Food Truck Catering for Events: How Does It Work?

Thinking about food truck catering your next event? Great idea!

Food trucks provide a diverse option of delicious food for events. You’re better than subs and chicken ziti, aren’t you?

Food Truck Catering: Things to Consider

Before you start booking trucks, here are a few things to consider when deciding to hire a food truck to cater your event.

1. Cool Factor

Food trucks are hip, and having a unique, gourmet food truck catering your event will definitely up the cool factor. However, make sure to consider your audience – food truck catering will make sense for casual crowds, but buttoned-up corporate types may gawk at eating out of a truck (some still have the misconception that today’s gourmet food trucks are no different than the roach coaches of yesteryear).

2. Check Permits & Insurance

Make sure to check that the food truck you’ll be hiring to cater the event has all the appropriate permits and insurances. As the event organizer, you may also need insurance in case of any incidents. These rules vary between cities and states, so check with your local branches.

3. Get Your Guest Volume Down

Food trucks can only serve a few people at a time – it’s why the lines at food truck festivals can be abysmally long. If you have over 50+ people, you may want to consider hiring multiple trucks (hey, that means more delicious food options)!

Food trucks will also need to know how many guests you plan on having attend your event so that they can plan accordingly.

4. Indoor/Outdoor Venue

Food carts are better suited for indoor events, while larger food trucks are a great choice for outdoor events.

5. Weather

Food truck catering really only works with warm weather – probably not your best bet for winter gatherings. Will your climate or season lend itself well to outdoor eating?

6. Seating

Will you set up tables and chairs for event guests to sit down and eat? Or will you encourage standing eating instead?

7. Parking For Your Food Truck

Where will your food truck park? Make sure to plan ahead for a space for the truck to park that will also be easily accessible by guests.

8. Food Trucks + Other Caterers?

Some events choose to hire traditional caterers for the majority of the meals and use food truck to accent the dishes. For example, a food truck could provide ice cream and tacos while another caterer provides classic food like burgers, pasta, chicken, etc.

9. Timing

Make sure you’re very clear with trucks about what time you’d like them to arrive at the event, and what time they should expect to stay until. You’ll need to clarify specific event hours with the trucks so that they have plenty of time to prep beforehand and break down after the event.

10. Warn the Neighbors

If you’re event will be hosted in a residential area, you may want to warn neighbors that a food truck will be parked at your home. It’s the neighborly thing to do!

11. What Food Do Your Guests Like?

Make sure to keep your guests in mind when selecting a food truck to cater your event. Is your group mostly vegetarians? Do they hate sweets (what is wrong with them – that’s crazy)?

Depending on your audience, you may want a truck that serves a variety of foods, or a specific type of food that is relevant to your event (a Cinco de Mayo party is begging for a taco truck).

12. Trash Cans & Other Accessories

It may seem small, but don’t overlook trash cans! Some food trucks will provide them, while others will expect you to have them on hand. The same goes for cutlery and napkins – some trucks may want to provide their own for branding and promotion, while others will leave that to you. Make sure you communicate who will provide these essentials for your event.

What Determines Food Truck Catering Cost?

Food truck catering is often cheaper than traditional catering, but it still won’t be a drop in the bucket.

Your cost for having a food truck cater your event can vary depending on a few different factors.

• Minimum Guests / Minimum Spend. Different trucks have different fee structures when it comes to catering. Many trucks have a minimum number of guests or minimum spend required, anywhere from $500-$2000 depending on the truck and the food you’re looking to serve.

• Hours. While some trucks price based on guests, others do a per hour fee structure (and some will require that you commit to a certain number of hours). How long will you be wanting the food truck around to serve people?

• Menu Planning. Food trucks will often work with you to create the perfect catering menu for your event. If you have a truck in mind, look over their catering options and think about what choice dishes you will want. Costs may vary depending on how many dishes you want to offer guests.

• Multiple Trucks. If you’re going to be having a very large gathering, you may want to consider hiring out multiple trucks. This will certainly boost up costs, but can provide a richer experience for guests.

There’s a lot to consider, and different food trucks structure their cost setup differently, so it’s best to reach out to a few trucks you’re considering the price them out.

You’ll also need to consider if you or your organization will be putting up the money for hosting a food truck AND feeding guests, or if you’ll just pay for the truck to be there and have guests buy the food themselves.

Food Truck Catering Options

Many food trucks offer a few different catering options. You can usually choose to do:

• Pick-Up. You love food truck food, and you’re going to hit up the truck, grab a massive order, and take it back to your event.

• Drop-Off. Someone from the food truck will come and deliver your food, but won’t stay.

• Food Truck Service. The food truck stays on site and serves guests from the truck. This is by far the most fun and exciting option.

Naturally the pick-up and drop-off services will cost less than having a food truck come and park at your event, but I believe having the food truck stay stationed at your event is absolutely the way to go.

Having food trucks at an event is more of an experience, whereas drop-off services mean you could basically be catering from anywhere – it’s certainly not as special.

Do you have any other tips for those planning to hire a food truck to cater an event? Share you food truck catering advice in the comments!