioned, the more likely it will be that, eventually, one catering gig will lead to another. 

Give Merchandise a Try

While we’re not suggesting right away that you try designing and selling merchandise of your food truck’s mascot, if you have one, it’s definitely something to consider. More often than not, though, the merchanidse that you’ll want to try offering first is some kind of food product that your truck specializes in and that people associate with your brand. 

For example, if you sell rice bowls and your signature sauce is from a recipe of your own, consider selling the sauce by the bottle, marketing it as a way for customers to get a taste of your signature dishes in the comfort of their own homes. The cost of a bottle or two of sauce may look like peanuts next to the rest of the food, but moving more product always adds up. That’s what will lead to an increase in revenue. 

Back to the idea of keychains and other non-food merchandise you may have seen other businesses sell. Maybe you gave out a few for free when you first started out to help spread brand awareness and in the hope of getting people to come back for more. If so, revisit the designs and see if they can be improved, whether through a sleeker design or by using sturdier materials. Then you can have some made for you to sell at your truck or online. 

If you find that there’s a market for your merchandise as well as any food products you’ve decided to make available to your customers, then that’s another stream of income you can count on.

As you can see, none of these ideas will have you earning more money overnight, but if you put in enough time and effort, you’ll certainly see the increase in revenue you’re looking for. After all, any food truck can be profitable, from breakfast food trucks to cupcake or donut food trucks. It’s just a question of how much more profitable you want yours to be.