Once treated as the poor relations of the takeaway food industry, food trucks have transformed in recent times. Buoyed by the red-hot ‘street food’ trend, and by more and more event organisers preferring the choice and flexibility food trucks bring to the table compared to all-in-one caterers, running a food truck has become a lucrative small business opportunity that offers vendors variety, the chance to travel and a platform for showcasing their culinary talents.
Way beyond flipping burgers or frying chips, modern food trucks are an affordable gateway to exotic food choices that diners cannot get enough of. According to Mintel, consumer interest in purchasing ethnic foods from both food trucks and pop-up stalls is steadily rising year by year.
But that doesn’t disguise the fact that running a food truck involves a unique set of challenges. From the fast-paced nature of food service to the high volume of transactions at events, efficient payment processing is crucial. To meet these needs while providing the mobility and flexibility that defines food trucks, POS technology has had to evolve.
POS Essentials for Food Trucks
POS systems have been on a long trajectory of becoming increasingly agile, adaptive and dynamic ever since the dawn of the digital age. Thankfully for food truck operators, this has included embracing mobility in the form of tablet-sized devices. Mobile POS has rewritten the definition of ‘point of sale’, so it now longer exclusively refers to a fixed point or place.
The ability to move around a restaurant with a tablet POS device taking orders and payments at tables is very different to the requirements of a food truck, however. Any time, any place connectivity is a key requirement, as is a reliable and robust fallback option on those occasions when mobile signal just isn’t working (we’ve all been there at busy events).
On-premise POS, even in mobile form, also has the luxury of relying on static IT infrastructure. This includes WiFi for wireless connections, physical servers for extra processing power and/or back-up, and a range of other device/hardware options to help provide a varied customer experience.
With food truck POS, however, operators have to rely on what they can carry with them. All POS functions are often routed through a single tablet (or smartphone). Reliability and resilience are essential. And any peripherals (such as card readers) have to be small and easy to connect and carry.
With these core requirements in mind, we’d sum up the essential features to look for in a food truck POS as follows:
- Purpose-built devices: While readily-available POS apps mean businesses can run most POS services from standard tablets and smartphones, it’s far safer to invest in a ruggedized purpose-built device. Mass market mobile devices are notoriously delicate and prone to damage, and food trucks can be tough operating environments, with a high risk of spillages, knocks during transportation etc.
- Offline functionality: With food trucks moving around from place to place and event to event, cloud POS software and mobile data connectivity via a SIM card are essential requirements. But even then, signal drop-out is a constant thorn in the side. Rather than risk losing sales, operators need POS solutions that can continue to work offline, saving sales data locally on the device until signal returns.
- Bluetooth peripherals: The essential add-on to a mobile POS device for the modern food truck is a card reader, preferably contactless and compatible with both cards and mobile wallets. For convenience, ease and flexibility, readers that connect via Bluetooth avoid the need to mess around with wires. Bluetooth also makes it easy to connect any other devices you may need.
The right POS system can make a huge difference in food trucks being able to deliver fast, efficient, convenient service to a standard that matches the quality of their cuisine. It’s an investment that pays off in terms of time, money, and customer satisfaction.