5 Octoberfest ideas for your food truck!

The fall season brings crisp temperatures, the russets and golds of turning leaves, and the occasional foretaste of the winter to come. 

If you run a food truck, it also presents you with fresh opportunities to celebrate not just the single day of Halloween, but also the month-long party that is Octoberfest. Optimize your back office, social media presence, website, menu, and customer service to benefit from every drop of this happy time.

Octoberfest originally began in Munich in 1810 to celebrate the wedding of Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. It lasted for approximately one week. 

Although more than two centuries have passed since that auspicious event, people continue to commemorate it with what has now become an international celebration spanning from late September, and well into the following month. 

Since you have a mobile business as opposed to a restaurant operating out of a fixed location, Octoberfest gives you the chance to share your German-infused and international menu options with an expanded customer base, as they soak up the sights and the music of the event.

1. Prepare your infrastructure.

The hustle and bustle of day-to-day operations can give you little if any time to focus on the behind-the-scenes elements of your business. However, optimizing your systems and procedures will greatly increase your efficiency not only in October, but throughout the year. 

Begin by evaluating your payment service or merchant account provider to make sure that this is still the right partnership for you. 

Focus on the vendor’s pricing (is it fair and transparent), the fees they charge, the features they provide, the quality of their customer service, and their ability to integrate with your other software and grow as your food truck empire expands. 

Never lose sight of the fact that it is they who help to create the payment experience that will either alienate customers or keep them coming back.

Often overlooked is the robust equipment that we offer at Payanywhere. Be sure that you look for a food truck POS that is affordable, easy for staff and customers to use, and gives a fast and secure checkout process. 

The system should be designed to allow multiple payment methods, including Tap to Pay on iPhone, credit and debit cards, and various digital wallet choices such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal. 

The configuration should have a database feature that will enrich many aspects of your business functions, and enable you to establish long-term relationships with customers, even if your truck moves from place to place.

2. Get the word out.

When people think of Octoberfest, visions of beer gardens and brass bands often come to mind. Your job is to show them that your food truck can be an integral part of the scene.

Start at least two weeks in advance by creating buzz on the social media pages that your customers regularly visit. Whet their appetites with mouth-watering photos and descriptions of the menu items you plan to serve, always making sure to specify the dates and hours that your truck will be at the festival. 

Make visiting the event and patronizing your truck even more appealing by offering discount coupons, or a small free item such as freshly-baked pretzel bites to your loyal customers.

3. Use your website as an advertising tool.

It’s easy to think that you don’t need to spend much time on your website, but this is a misconception that drags down many a food truck business. In fact, you can make your website into a highly effective ambassador for your mobile restaurant that people visit as a result of an internet search.

It is vital that you create content with robust keywords that mesh with what your customers are entering into their searches. 

Once they arrive at your site, they can be greeted with compelling photos, videos, customer testimonials, and menus that will motivate them to take the trip to sample your tasty snacks and entrees. With Octoberfest on the horizon, create a landing page just for the event that gives all the details, and encourages visitors to provide their contact details. 

Before you know it, you will have bolstered your customer base while simultaneously encouraging more people to visit your truck at the festival.

4. Develop a special supplementary menu.

Now is your chance to depart from your normal routine. Take some time to talk with your staff, brainstorming creative menu ideas that fit into the Octoberfest theme. 

Although German fare is always a favorite, the international aspects of today’s Oktoberfest mean that you can feature just about any delicacy the world has to offer.

If you want to go with strict tradition, consider offering crowd-pleasers such as wiener schnitzel, brats, German potato salad, sauerbraten, sauerkraut, and pretzels. 

Don’t be shy about thinking outside the box, however; who wouldn’t be tempted by a German pizza or bratwurst and cheese-stuffed tacos? These days, the sky's the limit, and the more creative you are, the more memorable your food truck will be.

5. Make customer service your highest priority.

The fact that you don’t operate from a fixed location is both a blessing and a curse. While overhead costs can be lower, you may be missing out on the opportunity to cultivate long-term relationships with your customers. 

Let Octoberfest be the starting point for an upgraded approach to how you interact with and stay in touch with your patrons.

As soon as someone approaches you to pay for their food using your mobile card reader, you have what might be your only chance to bring them into your brand family. Encourage them to give you their email address or phone number, letting them know that you would love to occasionally send coupons and updates to them as supporters of your business. 

Once these details are stored in your food truck POS, you can retrieve them later to entice people to return or to tell their own social contacts about your delicious food.

Although Prince Ludwig and his wife have receded into the mists of time, they left us with the enduring tradition of Octoberfest. Whether your food truck always features German-oriented menu items or is just inspired by the season, this event gives you an ideal showcase to demonstrate everything your business has to offer. 

Begin now to make the necessary preparations, and you and your satisfied customers will soon be reaping the rewards.