Why Your Food Truck Design Matters More Than Ever
Your food truck design helps you stand out.
Food trucks bring in more than $1 billion each year, and there is every indication that food trucks will continue to grow.
In an arena of fierce competition, it pays to have a food truck design that delivers.
Let’s look at why your food truck design matters more than ever.
Why Design Matters
Let’s say you walk into the grocery store, and you want to buy apples. There are eight different kinds. How do you choose?
Most people would choose the brightest, freshest, most attractive looking apples.
The same can be said for food trucks. If you’re parked in a food truck park, or you’re lined up on a crowded street full of trucks, you want to stand out. (tweet this)
The design of your truck is what sets you apart.
Some things than can help move you ahead of the competition include:
- Bright colors
- Modern graphics
- Large, appealing design
- Interesting and bold typography
- Uniqueness of design
First impressions are everything. Sure, you could try to stand on your food alone. But, why leave anything to chance? Combine your great smelling food with a stand-out food truck design that appeals to customers walking by.
If your truck is bland and boring, potential customers are going to walk right by. You want your food truck design to stand apart from the crowd.
Your potential customers will judge the quality of your food by the quality of your food truck design. (tweet this) Make a great first impression.
How to Pick a Designer
Now that you know why your food truck design matters more than ever, you might be wondering how to pick a designer and where to find one.
Unless you’re a graphic designer, this isn’t something you should attempt on your own.
You want your truck design, logo, branding, color scheme, website, social media and more to be cohesive. This is where the pros come in.
Consider hiring a professional. This will cost you more than an amateur, but the results will be worth it.
Interview graphic designers and ask them about not only creating your logo and food truck design but putting together a cohesive branding package for you.
Ask the designer if they have experience with custom car/truck wraps and if they currently work with a skilled printer.
If spending a lot of money isn’t part of your game plan, you can always hire an amateur like a design student or freelancer.
The same questions you asked the professional designers apply here as well. You want this person to have some experience with large, custom graphics and especially vehicle wraps.
Maintain a Cohesive Design
This is vital when designing your food truck. For example, if your food truck is pink, your website should also incorporate the color pink.
Talk to your chosen designer about your design concept. Don’t print the vehicle wraps or invest in custom food truck design until you’ve hammered out your entire design concept.
Think about the following for a cohesive brand:
- Logo
- Custom truck design
- Lighting
- Image choices – photos or illustrations
- Vehicle Wrap
- Colors and Fonts
- Your menu and menu board
- Website, social media, video, digital marketing, business cards
Set Your Truck Apart
Finally, when working out your food truck design, you want to think about the message you want to convey. What feeling do you want your visitors to walk away with?
This extends past your food to the design of your food truck.
You want your food truck, logo and colors to stand out to the customers. You want your presentation to be memorable, and something your customers won’t forget.
You’re after a food truck design that sticks with the customer long after they’ve left.
In other words, your food truck should have personality. It starts with the food truck and extends to your menu.
In a crowded food truck park, it often doesn’t matter which truck has the best food. Especially because often they all have great food.
To stand out from the competition, your truck must be attention-grabbing, clean and design-rich.
Draw attention, grab the customers’ curiosity, and entice them with your food so you are the busiest food truck in the park.
Now, let’s look at some great examples of food truck design to get you thinking creatively:
The Rocket Wood Fired Pizza
Their award-winning food truck design features a gold logo on black. Hailing from Phoenix, this truck serves incredibly delicious and cheesy pizza.
Their modern design with plenty of lighting captures diners with ease.
Curry Now
Indian food is colorful, spicy and flavorful, so it stands to reason their food truck should match.
This eye-catching food truck is hard to miss on the busy streets.
Recess Truck
Ice cream is a recess from the cares of daily life, and this food truck screams fun and care-free.
This food truck inspires kids and adults alike, making everyone feel like a kid as they hop in line for terrific ice cream.
Falasophy Food Truck
The play on the word, philosophy, works well in this playfully creative food truck design featuring great typography and colors.
Their tagline, “Falafal is a serious mental disease,” works with the title of the food truck and highlights their graphic illustrations.
Final Thoughts
Being a food truck owner means you love your food, and you’re fiercely passionate about delivering your food to customers and watching them enjoy your food.
Aside from the universal challenge of where to park your truck, your biggest challenge is attracting customers and overcoming the increasing competition.
With food truck choices literally “on every corner,” your food truck design matters more than ever.
You want to have a strong brand that flows from your truck to your food, website, social media and collateral materials.
The design of your food truck is the centerpiece of your marketing, and what it looks like matters. All of your other marketing should work well with it.
So, spend some time designing your logo, picking out your colors and designing your food truck to help you beat the competition.
Do you have a great looking, responsive website that matches the design of your food truck? Is it user-friendly and enticing to your website visitors? If not, or you’d like a website tune-up and refresh, contact us for your free website consultation. We’ll make sure your website works for your site visitors and is the centerpiece of your marketing.
Images: Dmitry Nucky Thompson and Gaetan Boutet
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I agree that the design of your food truck will make a big impact on who chooses to come to your food truck. Your vehicle is your advertisement. The design will give people an idea of your food, personality, and quality. This not only helps provide a better experience for customers because it is more professional, it will call the attention of others as you advertise by simply driving around town.