How To Organize A Food Truck Event

Organizing a food truck rally is no easy feat! Between chasing down a food truck (or a dozen trucks!) to attend your event, ensuring they are properly licensed and insured, hoping they will show up on the day of, and that they have the capabilities to serve the number of people you have in the time allotted, it’s a task with many moving parts. How well versed are we in these difficulties? We’ve encountered new ones every time we’ve done an event! With several years of experience in hosting food truck caterings and events in Tampa Bay, we have handled just about every eventuality that may occur during your event - which means we also have a big head start on developing a work-around solution!

Part of our process begins with vetting the food trucks themselves. When you look to hire a food truck it can be a shot in the dark. Are they going to meet your expectations and be reliable? Is their food quality consistent? Can they deliver a great customer experience? Are they able to turn tickets quickly enough? We can recommend the appropriate number of trucks to fit your needs, and who will deliver the services you require. The trucks we work with have been determined to be reliable partners through experience, and know our standards and procedures. We can also help to ensure the trucks have the information they need prior to arriving, in order to be well prepared for your event. This does not mean that every truck we work with is infallible, but our history with the trucks, our knowledge of their strengths and weakness, and the vetting process ensures a much higher rate of success.

If you’re looking to have a fun and seamless experience, look to us to handle the hiring of food trucks at your next event. Contact us today at 813-802-9119 or fill out our booking form here, and a local expert will contact you shortly to discuss your event in more detail.

The Americanwiener hot dog truck we all know and love is back on the road with a new look, new name, new menu items, and same great American flavor. Say hello to the new 'Merica food truck!

The Americanwiener truck was in operation for approximately 3 years, and the rebranding process began approximately 6 months ago. Owners Amy and Ben Laffey were ready to give the truck an updated look, and while brainstorming the update evolved into more than a new paint job; it became a new and improved concept. 

Ben credits his culinary school background for his desire to get more creative with their menu - thus pushing them to expand beyond their hot dogs, which were named one of the "Top 5 Hot Dogs in Tampa Bay." "There's only so much you can do with hot dogs," Ben said.

They decided on a change of name and style, but kept the American theme and their best selling dogs on the menu. They have added burgers, patty melts, and in the future want to add some more all-American items such as apple pie.

Their current crowd favorite on the truck is the Cowboy hot dog, served with BBQ sauce, cheese and grilled onions. Ben says they will be serving a hamburger and stuffed cheeseburger on the truck moving forward and is most excited about offering the new patty melt, which will consist of two patties served with grilled onions and American cheese on rye bread.

The 'Merica food truck hit the road on April 19th, 2016. Look for it soon at a location near you!

We have exciting news regarding fan-favorite dessert truck: LizzieCakes! On Thursday, April 14^th LizzieCakes will debut a range of hot and iced Buddy Brew Coffee beverages to complement their outstanding dessert selection at the Downtown Lakeland Rally in Munn Park.  There will also be hot tea and iced chai tea lattes available. 

Stop by and grab one of the following delicious drinks from the LizzieCakes truck:

Hot Coffee 

Hot Tea

Iced Coffee (French Vanilla, Caramel or Hazelnut flavors)

Iced Chai Tea Latte

Iced Dirty Chai Latte

Iced chai tea latte with espresso

While you’re there, you can’t leave without trying one of Lizzie’s mouth watering desserts:

Banana Pudding Cheesecake

Butter Pecan Cheesecake                  (*pairs well with an iced Chai Latte)

Chocolate Stout Cake with Baileys Irish Cream Filling (*pairs well with an iced Dirty Chai Latte)

Carrot Cake                                      (*pairs well with an iced French vanilla coffee)

White Chocolate Key Lime Pie

Turtle Brownies                                (*pairs well with an iced caramel coffee)

Bacon Caramel Brownies

S'mores Cookies

Blueberry Pie Cookies

GF Pecan Toffee Cookies                   (*pairs well with an iced hazelnut coffee)

We can’t wait to see you all in Lakeland on Thursday in April!

Looking for a wedding caterer? Look no further than Tampa Bay Food Trucks (TBFTR)! Headquartered in Tampa, FL we service weddings throughout the local area, including Orlando, Sarasota and Lakeland. Tampa Bay Food Trucks is a professional food truck caterer that has been active in the Tampa Bay wedding industry for over 4 years. We specialize in wedding receptions (including indoor and outdoor venues), rehearsal dinners, wedding brunches, late night snacks, corporate events, birthday parties, retirement and graduation parties, and employee appreciations.

