How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
How to start a food truck in Connecticut so if you are looking to start a food truck business in Connecticut we're going to give you the ins and outs and what you need to know to get a food truck business up and running here on food truck freaks YouTube food truck entrepreneurs channel we're going to get to that right now alright so welcome back to food truck freaks and if you are brand new to our channel welcome to food truck freaks we are a food truck entrepreneurs channel dedicated all to food truck business and industry helping you get up and running letting you know the ins and outs and some tips and tricks on how to grow your food truck business so make sure you hit the subscribe button and of course that bell notification so I'm going to go through a list of food truck start up list that's going to help you understand how to get a food truck started in Connecticut and below this in the description section we will definitely go ahead and give you some additional free links check out the blog link that's going to be dedicated to starting a food truck business in Connecticut so number one before you start a food truck now you may be a huge cook you may be a great fan of cooking or even a chef but operating a food truck business is something all unto itself so before you start a food truck business check to see what kind of experience you have in running a business or something similar to it just because you love to cook and have fun chefing it up doesn't necessarily
How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
mean that you're going to be successful in a food truck business so you want to check what kind of skills you actually have in regards to running a business and if you don't have a lot of business skills but you'd love to cook maybe before you take that leap you might want to look into taking some courses or learning a little bit more about the business aspects of it as far as dealing with vendors customer service hiring employees operating the business itself day-to-day taxes year taxes everything that goes along with running one so make sure you do that before you take the big leap and invest Next up you want to check on a business name make sure that the business name you're looking for is not taken so in the state of Connecticut you want to check with your state website states business website in regards to a named search and by doing that that's going to allow you to know whether or not the name you chose for your food truck is taken or not Next up you want to register your business so get your business license with the city you're going to operate in now something very unique about food trucks is that they of course mobile now in Connecticut you need to find out specifically if other cities that you're going to operate in being that your business is mobile you may have to have a business license in every city you plan to work in most states actually operate that way so if you're going from one city line and crossing over to another city you may need to have multiple business licenses now if you do this you want to make sure that it's worth it and here's what I mean by that many business licenses could cost upwards of two or maybe even $300
How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
a year but there annually renewed and if you're going to different events and you're seeing that that city is not worth it you need to make sure that you're not going to renew a license to obviously cell in a city that's not profitable at all for you that doesn't make any sense so definitely check that out before you do Next up you want to get a business bank account for your food truck business so once you get started in Connecticut and you've got yourself up and running and got all of the permits and licenses out of the way make sure that you get a business bank account don't operate your business out of a personal account you want to make sure you of course create your LLC and get yourself your insurance and such but more importantly you want to make sure your food truck has its own bank account OK Next up you want to get secure a POS system hardware so the point of sale hardware system that's going to be the actual unit where people can use debit or credit cards and allow them to pay for their products don't expect to take all the time Cash Cash is great to have yes but a lot of people today do not carry cash and you want to ensure that you've got the ability to take payment for the product and by limiting yourself because you don't have a POS hardware system not a good idea now Next up of course following that you want to make sure you have a merchant account directed to your POS system your point of sale system needs to obviously have a merchant account this is going to be the actual account that allows you to transact the different transactions from debit credit cards and such so just because you have the hardware that doesn't necessarily mean you actually have the merchant account so ensure that you get that as well alright you got to apply for your taxpayers ID for your food truck business so ensure that you get a taxpayers ID from the state of Connecticut to ensure that you've got that set up which will allow you to handle any tax issues that may pop up register your food truck which could be a commercial vehicle so every state on this actually is a little bit different but most states in general do require that your food truck going to be registered as a commercial vehicle not going to be something that's going to be not commercial because the size of it the weight of it and everything else in between is going to constitute the commercial vehicle food handlers certificate now this is going to apply almost in every single state in every situation so when you're in Connecticut and you're in that specific city that you're operating in check to see if you and your employees will actually
How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
