I 21m am starting a delitruck, the startup cost for the truck will be about 20k that I already have saved up (8.5k for the truck and the rest for appliances and inventory). I am currently living in a small town in Sweden which in my opinion doesn’t have any good delis. I am currently employed as an icehockey player which means I have a lot of free time and a fixed income as well.
I will be selling different deli meats, cheeses, olives, marmelades, meats, sausages, spice mixtures and so on.
The plan is going to be driving around in my and neighboring small towns on a fixed schedule and also visiting fairs and markets. I will be offering catering and gift bag services as well.
Is there anything I should be thinking about or take into consideration in this process? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
Sign customers before you buy the truck.
You should take a loan out for the truck and appliances, and save the 20k for your cash flow and insurance and licensing.
Why bother?
This is not a good business idea unless you have fixed orders. You’ll spend a lot of time burning gas to make very little money.
Figure out your few signature items and really push those.
I see deli kind of retailers lean into custom everything to their detriment. Espeically in a place not known for good delis, you need to educate your customers on what a good deli sandwich is.
This will also DRAMATICALLY speed up your speed of service. If you have a few sandwiches in mind, you can pre-measure out your meats, things like tapanade or sturdy veggies and just assemble and add any moist ingredients necessary at the last moment.
Start small, then lean into events. Catering is where the money is.
Don’t go thin on your margins, I had zero business experience and bought into a small retail franchise and the thing that suprised me the most is how much money I had to make before I made any money. If I was you, I would plan to make at least 2.5x my money on every item you sell. If something costs you $2 to sell, it better cost at least $5. Someone with experience in the food service industry might even recommend more.
Good tip, will try to combine the pricing with long lasting ingredients to minimize waste as well!
Make sure you have all the required business and health department licenses in your jurisdiction.
Already on top of it, have talked to them frequently!
On this note, it may be wise to do business in a single municipality, crossing municpal lines would make things doubly complex on this front.
Find out what municipality you live or work in (which might be distinct from your city and might include multiple cities), and pick either.
Can you run this business with a manager? Will you be profitable if you’re not in the truck.
In the beginning I will of course have to be on site but eventually the plan is for it to run by itself with one or two employees.
You should put a big QR code on the side of your vehicle that links to a page that shows your schedule and locations on it. You could also have your menu of products on that page as well. You could further back this up with a phone number and a message about your schedule and locations. If you wanted to get real fancy you could have a map on the web page and update your location at each stop.
In the US, at least in some parts, a big hassle with food trucks is they need access to a commercial kitchen approved by the health department so that they can properly wash and sanitize the equipment, tools, bins, etc. You can’t just park it outside your house and take everything inside and wash it. It ends up creating a big cost to have access to a proper place. Not sure in Sweden, but it’s something to think about. Where are you parking at night? Where are you cleaning everything? Do you need access to a 3 compartment sink? Where are you going to store access items, food, equipment? I had a little cafe/coffee shop and my garage at home was full of crap.
Add some Italian cuts to be able to make sandwiches like we have here in the US in our Italian delis. Give them names based on mafia stuff here in the US like the godfather, capo, hitman, the Don, etc. I bet Swedes will eat that shit up. Also good way to have hot food in winter- meatballs, raviolis, lasagna, etc.
Sounds badass and easy to add, good idea!
I would get a chamber vaccumm sealer so you can repackage your meats and cheese. You could also package your soups in a bag this way and sell them packaged for the microwave or boil in the bag soups. I had a meat and deli shop and repackaging your meats and cheese will save you a lot of loss. I don’t know your laws but here in the states you have to make your fresh sausage on premise or it has to be federally inspected if it is smoked sausage. For the love of god get a good commercial meat slicer. I think your idea has merit.
Marketing. Even if you don’t hire a marketer you need a good strategy. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok would all be good places to advertise and post about what you’re doing. A website would be beneficial as well, but in this early stage I would focus on social media leads
Yes true! Do you know how to get in touch with one and about how much it is going to cost me?
Like a lunch truck??
Knew 3 guys that went out of business from a lunch truck and work at grocery stores now…
Use your face to market the company