Any food truck owner knows that the biggest challenge in owning a mobile food business is repeat customers. This is also a well-known challenge for brick and mortar restaurants. In fact, a brick and mortar restaurant relies heavily on repeat customers. If everyone only came to eat once, they’d be out of business in a month. The “3 visit approach” builds revenue and relationships with people and increases your chances of creating a regular customer significantly. Every food service business owner should be marketing for 3 visits, not just one.
The nature of a food truck is inherent to single-use customers. Most trucks do have a handful of regulars, but for the most part, food trucks serve an immediate need at crowded places. After the event is over, you’ll never see those people again. Right? Not necessarily. Here’s how to turn a single visit customer into a regular customer, even for a mobile food business.
Turn One Food Truck Customer Into Three Customers: Like Magic!
Exceptional Food & Friendly Service
Before we even get into how to bring customers back to your truck for a 2nd and 3rd visit, your food and service must be on point. Without it, no amount of marketing will bring someone back. Thoroughly examine your cooking and service process to ensure that you are ready to start building repeat customers.
How To Incentivize Another Visit
When a first-time customer arrives at your window to place an order, your opportunity to bring another visit has begun. Right there on the spot, right before your eyes. Assuming that your food is delectable and your service is friendly, here’s your absolute best chance to get them back again.
Discounts & Loyalty Cards For Locals
Make a bit of small talk with them and see if they live near your home base of operations. If they are local, the fruit is ripe for the picking. Some trucks even have a specific discount or loyalty cards that they’ll give to locals because they understand that a repeat customer is the key to growth and success.
Make a special mark on their order ticket to include an incentive or loyalty card with their order. The card is dropped on the tray, in the bag or however you serve your orders, make sure the incentive card is with that order. The incentive card can promote a multitude of things. A general discount, a free drink or whatever you feel comfortable giving away.
Bring a Group & Eat Free
If you’re friendly enough with the customer, you may be able to subtly pitch the idea that if they bring a group of their own friends or family back to eat again, you’ll feed that one person for free. This is great incentive, especially for young people and parents. This approach is great if the customer loves your food. It’s easy for that customer to start talking up your truck to their friends and basically sell the group order for you. There’s nothing more motivating than the thought of a free burger or tacos to a college kid with a bunch of drunken buddies. He brings them back to the truck, you get a nice big group order and they get the freebie. Cha-Ching!
Incentivize Online Reviews
It doesn’t take a genius to see that online reviews drive sales, especially for a food service business. The proposition that a single review can bring multiple customers should be obvious at this point. So here’s how to get more online reviews. Invite your customers to write a review after their meal and offer a free drink or minor incentive to do so. This practice is frowned upon in some circles but who cares? It’s a jungle out there and you should be getting ahead any way you can. Besides, we’re merely suggesting that you encourage honest reviews AFTER the customer has experienced your fare, which is fair game. If you get a negative review (which shouldn’t happen if your food and service is on point), you should honor your offer of incentive which gives you another chance to impress the same customer. You can generate these reviews verbally or just put a sticker on your truck or window to do the leg work for you. You can even use a QR code on the sticker that will take customers directly to the review site of your choice for easier access.
Word of Mouth
Easily the best marketing you can have is FREE. Yep, you read that right. Absolutely FREE of charge. Word of mouth is proven to be the most potent and effective form of marketing for any business. But, how can you control word of mouth? Serve killer food and provide a unique, friendly experience. That’s all there is to it. A delicious meal and a positive experience is all it takes to get people talking about your truck to others. Another easy way is by providing a contact experience. What’s a contact experience? Have you ever been eating a t a restaurant and the waiter brings the food for the table next to you and someone at your table wishes they had ordered what the other table got? Same thing. Present and serve your food in a way that makes passersby drool with jealousy. Use cups or serving boats with your logo on them and you will undoubtedly get some stragglers who saw someone else eating something from your truck that they just had to try. Just. That. Simple.
