How to Drive More Customers to Your Food Carts

Focus on convenience and information to drive more customers to your food cart.

If you are a licensed food vendor selling from mobile food trailers, trucks or carts, it's easy to use technology and social sites to increase your customer base. Social media can be the key to letting your customers know what's on the menu that day and where you will be, at what times. If you get really advanced, you can even let them order ahead to save time.

Instructions

1. Set up a Twitter account in your business name.(example: @PetesTaco). It's best to design your Twitter page to correspond with your mobile food business, such as using your business logo as your main photo on your profile page. By doing this you will be easily recognized when customers search for you.

2. Inform your regular customers as well as your new customers that you are now online, and ask them to follow you on Twitter. You may want to hand out business cards to your customers when they make a purchase. Be sure your cards have your twitter name and website URL.

3. Make daily updates on Twitter, notifying your followers (customers) of your various mobile food cart locations. For example:

   12PM-3PM @UTSA - UTSA BLVD/1604

   8PM-11PM @UofH - CULLEN BLVD

   12AM-3AM @CLUB DOLCE

   You can choose to update your Twitter by listing your cart locations hourly or with one daily list to notify your customers where they can find your food cart.

4. Offer contests and free giveaways -- make the game work to your advantage, and make it easy to participate and win.

   Another way to drive more customers to your mobile food cart is by updating your Twitter status to inform customers of new menu items, free giveaways, or even start a contest offering a free lunch once you reach a certain number of followers; Such as, follower #100 gets a free taco lunch.

   Or have contests asking followers to be the first customer to retweet the lunch special and receive a free sandwich & drink. In no time at all your mobile food cart customers will have increased tremendously and you will have loyal customers following your cart all over town.

Tips & Warnings

• [© 2009 Katherine Williams]- Article reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited