night time food truck route?

anyone here with a lunch truck or food truck ever tried developing a night time route?
i figure there are lots of places open at night like call centers, nursing homes, hospitals, mmaybe some factories or construction...
 
 
anyone ever tried this or had luck with this? 

Your success would be tied to the amount of volume you could do. (just like during daytime hours) But the problem is, that there is a lot less traffic at night. If you could find a large factory or a facility that has tons of workers, I guess you could make it work.
 
I personally, could not do that around my area as there is absolutely nothing that would justify staying out late, other than a concert or similar event. I have read ab out others here that hit the "bar crowd" but to be honest, I just don't have the patience to deal with drunken fools at midnight +. I see too many other opportunity's in my area during "normal" hours that dont involve struggling to keep my mouth shut when i'm asked for the 6th time in less than a minute "how much for a dog? What can I get for $3.00?" and listening to everyone's life story and how they are not going home with the beauty queen they were counting on.
 
Dont get me wrong. I drink...sometimes a LOT....I just have no patience for drunks

my ultimate game plan as of now is to hit the bars from around midnight-3am or so, we have 2 large bars around here that have no food between them and base(military town) after 10pm, and about a half dozen with no food places after 12..... so im banking on that to be a good area to set up in
 
from there i plan on hitting the early AM military crowd from one of a couple different hopeful spots.....that will have me tied up until around 7-8am and....
 
from there i plan on the off base training areas or the firing ranges......
 
and from there its back to the house, prep for the next day, and sleep during the oppressive summer heat around here
 
lol, thats the plan anyway....... once a month i'll have freaky friday at the drag strip, and maybe a few cruise in's car shows over the weekends

There's a food truck in Phoenix that doesn't set up until after 6PM on the southwest corner of 20th Street and Indian School every night. The only things on the menu are Sonoran style hot dogs and imported Mexican sodas. Sonoran hot dogs are very heavily topped. Nogales Hot Dogs wraps the dog in bacon before cooking, then adds mayonnaise, tomato, onion, pinto beans, guacamole, tomatillo salsa, jalapeños, mushrooms, and cheddar and Cotija cheeses. Dogs are $2.50, soda is $1. He's usually open until Midnite and later on weekends. He's been there quite a while and does a booming business.

BackAlleyBurger


my ultimate game plan as of now is to hit the bars from around midnight-3am or so, we have 2 large bars around here that have no food between them and base(military town) after 10pm, and about a half dozen with no food places after 12..... so im banking on that to be a good area to set up in

from there i plan on hitting the early AM military crowd from one of a couple different hopeful spots.....that will have me tied up until around 7-8am and....

from there i plan on the off base training areas or the firing ranges......

and from there its back to the house, prep for the next day, and sleep during the oppressive summer heat around here

lol, thats the plan anyway....... once a month i'll have freaky friday at the drag strip, and maybe a few cruise in's car shows over the weekends

 
And you were complaining about the military in another post...
 
Being a vet myself, I think you have a good idea hitting the evening crowd of soldiers. And it will keep you out of the heat as you said. I doubt that they would allow you on the base, as there are usually big fast food chain outfits that have that all tied up. But, being somewhere near the front gate would be a good idea, along with the bars and even a car wash.
 
Have you spoken with your city to see if they will allow you to set up when and where you would like? That would be my first move before you do anything else. I hope they will ok your plan, because it sounds like a good one. And I would ask one of those bars if you can setup on their property. I would sell yourself as a way to keep the bars customers around and maybe cut down on the drunks by putting some food in their bellies. Hopefully they will see the service you can offer as an asset to make more money and allow you to set up with no rent. And scout out some places with a good sized parking areas near the front gate, catch them right before they get on the base. I would have killed for a good food truck outside the gate when I was stationed in those types of facilities.
 
And a car wash, they are usually pretty busy on the weekends, at least they were around many of the bases I have been too. I would think the car wash owner would love to have you setup in his lot if there is room. Especially if there is more than one car wash in your area. Talk about a draw, wash the car and get something to eat, that is how I would sell it.
 
And you will need to take plastic, as most of these guys probably do not carry much cash.
 
Good luck!

