Supply chain issues and hiring challenges are hot topics right now, but do you know how they affect food trucks? Food truck owners hoped for an easier year after 2020’s pandemic, but supply issues, food shortages, unpredictable gas availability and pricing, and hiring complications have led to a whole new set of challenges.

Here’s the Short Version

The U.S is currently having supply and demand issues; essentially there are more buyers than there are goods to buy. This imbalance and other economic factors of the past year have led to the largest inflation rate in over 13 years, causing businesses to struggle yet again.

Poultry is Getting Pricey

You may have heard that Starbucks is running low on flavored syrup or that Disneyland ran out of their coveted churros, but did you know there’s a nationwide chicken shortage? This is a real issue for chicken-centric trucks and restaurants who are grappling between taking a hit to their business or raising their prices.

The cost of poultry has doubled in the past year due to many factors, including a reduced supply after the winter storm in Texas (a major chicken producing state), an increase in chicken delivery due to the “chicken sandwich war”, and the labor shortage reaching farmers. Chicken is just one example of countless food supply issues trucks are currently facing.

Gas Prices & Mobile Businesses  

We’ve all seen gas prices fluctuate and your local stations cover their pumps in the last few months. As you can imagine this is a huge problem for mobile businesses. Trucks have complained about driving around their cities looking for available gas while in a rush to get to their shifts on time.

Hiring is Impossible

Along with supply chain issues and food shortages, hiring and retaining workers has become increasingly more difficult. According to experts, staffing problems are due to the food industry competing for a smaller pool of workers, as job seekers are looking for remote work, dealing with childcare disruptions, and other pandemic-based factors. In a recent survey, food service workers listed their top three reasons why they’d consider leaving their jobs as low wages and tips, COVID-19 anxiety, and customer hostility.

Here’s What the Trucks Have to Say

• “8 years in and this is the worst I’ve seen it.” – Chuey Fu’s (regarding hiring in 2021)
• “Our cost of chicken has doubled in the last year!” – Killik’s Kitchen
• “It’s been especially hard as the venues are back to 100% capacity so volume is going up.” – Deja Roux Cajun and Soul
• “The nature of our needs is tough enough as it but there is zero response when we put the word out to fill positions on all available platforms.” – Solsage Food Truck
• “Hiring is impossible!” – Just a Buck Truck

How Can I Help?

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for the service industry? Economic experts are unsure, but hopeful for a year on the mend. In the meantime, we all can do our part to help out. Remember to buy from and support your local food trucks. Tipping generously is always appreciated, both financially and psychologically. Please be kind when a food truck runs out of a menu option or has to cancel at the last minute. These entrepreneurs are doing their best amidst unprecedented challenges and we at Truckster are here to help find fill-ins whenever we can.

Hello from the Truckster World Headquarters (aka our home office covered in paperwork, coffee mugs, and whiteboards with illegible scribbles)!

We are thrilled to announce our First Annual Summer Scavenger Hunt! Time to get out your treasure maps (ahem, Truckster apps) and channel your inner-Nicolas Cage.

The hunt will last May through September, with participants earning badges towards monthly prizes, swag, and entry for this season’s grand prize. It felt like a great way to help our users expand their horizons, while gaining more exposure for some of our favorite trucks.

How to Participate

We’re starting out our first challenge this year in Austin and Denver, where we have our highest concentration of app users, and expanding to more locations in 2022. Each city has 5 featured trucks per month for consumers to track down (think local breweries, neighborhoods, festivals, …). When consumers place an order on Truckster with one of the 5 highlighted trucks, they earn a scavenger hunt badge. Earning all 5 badges wins that month’s challenge. We will send out Truckster swag and other goodies to our monthly winners, and each month’s winners will be entered to win additional prizes. And, we’re going big here, consumers who hit all five trucks May through September will be eligible to win our season’s grand prize! Stay tuned for hints as to what that will be (trust us, you want it).

Starting July 1st, earn your July badges by ordering from:
Austin Trucks
Bluebonnet Brews
El Xolo Tacos
Hands Off My Funnel Cakes
Hungry J’s
The Evil Wiener

Denver Trucks
Rocky Mountain Slices
Dem Boys
Laziz Ya Lebanese
5280 Burger Bar
Arepas Caribbean Food

Starting August 1st, earn your August badges by ordering from:
Austin Trucks
Hands Off My Funnel Cakes
Hungry J’s
Just Like Mama’s Soul Food
Pepe’s Tacos
Tacoly Moly

Denver Trucks
Farm to Truck
Mu Denver
Seb’s Pizzas
TacosTao
Waffle Cakes

Why We’re Doing It

After a year where everything has felt so serious and heavy, we sought out to create some lighthearted fun for our community. Watching friends forced to shutter their businesses, being separated from loved ones, and social injustice and violence plaguing our country, we have leaned into our community of small business owners and fun-loving foodies as a refuge. We wanted to take the opportunity to thank our fellow Truckster’s and reward them with a bit of fun, leading us to gamifying Truckster and creating the scavenger hunt. Let’s support our local entrepreneurs and make a game out of it.

Thanks for listening. We hope you participate with us!

Cheers,
Connor & Molly
Truckster Co-Founders

We’re all tired of hearing about COVID-19, but the reality is that we are very much still in it. On Friday, October 30, the US reported the highest number of daily new cases for any country, reaching 100,000. Many bars and restaurants nationwide have been required to close or operate at limited capacity. Meanwhile, we’ve all been eating at home for months and are tired of coming up with exhaustive grocery lists and cooking day in and day out. What can be done?

