Food Trucks Rev Up Restaurant Industry

From Los Angeles, California where gourmet food trucks are all the rage in neighborhoods throughout the city, to meals on wheels that have swept South Florida, to New York City’s most popular mobile restaurants getting their first “Amazing New York Food Trucks 2012 Calendar”, food trucks represent a new revenue stream for brick-and-mortar locations.   Earlier this year, in fact, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) released its annual “Industry Forecast”, identifying a number of consumer trends that were expected to gain momentum in 2011. Food trucks made on-the-go trend given the increasing use of social and mobile technologies. Then in early September, the NRA stated that food trucks present opportunities for operators of established restaurants to expand their operations and presence, as a majority of consumers say they would visit a food truck run by their favorite restaurant. According to Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the NRA, “mobile foodservice can be a good way to extend an existing restaurant brand beyond the four walls of the establishment.” Specifically, the NRA found that 59% of consumers would visit a food truck if their favorite restaurant offered one. This is up 47% from just one year ago.   The survey also found that nearly one-fifth (18%) of consumers saw a food truck in their community this summer, and more than one-quarter (28%) of those who saw a food truck made a purchase. When asked how they typically found the food truck they visited, 73% said they just saw it on the street, and 54% said they selected it from an area where food trucks typically gather, 39% found out from a friend, and 13% found it through social media.   Risk Advisors of America provides insurance and risk management programs for the Restaurant and Hospitality industries.