BackAlleyBurger


my ultimate game plan as of now is to hit the bars from around midnight-3am or so, we have 2 large bars around here that have no food between them and base(military town) after 10pm, and about a half dozen with no food places after 12..... so im banking on that to be a good area to set up in from there i plan on hitting the early AM military crowd from one of a couple different hopeful spots.....that will have me tied up until around 7-8am and....
from there i plan on the off base training areas or the firing ranges......
and from there its back to the house, prep for the next day, and sleep during the oppressive summer heat around here lol, thats the plan anyway....... once a month i'll have freaky friday at the drag strip, and maybe a few cruise in's car shows over the weekends

If I were you I'd start around 10 PM. Since you're going to be going out anyway, why not start sooner and get more exposure???? Besides, people who have to work or aren't niteowls will be leaving the bars sooner than midnite. Not everyone stays out past midnite. Like my momma said, "Nothing good happens after Midnite!" Don't believe it?? Ask some professional athletes!

so from the sounds of it the only night spots worth it are bar districts with a lot of foot traffic i assumed places with night shifts (Captive audience) would be good. guess not eh?

only problem i see with night shifts at factories would be the idea of hit and run 11/2 hours and its over...... 3 1/2 hour lunch shifts at most places around here anyway..... pretty much all the places would be having lunch at same time so that leaves out hitting more then one..... if you can find a big one and get everyone into buying from you it might pan out pretty good though.... we have a couple of call centers around here with 24 hour operations, i might have to look into the midnight guys.....
 
"If I were you I'd start around 10 PM."
i thought about that, and actually edited it to say 12..... the plan is flexible, and sure to change at least 10-12 times before i set it in stone...... 10 would put me around a 14-16 hour day, ive got to hit the ranges at lunch, so i would have to be out between 11am and 1pm.
 
getting on base is no big deal..... i have the contacts through the commissary on base already...... its already crawling with taco trucks at the construction sites.
the only "problem" with the city is the $500 special permit to vend in the historic district, where all the good downtown spots are, they are just waiting to see a pass from the HD and then its just a matter of the stamps....
 
there are, believe it or not, only 4 free standing fast food places on base here, and about 6 inside the commissary...... its a major cluster f**k between 11 and 1 anywhere near the base gates mon-fri..... of course there are probably 200-300 places within a half mile outside the gates(4 gates), i dont want to be mixed up in that mess

and yea.......
as long as there are military working second jobs, and turning them into minimum wage jobs instead of decent paying jobs i will continue to complain about it

BackAlleyBurger


and yea.......
as long as there are military working second jobs, and turning them into minimum wage jobs instead of decent paying jobs i will continue to complain about it

 
I remember when a bunch of college kids drove by in a convertible and threw beer bottles at me on my walk to work to the Naval Hospital I was stationed at. I was in uniform and cannot repeat what they said here regarding me and the Navy. I never felt quite the same about my uniform after that, and wondered why I actually volunteered to serve my country and possibly give my life to support such asses.
 
I hope you do well, but you may want to check that attitude regarding those jackasses in uniform that you hope to make a buck off of.
 
Mike
 

thought i'd update this. i called around to a number of nursing homes in the area surprised to find out most kitchens are open after hours :( however for u day time truck operators these can be good accounts, a lot of them asked me could i bring a lunch truck by in the day ..many nursing homes can have 50-100 employees during day hours and the administrators are always concerned about keeping them around the facility. call around and ask for the facility administrator

localnet

BackAlleyBurger


and yea.......
as long as there are military working second jobs, and turning them into minimum wage jobs instead of decent paying jobs i will continue to complain about it

I remember when a bunch of college kids drove by in a convertible and threw beer bottles at me on my walk to work to the Naval Hospital I was stationed at. I was in uniform and cannot repeat what they said here regarding me and the Navy. I never felt quite the same about my uniform after that, and wondered why I actually volunteered to serve my country and possibly give my life to support such asses.

sorry to hear about that
maybe it doesnt get said enough but thank you for your service to the country

when i served, we weren't allowed to work a second job, not sure what has changed
and yea, there will always be a confused hippy throwing a beer bottle here and there, just part of the experience......
 
good call on the nursing homes, i never thought of those as a possible source, the ones we have around here are fairly small though, but tons of them... we do have a rather large hospital close by, with a huge medical park behind it, hhmmm, now ya got me thinking again, lol
 
and dont worry about any attitudes, i dont have anything against anyone personally, its just the policies that are in place....... besides, if i am getting my share of their duckies, then i kind of see it as a wash,for lack of a better way to say it, so no tude, and all smiles :)

BackAlleyBurger


good call on the nursing homes, i never thought of those as a possible source, the ones we have around here are fairly small though, but tons of them... we do have a rather large hospital close by, with a huge medical park behind it, hhmmm, now ya got me thinking again, lol

just make sure the place is a NURSING HOME and not an Assisted Living Facility ... an ALF center may have 1 nurse per 100 residents and a nursing home 1 nurse per 10 residents, nursing home has much higher # of employees