Food Trucks are a Safe Alternative

Already being an outdoor, takeout option, food trucks are seen by many as a safe alternative right now. While restaurants have closed, been restricted to limited occupancy, or offer takeout and delivery only, food trucks are still safely operating. They are naturally built to be a takeout option, and meals can be taken back home or eaten outdoors, while safely spread out from others.

Compared to delivery or dining at a restaurant, your meal is less likely to pass through multiple sets of hands. Your food travels from the chef’s hands, to your takeout box, to you. Our trucks are asked to wear their masks and are taking the health and safety of you and their staff seriously. It is critical to the viability of their business to keep their staff healthy in order to stay open and operating.

Online & Mobile Ordering

Many of the Truckster trucks are offering online and mobile ordering through the Truckster app and website. With Truckster ordering, you can place your order on the go or from the comfort of your home, and you’ll receive a text when your food is ready to be picked up. This is a great contactless ordering option, and eliminates the need for exchanging money, waiting in lines, and congregating by the trucks while waiting on your order. You also avoid the costly delivery fees which can really add up over time.

All that being said, some trucks are offering delivery options as well. Be sure to check with your favorite truck to see what options they have. And if you want to see Truckster ordering available, ask the trucks to join! It’s easy and cost effective for the trucks to setup.

Booking a Food Truck

You can still book a food truck to come to your office or neighborhood, or hire a truck to cater a private event. Trucks are accommodating unique scenarios, such as feeding guests in shifts, individually packaging to go meals, and other similar requirements. If you are interested in catering services or booking a truck, get started here or contact us with questions.

Finally keep in mind that restaurants are still a viable option to consider. However even with lower than normal occupancy, indoor or outdoor dining at a restaurant makes it difficult to spread out and some people feel uncomfortable sitting a table without a mask, even if they are 6 feet away from their neighboring table. If you fall into this category, consider takeout or delivery. Many restaurants are depending on takeout business to stay afloat right now.

Since we all want to see our favorite local spots still open once we’re able to safely return to full occupancy, let’s try to support our food trucks and restauranteurs as much as we can!

Truckster is partnering with community members to build the #ServeTheIndustry movement. The movement’s mission is to aid the disrupted and displaced service industry community, starting here with local food trucks serving the Denver Metro area. We are pairing essential industry workers in need of a fresh, hot, meal with food trucks struggling to generate revenue, supported by funding from individuals and communities who are willing to give. Click Here to Give Now!

It all started on Saturday night March 21, when a group of neighbors got together and purchased meals from The Bamboo Skewer food truck to feed workers at their local King Soopers. Their generosity fed over 70 meals at two Denver Metro King Soopers locations. “After hearing my friend Mark’s story (owner of The Bamboo Skewer), I knew I needed to find a way to help” says Tim Fielding, who came up with the idea. “Listening to the small businesses who are watching years of hard work evaporate overnight just crushes me. Pair that with all of the workers who have been thrust into an essential role in the health and wellness of our communities like the grocery store workers stocking shelves, checking people out, and delivering food, I wanted to help out any way I could. This way we can help serve the people serving our communities while supporting small businesses.”

Connor Hollowell, Co-Founder of Truckster said, “When Tim and Mark reached out to us, it just felt like it was the answer we had been waiting for. So many of our trucks are reaching out to us in a panic. Nearly all, if not all, of their events are cancelled and they are looking for somewhere to go.”

Truckster is hosting a page on our website where the public can purchase a meal from a participating food truck (or multiple meals if they are willing and can afford it). With the help of sponsors like Tim and Kelly Fielding from Axe & Timber and in coordination with the grocers themselves, Truckster will then schedule food trucks to serve meals to the workers at local grocery store locations. The trucks will be individually packaging the food and serving in small groups, in order to comply with the Stay at Home Public Health Order issued on Monday.

In addition to serving the staff, trucks will also be open to the public at these locations for takeout service. Many trucks are offering takeout ordering through their websites, via text, and on the Truckster app. The public is asked to please adhere to Monday’s order, and keep distances of 6 feet or more between you and others when picking up your takeout orders.

The group is spreading the word through a social media challenge that launched on Wednesday, March 25th. Participants will purchase meals through the Truckster website (https://gotruckster.com/food-truck/co/denver/servetheindustry), change their social media profile pictures to the #ServeTheIndustry logo for the day, and create a social media post challenging three friends to do the same.

Truckster Co-Founder Molly Hollowell expanded, “It’s a great way to give with double the impact, and hopefully will add just a little sunshine to what can feel like really dark days ahead. It’s always incredible to see what we can do together, and how many people want to pitch in and be a part of it.”

The Stay-at-Home order, announced on March 23rd by Mayor Michael B. Hancock, has the city of Denver on edge. Denver is one of the hardest hit counties in Colorado. As of Tuesday March 24th, Colorado had 912 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 176 of which were in Denver County. In an effort to reverse the trend, the order went into effect on March 24th and continues through April 10th. Continue reading “With Denver’s Stay-At-Home Order in Effect, Food Trucks Remain Open”

Mobile dining in America goes back to the days of the Colonies, but lately, food trucks have become a phenomenon, and people consider them a unique part of the American landscape. Today, these trucks are as familiar as the streets they stand on, and they are an integral part of the American food scene. Continue reading “America – The Land of the Food Trucks”