After a careful examination of the fast food market in the United States, the creator of this plan found that starting a food truck business would be profitable. Daciuk (2018) defined a food truck as a mobile food enterprise comprising of a large vehicle equipped with a kitchen where food is cooked, served and sold (2). These trucks could have also been used to sell beverages. In the United States, food trucks have become common in the food and beverage industry. A report in 2018 indicates that growing household income coupled with changing consumer preferences contribute to the prevalence of Food Trucks in the United States (4). In particular, the article shows that customers prefer unique and less expensive experiences when shopping for fast foods and Food Trucks provides them with that option. Nevertheless, starting a Food Truck business in the U.S. does not guarantee someone success. Some entrepreneurs may have sound business ideas coupled with optimism, but they end up failing since they do not have strategies that provide them with a competitive edge in the market. Thus, the business proposed herein would take into account various aspects ranging from competitor profiling to marketing activities to ensure success is achievable.
Description of the Proposed Company
The name for the proposed small enterprise would be “Food Mate Company.” Food Mate company would operate under the food and beverage industry in the United States, and it will serve its potential customers as a food truck. The Food Mate Company would offer to its customers stand out products that differ from the traditional food truck’s hot dogs and hamburgers. Precisely, the enterprise would sell both cold and hot drinks as well as Japanese crocodile-shaped waffles. The waffles would have different fillings, which would be representing the diverse tastes and preferences of consumers. Even though waffles are popular products in this region, no food truck is selling waffles Taiyaki to consumers. The entrepreneur is inspired to offer consumers a new culinary experience by giving them waffles. The crocodile-shaped waffles will be prepared both at a commissary kitchen and in the truck. The food truck, notably, would operate in different markets in the U.S. to strengthen the company’s market presence and market share. The waffles would be made using fresh ingredients, flame, cast iron, and homemade batter.
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The company would target both local markets and tourists in beaches and other tourist destination sites in the United States. The truck would be changing location during the day to provide customers in different places an opportunity to stop and buy the products from our company. In addition to the Food truck, this company would adopt modern marketing tools such as social media platforms. The use of such networks would increase public awareness regarding the products the company is offering as Lesidrenska & Dickie (2012, p. 44) suggested in their work (5). Moreover, the company would have an online platform where customers place orders for their foods.
Competitor Profiling
Competitor profiling refers to activities that revolve around scrutinizing the actions of competitors in the market. Companies can only gain a competitive edge in the market if it compares its performance against that of other players in the market. Often, companies have multiple competitors in the market, and it is difficult to analyze all of them. Nevertheless, a company can identify one or two companies that pose the greatest threat to its survival in the market. Companies could understand the performance of their competitors through SWOT analysis. According to Harrison (2010, p. 93) , “ SWOT analysis is an examination of an organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses, its opportunities for growth and improvement, and the threats the external environment presents to its survival” (3). This tool could also be used to understand the strengths and weaknesses of competitors in the market.
Food Mate, like other companies, is not immune to competition. The business will face stiff competition from both established companies and new entrants. One of the companies that could present a serious challenge to Food Mate Company is the Mac Mart. The company has localized its operation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 2013 and offers a variety of foods to customers (1; 6) . One of the strengths of this company is that it provides an array of unique foods to its clients including non-baked seven-cheese and crumbled potato chip crunch among others (6) . The company also has a strong market presence in Philadelphia. Despite these strengths, Mac Mart is associated with a couple of weaknesses. Firstly, the firm only relies on the Philadelphian market implying that in case the economy of that state declines, the company’s bottom line would be affected negatively. Secondly, the company relies on traditional marketing and selling strategies. This implies that it has not invested in modern tools of marketing to promote and sell its products. Finally, the company has a narrow customer base since its activities are localized in one region.
Mission Statement
The vision of Food Mate Company is to become a favorite brand in its area of operation. The enterprise would take advantage of the growing popularity of truck foods in the United States. The mission of this company would be to offer new culinary to the various states in the United States while observing the high standards of quality. The company would be guided with several goals. Firstly, Food Mate seeks to attain a stable position in the U.S. markets as well as to increase revenues by 15% annually. Secondly, the enterprise would strive to be close to customers such as families and students by offering them home and school delivery services respectively. Finally, the company’s objective is to deliver products that exceed consumer expectations.
Business Ownership
Food Mate company would operate as a privately owned firm operated by Person X. In that regard, a person would act as a sole proprietor. Person X has a degree in hotel and hospitality management. The business owner also has sufficient experience in customer service and restaurant management. Another person of great importance to this enterprise is the cook. The company could hire someone who has specialized in catering by studying the same either at diploma or bachelors level. The candidate would also be an individual with sufficient experience in preparing the crocodile shaped waffles.
Starting this enterprise has its fair of challenges. Municipal regulations, stiff competition, and low-profit margins present serious problems to food truck businesses (4). According to that article, the major issues facing such companies arise from other established companies, particularly the brick-and-mortar establishments. Nevertheless, there is hope that the industry would overcome the regulatory hurdles that have affected this industry negatively over the last decade. It is worth noting that food truck was selected over the traditional brick and mortar restaurants since it is easy and cheap to start this type of enterprise. A person would need about $200,000 to start a food truck (1). Beginning a stand-alone restaurant, on the contrary, requires one to have about $1 million. “A successful food truck can bring in upwards of $500,000 per year in annual revenues” (2). Caminiti (2017) shared similar views by suggesting that food trucks could generate about $400,000 annual revenue pretty quickly since they run on volume (1).
Concisely, Food Mate Company would operate as a food truck in the food and beverage industry. Since no firm is immune to competition, Food Mate would face stiff competition from new entrants and other established companies; however, it would offer products that appeal to customers to increase its market share. Besides, the food truck would move to different locations to create more awareness. Food Mate company would also take advantage of social media platforms and its strong leadership to establish a strong regional presence.
Sources
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Susan Caminiti. April 7, 2017. The 10 Most Popular Food Trucks In America. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/07/10-most-popular-food-trucks-in-america-.html#slide=1
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Edward Daciu. January 18, 2018. How to start a food truck business in 9 steps. https://fitsmallbusiness.com/how-to-start-a-food-truck/
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Jeffrey P. Harrison. (2010). Strategic planning and SWOT analysis. In Essentials of Strategic Planning in Healthcare 97. http://mydesievent.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Harrison_Chapter5.pdf
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IBISWorld. December, 2017. U.S. Industry Market Research Report. https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-trends/specialized-market-research-reports/consumer-goods-services/food-service-drinking-places/food-trucks.html
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Lesidrenska Svetlana & Dicke Philipp. (2012). Social-media Platforms And Its Effect On Digital Marketing Activities. Маркетинг і менеджмент інновацій , (1), 44-52. http://mmi.fem.sumdu.edu.ua/sites/default/files/mmi2012_1_44_52.pdf
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Mentalfloss.com. May 19, 2017. 50 of the Best Food Trucks in the U.S. http://mentalfloss.com/article/500913/50-best-food-trucks-us
