Food Truck Operations and Marketing

This capstone unit integrates customer-facing marketing, branding, team leadership, operational maintenance, food safety, and business decision-making needed to run and grow a successful food truck. Students apply social media and branding strategies, staff hiring/training and inspection readiness, and operational controls for cost, sanitation, and consistency.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze target markets and competitors and develop a social-media-driven marketing and rebranding plan (including an Instagram strategy, catchy positioning line, and grand opening promotion) to increase customer traffic and retention
• Apply human-resources and leadership practices to recruit, train, motivate, and retain staff, and conduct staff-led customer service roleplays that demonstrate readiness for health inspections and customer recovery scenarios
• Demonstrate operational and food-safety proficiency by conducting refrigerated and water temperature checks, routine sanitation tasks (coolers, shelves, glassware), and a mock health inspection with documented corrective actions
• Evaluate operational performance and business viability by calculating and controlling food costs, making data-informed menu-change or sale/rebrand decisions, and assessing community/ethical impacts of food truck practices