Going Places: How Food Truck Activations Can Drive Sales a Long Way

The food truck industry has shifted into high gear, reaching a $4.3 billion market value in North America last year. At a compound annual growth rate of over 5%, it’s expected to rise to $6.9 billion by 2032, according to the market research company Global Market Insights.¹

A hunger for convenience and variety has helped drive that growth. “Modern consumers increasingly prioritize convenience and variety in their dining experiences, which food trucks readily offer,” reported GMI. “With the ability to bring diverse cuisines directly to consumers’ doorsteps or workplaces, food trucks cater to busy lifestyles and varying palates.”¹

GMI found that food trucks also feed a market appetite for an informal and sociable atmosphere where consumers can experience diverse culinary cultures.¹

Navigating Opportunities and Challenges

The mobility and flexibility of food trucks fuel the segment’s growth. Not being anchored to a specific location gives food truck operators the agility to reach a broader audience for sporting and entertainment events and cultural celebrations like Cinco de Mayo and Oktoberfest. Food trucks can also serve as a cost-effective option for catering private events and corporate functions like conferences and conventions.

In comparison to traditional restaurants, operational and staffing costs are low, and the potential for favorable margins is high. While food truck operators must adhere to strict requirements for permits, licenses, health requirements and zoning laws, they can push profits into overdrive with less overhead.

A Few Marketing Campaign Jump-starts

For food and beverage brands, truck activations can be a powerful marketing tool that revs up social buzz and drives sales. Food trucks can set the stage for a surprise-and-delight pop-up event or be positioned as a limited-time experience to create a sense of urgency. They also open up opportunities to give out product samples, branded swag and other promotional items.

• In partnership with our client Campbell’s Foodservice, The Food Group stationed a food truck at a pier across from the Boston convention center where this year’s Seafood Expo North America was held. “We wanted to create a unique activation at the largest seafood exposition of the year, SENA, to launch the new recipe for Campbell’s Culinary Reserve New England Clam Chowder,” explained TFG Executive Creative Director Don Dunbar. “We chose to showcase the new recipe in an environment and in the city clam chowder is tied to. Our food truck was a great way for us to show how versatile and easy our products are to work with — due to their convenient frozen pouches and longer shelf-life — while also standing up to the toughest clam chowder critiques in the world: New Englanders.”
  
  
• Just in time for Halloween last year, Jack in the Box rolled out the taco truck featured in its horror short “Feeding Time” to promote the return of Monster Tacos and the launch of Angry Monster Tacos. In a promotional tour, the truck hit the streets of Los Angeles and consumers were invited to book the truck for their own Halloween parties through the Resy reservation platform, setting off a social media feeding frenzy. (Check out this TikTok video.)
  
  
• SONIC Drive-In also went the food truck route to launch its Signature Slinger Cheeseburger in New York City. Walk-ups flipped for the Slinger, the first beef and mushroom blended fast food burger, as this YouTube video shows. “The food truck activation enabled us to capture people’s reactions to our delicious new kind of burger with all the flavor and none of the guilt,” said Mike Buononato, SVP of Creative Food Solutions, the culinary innovation partner of The Food Group. “Based on the burger’s reception in NYC, it’s no surprise it succeeded as a limited-time offer at 3,500 SONIC locations and became a permanent menu item.”
  
  
• Olive Garden launched a cross-country food truck tour to test a new limited-time offer concept, Breadstick Sandwiches. Four trucks visited 20 cities nationwide, offering free samples of the Italian Meatball Sandwich and the Chicken Parmigiana Sandwich, both of which featured the chain’s breadsticks as buns. Fans could track the trucks on social media or by visiting a dedicated site. Those who loved the LTO could enter for chance to win free lunch for a year by posting their praises with the hashtags #BreadstickNation and #sweeps. The sandwiches are now available at participating locations.

On the Road to More Investment

Given the success of these and other food truck activations, it makes sense that the trend is attracting investment. Private equity firm Shore Line Partners is feeding the growth of Roaming Hunger, a platform for food truck services and experiences. Over 20,000 food trucks, trailers, carts and pop-ups engaged on the company’s platform, which has fueled food truck activations for Budweiser, Pepsi and other top brands.²

As a marketing solution to boost brand visibility and get promotions trending in an unexpected and out-of-the-box way, food trucks are on a roll — and with good reason. From testing out new markets to launching products to building buzz on social media, food truck activations can turbocharge your marketing and be a powerful revenue engine.

For custom marketing solutions for your business challenges, contact The Food Group today.

1 Global Market Insights, Food Truck Market Size Report, April 2024

2 Shore Capital Partners, “Shore Capital Partners Announces Partnership with Roaming Hunger,” June 12, 2023

3 Traylor, Richard, “Comprehensive marketing plan is key to food truck success”, FoodTruckOperator.com, Jan. 3, 2022

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