need a food handler certificate this is something that's basically a simple course that you take on understanding how to handle food how to properly prepare it store it obviously keeping leftovers at the right temperatures sanitation and so on so you want to make sure that everyone on your truck if it's necessary it's going to have to go through food handler certificate program Next up correct type of driver's license now registering your vehicle is one thing making sure though that you have the right license to operate the vehicle is another you need to ensure to that if you were going to split one day with a worker or an employee and they're going to drive the vehicle they need to make sure they have a commercial driver's license and it's valid now you might be thinking well that's kind of a no brainer Damien of course you need that well you need to make sure that anyone who's driving your vehicle has a valid license because if they get into an accident get pulled over that's going to be on you the food truck owner not the driver of course the driver could be cited the employee could be a little bit of trouble but the one who's going to get it the most is the owner of the truck and that's you so another one as we mentioned this is kind of just to repeat as well is each city or even each county keep that in mind too if it's not a city maybe a county ordinance and if you operate in each place you may need to have a permit or a license to operate in them so as I mentioned just a while ago double check and ensure that each city or the county which I forgot to mention the counties may require individual business license as well alright Next up is super important of course you need to have an
How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
insurance policy for your food truck the state of Connecticut when you start your food truck business it's going to require you of course to have insurance now I'm not an insurance agent so I'm not going to go over a policy but I can guarantee you'll probably need workers compensation if you're employing people you're going to need product liability which is going to cover your food so in case pe that's also something that will be covered so ensure at the least that you have the most minimum coverage you may add more that's up to you but the minimum coverage you need to operate your food truck in Connecticut now you're going to probably have an office I would imagine if you've got a home based business office that's perfectly fine but you will have to invest if you don't have it you will need some furniture for your office now these are also tax deductible because you are part of your food truck business is your Home Office this could be where you order from your vendors this could be where you set up your events you're going to need some type of office space you can't operating office from the kitchen inside your truck so if you do that from home ensure that you also mention to your tax accountant that you're operating in office from home because of your food drug business because there could be potential tax benefits to when you operate a business from home now even if it's just an office you have the potential to have other additional discounts in in in the deductions so make sure you ask them for that as well alright so next to little bit of marketing so you want to research the area in the city or county in Connecticut where you want to start find out the types of most popular foods and for instance just go to one of the food truck events or local rally or something like that or even a farmers market festival fair whatever it may be and see what kind of food is served or get a feel for what kind of food Maybe enjoyed within the city or county that you live in here's why a lot of times people start out and create a menu but out of nowhere they
How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
realize that that menu is not going over very well locally so if you have a demographic you have a certain taste preference in the city or county you're in make sure that you check on that before you do your food truck business as well now the next one is a tricky one you got to find funding so where are you going to get the funds to create your food truck business in Connecticut that's the question could you go to family and friends yes you could potentially do that can you use your own personal credit cards you could I wouldn't recommend that so much or you can get a personal loan which again if you've got great credit or if you've got obviously investments of your own do it on your own it's really challenging though to get a business loan when you don't have operating experience or a year or two under your belt so a lot of banks or businesses that look for lending money are going to say well Damian how long have you been in business in Connecticut with your food truck while I'm just starting well they're going to be looking for something more than that so trying to get a loan is probably not going to be something that happens very often unless you've got great personal credit it could potentially be issued under you person now as I mentioned you could apply for startup business loans now the SBA Small Business Administration and other loan programs like that do have loan program set up for food trucks believe it or not who don't have a history they are a bit challenging to get but they actually do exist and you do have an opportunity to get them so check and look into the SBA
How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
program next all you want to create a handbook for your employees now you're probably thinking well Damien it's just a food truck we're preparing simple foods why would I need an employee handbook you need to make one and you can do these online by the way and it doesn't have to be thick or like the size of a dictionary it could be a very simple outlay of what you expect from the employee the types of job duties are going to have the type of responsibilities they're going to have and what you expected them I mean it's very kind of simple doesn't have to be difficult but the idea is that when you give that to them they know the expectations at least so that gives them an opportunity and you to be on the same page when you hire them Next up you want to design A food truck logo for your food truck so it's all about your brand when you want to create a food truck business it's not as simple as just painting a truck putting some name on the side and driving it around you want to look you want to create a look you want to create a brand you're going to have to do that by a logo fonts and text and letters certain characteristics and colors that maybe what you're looking for as far as portraying your brand with your food truck these are super crucial important when you start from scratch now you're going to need a food truck wrap now by the way if you're not good obviously creating the logo maybe you just a great chef down below again way more resources for food truck entrepreneurs you can get somebody to make the logo for you and the next step was the food truck wrap so if you're not familiar with how a food truck wrap works or designs you can actually get somebody who can create it for you as well so definitely take a look at a food truck crap but ensure that it's going to have your brand your look your logo and your colors very important OK Next up you want to get an additional chef or cook that can work side by side or with you on days when you can't be there there's going to be times when you're going to operate your vehicle at certain farmers markets or for a food truck events and you can't be there so if you've got a backup innocence or you've got a great chef or cook it can be there that's going to be crucial to the success of your business you cannot be there 24/7
