Whats Hot – Food Carts and Food Truck Menu

The year 2013 was an exciting one for the food carts industry. The scene was dominated by retailing carry-and-go foods as well as gourmet flavorings and condiments. Datassential reported that these food cart and truck menu items were indispensable in the past year. The research firm showed that basic dishes were brought up to a different level by these items.

When it comes to entrees, sandwiches topped the list. Mexican food came close at second place. Other entrée items on the list are burgers, sausages & hot dogs. These two –hotdogs and fries—are very crucial in the food truck business because they are, almost 100% of the time, part of the menu. Hamburgers and fries are very versatile portable dishes. Fries can be high end food items as well. For now, there is garlic fries cooked in duck fat. Some of the most popular offers these days are fries dipped in gourmet cheese.

On the other hand, appetizers, and side dishes are at the very top on the snacks list. Proteins also made it to the results. These findings only highlight the fact that food trucks which are prime sources of portable food are becoming more and more important.

Interestingly enough, condiments also figured in this list. The researches highlight the fact that condiments are now considered as essential component of food truck menus. They are not merely an afterthought but are really essential components. Food truck operators mix and match their presentations and they use various condiments to show off innovative entrees. Innovative ideas include pineapple-poblano salsa and peach-mint sauce.

Every item on a food truck counts.

Jana Mann, Datassential director of menu trends said that every item on the food trucks count. This is especially true since food trucks are kind of limited because of their very nature. She added that owners and operators of food trucks need to think very carefully about the menu that they offer to customers. In this light, they are no different from food innovators and chefs of fine dining restaurants. Mann said that every single item on the menu should stand out. Their offerings must be very different from the competition. There are so many choices when it comes to food. What food truck operators need to do is convince consumers that theirs are better.

Ethnic food is growing in popularity on food trucks.

There has been an interesting development in Mexican food offered by food carts in the past year. What small business owners did is combine Mexican staples like tacos with other popular food items. Just out of Los Angeles is Kogi BBQ truck which revolutionized their portable food offerings. They started offering Korean BBQ tacos which became a huge hit with customers.

There is one more important finding by Datassential. Food truck owners are definitely procuring high end, premium ingredients since most of them are trained by world-class chefs. The researchers determined that there is also a tendency to favor ethnic ingredients that restaurants do not usually offer. For instance, food trucks offer not only pork sausages but curried chicken, lamb, and duck as well.