Food Trucks - The Next Hot Franchise Opportunity

Food trucks used to be hot attractions in a handful of cities. Now they’re the next hot franchise opportunity nationwide.

- Jason Daley

IN LESS THAN A DECADE, the food truck industry went through four acts. During the recession, when the trucks first exploded on the streets of New York and Los Angeles, they were a way for underemployed chefs to earn a living. Then they became a symbol of hipster buzz: Gourmet roach coaches would tweet out their locations, sparking a citywide stampede. Then the marketplace became crowded, as restaurants of all kinds used trucks to test concepts and recipes before investing in a storefront. And today, in Act Four, food trucks are commonplace—appreciated for their convenience outside parks and office buildings, but just another utility of urban life.

The business opportunity seems to have faded—until you look outside those two cities.

“I think the really interesting thing is that this trend, which started on the coasts, has moved inward,” says Brett Lindenberg, of the blog Food Truck Empire. “It’s still the golden age of food trucks in Middle America. We o–er business courses on running these trucks, and we sell out in places like Denver and Minneapolis.” And these wide-open, emerging marketplaces are creating a fifth act for the food truck business: franchising.