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From humble beginnings, the food truck has come a long way and continued to shape the way people eat, most especially millennials. The first ever food truck was invented by Charlie Goodnight in 1866.
Goodnight called it the ‘chuck wagon,’ which was meant to be a compact kitchen wagon used by cowboys on the cattle trails. Goodnight manufactured the wagon by using an army surplus Studebaker wagon.
The food truck forefather rebuilt the army wagon according to his taste and reinforced it with bois d’arc, which is the most robust wood available at that time.
At present, a food truck’s build may be far from the traditional wood wagon, but it still has the same purpose, to bring portable and affordable food.
In 2015, the mobile food truck market in the US reached $856 million. Market analysts predict that the industry would reach $996 million by 2020.
Reports say that 90.5 percent of the world’s food truck industry is in the US. The US National Restaurant Association stated that the primary consumers of food trucks were millennials, which are between 18 to 34 years old.
Millennials are more likely to patronize food trucks due to their fast-paced lives and an alternative perspective on food. Researchers find that most millennials replace meals with snacks.
The study states that 39 percent of millennials are too busy to have a sit-down meal. 17 percent of millennials admitted that they could not be bothered to cook a meal due to their hectic schedules.
48 percent of the millennials would rather eat snacks. Lastly, 34 percent said that they are so busy that they would even eat their ‘snack meals’ in their cars.
Millennials look for affordability, quality, speedy service, and consumer identity when it comes to their food. That is the reason why the millennial generation tends to patronize food trucks on a daily basis.
Food from mobile food services brings authenticity, and with thousands of food trucks to choose from, the millennials will not have a problem with finding which brand suits them.
Another excellent characteristic of food trucks is the transparency. Customers get to watch the service provider prepare the food right before their eyes.
Food trucking does not only fill the stomachs of hungry customers, but it also helps fill the pockets of many vendors. The food truck industry has helped shape unconventional culinary on the streets and helped increase employment rates.
