What if a competitor opens next to me?

Compete on differentiation, not on price. Sharpen your menu hook, deepen your loyal-customer programs, and expand into catering or new dayparts the competitor is not serving. Most cities do not restrict proximity for mobile vendors, so adapting is faster than appealing.

How do I price my menu?

Calculate plate cost (raw ingredients per serving), divide by your target food cost percentage (28-35% per FSR Magazine benchmarks), and round to a clean price point. Test against competitor menus in the same daypart. Reprice every quarter as ingredient costs move.

How do I market a new food truck?

Build an Instagram and TikTok with daily location posts, claim Google Business Profile and Yelp, list on Street Food Finder and Roaming Hunger, partner with three to five lunch-anchor venues, and pitch catering to local offices. Word-of-mouth from your first 90 days matters more than paid ads.

How should I price commissary into menu prices?

Commissary rent is a fixed overhead expense, not a per-plate cost. Divide monthly commissary rent by realistic monthly plate volume to know what each plate must absorb, then make sure your menu pricing leaves enough gross margin to cover all fixed costs, not just food.

Flavor Fleets

A new truck parking adjacent to yours feels personal — treat it as a market signal and respond strategically. Audit your differentiation: what makes your truck the obvious choice? If you cannot name three reasons a regular picks you in 10 seconds, neither can your customers. Do not drop prices first — a price war erodes both trucks margins and the winner is usually whoever has deeper pockets. Hold price and lean into value-add: free upgrade, larger portion, faster service. Expand the pie — work breakfast, late-night, catering, or a different anchor location. Catering is rarely zero-sum because corporate clients book by relationship. Be neighborly; food truck markets are smaller than they look. Most cities do not enforce proximity restrictions between mobile vendors; if the new truck is operating without a permit, report it as a legitimate enforcement question.