Food Trucks Roll into the Future

Food trucks have been a major fad since 2008, when the L.A. area saw the birth of the soon wildly popular Korean tacos served by Kogi BBQ trucks. Almost immediately, food trucks began popping up in streetscapes from coast to coast, offering both niche foods and mainstream foods.

Now food trucks represent an estimated $2.7 billion in revenues and a consumer behavior shift toward eating food on the move. Entrepreneurs, in particular, find food trucks a great way to test new products and new dining concepts without investing in high-overhead brick-and-mortar restaurants. Even restaurants are testing food trucks to reach customers interested in easy, casual food at easy, casual prices--competing with fast-food and fast-casual dining, in particular.

The most popular food trucks in 2017 are offering favorites like gourmet grilled cheese, burgers, and tacos (of course). Above, Mac Mart, which is both a food truck and a mac 'n cheese restaurant. Consumers are also flocking to food truck festivals around the country, enjoying different cuisines in one park or parking lot.

In some areas, the fad for food trucks is starting to fade a bit, partly due to overexposure and partly because of cities resisting the trucks to allow traditional restaurants some space to regain customers. Yet food trucks also represent a major opportunity for B2B marketers, including insurance firms that want to offer just the right coverage for food trucks.

The food truck fad is likely to evolve as the marketing environment develops and consumer behavior shifts, but for now, food on the move remains popular in many locations.

Rise of the Curbside Economy

The Curbside Economy is my term for the ever-growing marketplace of goods and services -- such as gourmet food trucks and express bus lines -- delivered not in a fixed location but from various streetside locations convenient to where customers live or work.

A century ago, many goods and services were brought from neighborhood to neighborhood by push-cart operators, wagons, etc. Fifty years ago, ice cream trucks roamed nearly every community. Now we've gone back to the future, bringing goods and services to local customers for convenience.

The Curbside Economy covers a wide range of offerings, such as:

• Express bus service. Instead of going to a central transportation terminal to board a bus, customers of BoltBus and MegaBus and their competitors can wait at a designated curbside location and ride to a curbside location in another city. BoltBus launched in 2008, an early pioneer of curbside bus service. Today, the growth of curbside buses is far outpacing that of traditional bus service, not just because of convenience but also due to amenities like Wi-Fi and wider, comfier seats.
• Gourmet food trucks. Kogi BBQ Taco Trucks began rolling in San Francisco at the end of 2008, kicking off a fad that has extended across the US and beyond. Want a sip of gourmet coffee in Lima, Peru? Food trucks are at the curb to serve you. Gelato is ready for curbside consumption in New Zealand. The list of foods and locations goes on and on.
• Mobile services. Albuquerque has an unusual barber shop on wheels, ready to drive to your neighborhood. New York is home to numerous mobile personal grooming services for busy people who don't have time to travel to a fixed location like a salon. Again, the list goes on and on.
• Mobile pop-up shops. Mobile retail stores featuring branded goods, like pop-up shops but on wheels, are helping marketers to test the market in different places. Fashion eyeglasses go for a spin in the Rivet & Sway bicycle cart called Specs on Wheels. More marketers are experimenting with these mobile units, for promotional purposes and for revenue.

What's next for the Curbside Economy?