How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
seven days a week on every single aspect of your food truck it can be overwhelming so you're going to need a partner you're going to need somebody to help you Next up you can buy rent or even lease a food truck this is something that many food trucks startups don't understand is you don't necessarily need to buy a food truck you can lease one or you can rent one or you can even actually get one used if you finally used truck and it doesn't have the equipment you need refitting it or retrofitting it or gutting it out and taking out the inside of the truck and redoing the truck is something that's much cheaper it's not going to cost as much and it can be much more customizable but if you find a truck that's used maybe it's got the equipment you need or could you maybe you only need to substitute a couple of pieces of equipment alright before you launch your food truck you're going to need all kinds of what's known as smallware's these small wares are like plates are going to be napkins they're going to be utensils disposable cups everything that you need to serve your food with and even spatulas and small things to pick the food up obviously and put it into the containers you're going to need all kinds of things so these are things that you're going to need to think about when you're budgeting before you start your food truck you're going to need a website
How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
yes believe it or not if you didn't realize it food trucks and every type of food business needs to have a website to have a presence online it's going to be beneficial to you because it's going to give you an opportunity to create a menu where people can go and see where you're going to be at a schedule where you're going to be at what event what kind of food do you serve or do you offer catering do you have other services can you do birthday parties can you be hired all of this information can be related on a website and your food truck will benefit from it in a major way now your city or county will also have an this is a guaranteed a fire inspection so normally the Fire Chief for an employee from the fire department will be on your truck to take a look at how it's wired to make sure it's functioning properly if you've got any generators the propane or gas or electric however they're powered how are they put on the vehicle are they securely put on the vehicle do you have an opportunity to run them and start them so they can make sure they're functioning right all of these things will be looked at the how they're going to get off the truck God forbid but you have a fire you're going to need to make sure that that's something that is going to be addressed with the fire department now you want to create a menu now some people might say you know what they mean you got to make a specific menu it's better to make one and stick to it well if you're in a certain area or region of every state there might be a variable in your menu seasonality to your menu if it's a holiday maybe it's a maybe if you're catering events and your off season you need to be flexible with your menu so don't get stuck in a rut so much so that you think you can only make tacos you can only make hamburgers or pizza if you've got the ability to produce those types of items there's a good likelihood you can make and cook anything but now I'm not saying don't make a hugely broad open type of menu that has everything under the sun but be flexible because if you have someone that comes up during event it says hey I would love you to cater my event but can you
How to start a Food truck business in Connecticut
make this be open to that and have an opportunity to draw on that and make more business opportunities year round because of course winter and such is not a great season for outdoor events obviously but maybe you can cater an event maybe you can do an event and show up at a corporate office maybe you can do a birthday party so be open to that as well now one thing that a lot of food truck owners don't realize they have to have on hand all the time is documentation a lot of legal papers need to be kept on the vehicle because why well that's pretty much your business if you had a restaurant on the premises of the restaurant you probably have to have certain documentation there as well your food truck is the business even though it's mobile you need to keep them somewhere documentation such as licenses permits approvals fire departments sections health department inspections if you're graded and you have a numbered grade from the health department so be it you going to have to have that on hand too so keep in mind that you may need to have documentation on your vehicle at all times now you're probably going to need to be connected to a commissary kitchen or a commercial kitchen commissary kitchens or commercial kitchens allow you to take your food truck there prepare your ingredients get rid of your days wastewaters your trash clean out sanitize your truck and in most cases you actually have to park your vehicle at that commercial kitchen that you're attached to so look at that and in each city and county within Connecticut might be slightly different on this one but you want to take make sure and make sure that you have yourself attached to a commercial kitchen so that that will be the place where most prep work will be continuing for your ingredients and storage of food as well and so on alright so lastly create accounts on social media yes social media is a huge plus for food trucks even though your local maybe you're in a city or county and you're kind of still mobile but you're within those areas ensure that you have these social media accounts set up because you're going to have the opportunity to have people purchase your products and maybe post pictures of it and maybe even reviews because that would only help if somebody goes online and find your food truck and says hey I would love to have this guy cater my event but wow his reviews are horrible as food is horrible or maybe it's great his reviews are great and you'd be a great fit for what they need keep that in mind always keep that in mind social media from Facebook to Instagram and Twitter and everybody else in between is a great place for people to post reviews engage with them offer specials maybe a certain code if you follow me on Instagram check out the cone and you can get a free meal next time you see us at an event