A big challenge of starting a food truck is coming up with a name and overall brand that will have impact on potential customers. And rightfully so. The process of branding your food truck is not easy and professionals get paid a significant amount of money to conceptualize and execute complete branding packages. The good news is: it’s all about ideas and focus. Theoretically, anyone can come up with a successful brand for their food truck but the devil is in the details. If you’re ready to start the process of naming and branding your new food truck, here is a helpful guide that navigate your mobile food business to the winners circle.
1. Choose Your Name Carefully. (With Branding in Mind)
Selecting a name for your mobile food business can be a very daunting task. With so much riding on your name and so many options, how do you make the right decision? The good news is that it’s easier than you think. Choosing a good name can be a simple process if you follow these handy guidelines.
Clear away the fluff and get down to it. By eliminating all of the fringe possibilities and getting straight to the exact point of what your food truck serves, you can easily clear the playing field of white noise name ideas and focus on the “meat” of the process. This is the first step to creating a great name. For example, if you want to sell tacos but you make your own salsa, the appropriate name of your truck doesn’t necessarily have to focus on salsa. If you’re making tacos, stick with tacos. Salsa’s good, but not as good as tacos.
Explore wordplay but don’t sell out for it. You can try different versions of a name by using common associations with pop culture, humor or even rhyming words to create something fun and unique. This is only a good idea if the concept remains simple, playful and recognizable. For example, if you sell clam sandwiches, a decent name idea could be “Clammy’s Sammies” but stay away from more dry, complicated concepts like “Selfish Shellfish” or “Crusty Crustaceans”. It only works if it’s simple and playful.
When in doubt, hire a pro. If you’re still having trouble coming up with something worthy of your new venture, don’t be disappointed or surprised. A good business name can be a very difficult thing to come up with. Luckily, there are some really smart branding teams out there that are really good at their jobs. Find a branding agency local to you and schedule a consultation. Sometimes, it’s best to leave certain aspects of the process to people who know what they’re doing, allowing you to focus on your lengthy list of other tasks involved in starting a food truck.
2. Develop a Tagline.
The tagline is also an important component of developing a food truck brand. Once you have your name figured out, it’s time to add a single line underneath to complete the brand. This allows customers to gain a single little extra bit of information about your truck and what you sell at a glance. A tagline can be a bit easier to come up with than a name and if you hired a branding agency, they may have come up with several as part of your branding package. If you’re on your own, here’s some tips to coming up with a great tagline.
Three-to-Five Words Maximum. A good tagline is short and sweet. Make sure your ideas can be conveyed quickly and easily. For example, a tagline for “Clammy’s Sammies” could be “No Sand in These Clams”, This instantly lets people know that your clam sandwiches have no sand, a major pet peeve when eating shellfish of nearly any variety. A tagline is a good opportunity to expand on the playfulness of your brand name.
3. Design A Look.
Now that your brand name and tagline are figured out, it’s time to start designing some logos and coming up a with the look of your brand. The same themes that go into the prospective logo should carry across all of the other things you’ll have printed for your food truck. Menus, truck wraps, packaging and business cards are examples of things that should carry the same visual themes throughout. This is called brand continuity and it’s important. This is the part of the process where if you haven’t hired someone to get involved yet, it’s probably time to hire someone to get involved.
Logo Design is a strange thing. Most people can do it but very few can do it well. If you’ve hired a branding agency, then a logo concept is probably part of your package with them. If you’ve come up with your name yourself, it’s time to translate that name into an aesthetic piece of intellectual property. Logo design is hard. Really hard to do well. We would strongly recommend hiring a professional designer to build a mark that meets this criteria:
Simple: The best logos are simple, easy to understand marks that are recognizable from a distance on any medium. Avoid logos with too much imagery or fine detail and stick with simple, broad shapes and ideas that will translate to any medium. Not only does your logo have to go on the side fo your truck but it has to go on your business cards, shirts, packaging and anything else you produce for your brand. Your logo must work and be legible across all of these platforms. If your logo can’t be read as one color, it’s not right. If it can’t be read from a distance, it’s not right. You get the idea.
Timeless: A good logo never goes out of style. If the style of your logo relies on pop culture or any other visual reference with a shelf-life, don’t use it unless your truck relies on the same theme. For example, if your business name is a 70’s theme, then a 70’s visual aesthetic is appropriate. If your truck is primarily for the college campus crowd, then a juvenile font or imagery is not appropriate. Consider your line as well as your food when designing a logo.
4. Apply The New Brand Identity.
Here’s where it all starts to come together. Now that you have a great name, tagline and logo worked out, it’s time to apply these elements to your truck and marketing materials. If you’re a savvy creative, put together some truck graphics, business cards and menus with your new look to get a more complete picture of how the public will perceive your truck. If you hired a designer for the logo, call them back to put these additional elements together.
5. Full Send!
Turn your new food truck brand loose in the wild and take subtle note of peoples’ reactions. If they like it, you may not hear much about it. If they don’t like it, they’ll let you know without hesitation.
