Question

Start-up Business Plan of the food truck,

4. Products and Services a. Describe in depth your products or services. (Technical specifications) b. What factors will give you competitive advantages or disadvantages? Examples include level of quality or unique or proprietary features.

5. Marketing Plan a. Market Research- Why? b. Market Research- How? Primary or Secondary Data? c. In your marketing plan, be as specific as possible; give statistics, numbers, and sources. The marketing plan will be the basis, later on, of the all‐important sales projection.

Answer 1

4. a) Products and services : Sandwich truck. Products include -

- Breads - white, whole wheat, rye, multigrain, sourdough, steamed bao - toasted, grilled, plain

- Veg toppings - tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, spring onions, bean patty, quinoa patty - sliced, diced, shredded

- Non veg toppings - turkey, ham, beef, shrimp, pork, chicken, fish - grilled, stir-fried, deep-fried, baked, steamed

- Dairy - cheese (swiss, gouda, edam, cheddar) - slices, grated

- Pickles - gherkins, jalapenos, paprika, kimchi, indian style - sliced, diced

- Sauces - ketchup, mustard, barbeque, hoisin, oyster, curry

- Relish/mayonnaise - mayonnaise (low-fat, non-fat, eggless), mango relish, apple chutney, mint jelly, hummus

- Oils - chilli oil, garlic oil, extra virgin olive oil

b) Disadvantages :

- There are currently a lot of popular sandwich trucks in the city which is a disadvantage to a new entrant into the business.

- Consumers also tend to find a favourite and stick to that vendor making it difficult for new trucks to draw customers initially

- Sandwiches are viewed as being 'common' and so this can also reduce the truck's attraction

Advantages :

- Good partners/vendors ensure that all produce is locally sourced, of good quality and freshly delivered

- Wider range of produce to entice more customer groups (chinese products, indian flavours)

- Sandwiches can be customised by consumers in every aspect, exactly what they want on their sandwich will be prepared and priced accordingly

- No other fully customised sandwich shop in downtown area

- Chefs are from popular regions around the country hoping to entice customers who miss their local cuisine

5. a) The food truck business is one of the best performing ones in the food sector (IBIS World, 2020) as customer like the fast food aspect as well as the lower prices that they bring. More and more they are being viewed as a mobile restaurant especially as trucks can move to different locations every day/night (or more than one place in a day) and go where the customers are. The busy schedules of the working population and the desire for good and fast food have made food trucks very popular in recent years.

b) Long lines have been noticed at the current 4 food trucks in the busiest area of the city. As customers grow, the trucks are struggling to service all the orders during busy breakfast/lunch/dinner hours. This has highlighted a gap in the demand for more fast food availability for the growing working population. The opening of a new high-rise last week also means that as the empty offices fill, the number of people who will be lining up is likely to go up. As part of market research, we conducted a survey of the waiting queues to see what kind of food they preferred to buy. The long lines meant that people were happy to provide a great detail of the type of food (most popular was sandwiches) and what they want in their perfect sandwich. It was also clear during the survey that most wanted to be able to customise their sandwiches and currently were unhappy with at least one element of the standardised fast food. This lead to designing the concept of full customisation of a sandwich for those who want to control every thing they eat - in this day and age, consumers are highly individualised and do not like standardisation especially in their food.

Primary data was obtained from the potential customer base of people waiting in line in the region the truck will be deployed. As a secondary source of data, local vendors were contacted to check what were their best and fastest moving produce items. As more people become health conscious, they want more options such as steamed items, non-fat mayonnaise, fish over red meat etc. Also, international cuisines such as chinese and indian flavours were being incorporated into all types of food. Additional topping ideas were collected to offer greater variety to customers.

c) Marketing plan

- Unique selling proposition (USP) : Fully customisable sandwiches  
- Target customers : Sandwich enthusiasts, people that like to control customisation of their food
- Pricing : 6 elements per sandwich at $5, additional elements at 50 cents
- Promotions : Buy one get one in the first week for first 50 customers to bring in people from the competitors.
- Marketing : Company website, social media sites - instagram, yelp, facebook etc.
- Partnerships : with local vendors to benefit both, they are assured of definite sales each day/week.
- Finances : Initial funding from 5 equal partner and 5 angel investors - 250,000 raised and can support business for 6 months while we attempt to break even.

(Myrick)

References :

IBIS World (2020) Food Trucks - Industry Market Research Report. MarketResearch.com.

Myrick, Richard. The Market Analysis Section of Your Food Truck’s Business Plan. Dummies.com.