Food truck festivals are fun, exciting, and great ways to pull the community together. If you live in a large community with an HOA, consider hosting a food truck festival for your neighbors. Or, you could plan an expansive festival that attracts people from all around the city. Either way, you can use these ideas to jumpstart your planning.
1- Work With an Event Planner
If you feel like you might be in over your head, hiring an event planner can simplify the entire process. Event planners can also assist you in navigating the festival’s logistics and help you avoid forgetting to request a permit or submit necessary paperwork to the city. You can also rely on event planners to help you determine details such as which speaker system to use for playing music during the event.
2- Identify an Ideal Location
A food truck festival requires sufficient space for vendors to set up their vehicles. You might also want to arrange tables and chairs for people to sit down and eat. Finding a location with enough space to host multiple trucks can be challenging. You can start by checking local parks, community centers, and recreational facilities to find a place with enough room for everyone to have fun.
3- Connect With Local Food Trucks and Vendors
This is the fun part of planning a food truck festival, since you might need to try a few samples. To cater to a variety of preferences, consider finding food trucks that serve a mix of different types of food. Street tacos are always a hit. But, you might also want to include food trucks serving international cuisine alongside a few dessert vendors.
4- Consider Working Around a Theme
Technically, you don’t need an excuse to host a food truck festival. But, it might be fun to plan one around an upcoming holiday or special event in your area. For instance, a food truck festival is perfect for celebrating the end of summer or making dinner night easy for parents on the first night of the school year.
5- Survey the Community for Interest
Most likely, you’ll find that most people get excited about the prospect of having a food truck festival event nearby. However, you may want to gather some information that will help you plan the details. For instance, you could ask your community if everyone wants to host the event on a weekend or a weekday for better attendance. You can also ask people to share their favorite foods, types of music, and local spots.
6- Use Multiple Strategies to Spread the Word
The final step in planning a food truck festival is to ensure that people are aware of it. Social media makes it easy to spread the word, and you can also ask local HOAs and other organizations to put out flyers about the event.
Once you set your plan into motion, make sure to enjoy the celebration. Attending the food truck festival helps you enjoy getting to know others in your community. As you do, remember to take notes. If the food truck festival is a success, then you can bet your neighbors will require you to make it happen again. Having your event planner and vendors on hand makes it possible to plan future events quickly.