What makes TBFTR unique is that we’re actually about 100 caterers in one. We have the flexibility to customize any wedding package and can help you plan your entire event, or just handle the catering. We are partnered with most food trucks in west-central Florida, and can pair you with the best possible truck(s) for your event. Not every food truck on the street is TBFTR-approved. The food trucks we have selected are all properly licensed, insured, and have a proven track record of high-quality food and service with us. We can ensure you are hiring a truck that will provide prompt and professional service, and mouthwatering food your guests will be sure to remember.

We will work with you to develop a menu that meets your cuisine requirements, as well as your preference for service. We can have your guests order from the truck itself, or set up a buffet. We can handle your entire wedding weekend from start to finish, just your reception, or just a late night request for hot dogs or donuts. We can also provide our TBFTR mobile DJ truck, dance floor, tables, chairs, lighting and assist with other rentals. The sky really is the limit in terms of how you would like to utilize our services.

Call Tampa Bay Food Trucks today, or fill out our information request form here to get started!

Food Truck Concept Developement

Making of The Mac Shack Continued

Earlier this week we posted about developing a food truck concenpt, breathling life into an old business and watching the concept take off.  At this point, the truck made it’s way into the shop for repairs! It took D&S Truck and Trailer several days of chasing down unnecessary electrical wiring and switches within the truck to eliminate the battery issue. They finished the job with a box full of wires to show us, that had accumulated over years of different people working on the truck. Once the truck was restored to proper working condition, we washed it off and began sanding all of the paint that was currently on the truck to prepare it for rebranding. 

The exterior was the biggest and most time consuming aspect of  the project. We soon discovered the finish on the outside of the truck was uneven, so we elected to paint the truck and apply the logos in decal form. 
After several days of sanding, a coat of primer was applied, followed by the supreme cheese yellow base coat. With just this basic paint it already looked like a brand new truck! 

After the painting was completed, we added wood paneling to the exterior to give the truck a “shack-like” appearance. Next, we went over the wood panels with a stain to give it a nice, weather-beaten look, and sealed it with a clear gloss topcoat. 

The interior of the truck was in need of some minor work; namely the cabinet hardware was stripped off in order to make room for the wood paneling that would cover it. A new shelf  for the serving window was built, and the hood cover was cleaned and painted to give it refreshed look.

At this point, it was finally time to drive the truck over to one of our sponsors in Land O’ Lakes: Local Wraps. They had created some beautiful vinyl logo decals for us based on our favorite design, to add to the exterior of the truck. Local Wraps prepped the truck’s surface with alcohol, and applied the vinyl decal.

Always the team to get the impossible accomplished, we finished up at Local Wraps with only 3 hours before it’s debut service! We returned the truck to it’s owner and Mac Shack was a giant hit at the Lakeland Food Truck Rally at Munn Park in Lakeland, a large rally we host on the second Thursday each month.

We were thrilled to note that the rebranded Mac Shack truck far surpassed the sales accomplishments of the truck in it’s former life (with it’s original menu and branding) when compared to all of their previous appearances at that same event. We at Tampa Bay Food Truck Rally are here to help you achieve the most possible success with your mobile food truck business. Whether you’re brand new to the market, just have questions, or find yourself floundering, be sure to reach out to us today regarding our business consulting services.

** Update** 3/10/16

During this build we were not able to complete the exterior aesthetics of the Mac Shack for it’s debut rally showing. We have since updated the paintwork to the front of the food truck to give it a real shack like look. The completed truck will be appearing at the Lakeland Food Truck Rally today, make sure you stop by and check the Mac Shack out!

Food Truck Concept Developement

Making of The Mac Shack

Just the Goods was a food truck based out of Lakeland, but it was in need of quite a bit of help aesthetically and the owner, Beth Stokes, didn't want it to be good, she wanted it to be great! That's where our team came in, and pitched the idea of rebranding (among other grand plans) to help make her truck into something spectacular. Beth lit up like you wouldn't believe during these conversations. Realistically however, it would be 2018 by the time she would have the funds to implement the ideas we threw at her. So our team stepped in and said, let's do this together and we'll make it happen. This is the story of how Mac Shack came to be, and of a brand coming alive.

Planning Phase

This truck was in desperate need of a new concept and brand. What did we want this truck to be? What should it serve to be successful? What should we call it? How will we convey the feel of this brand to an audience? We started by tackling these questions and developing potential menu items, thereby thoroughly conceptualizing our new brand. This was accomplished by hosting a team brainstorming session along with the truck’s owner, Beth. Once our name and menu were nailed down, we also spent some time thinking through what we wanted this truck to look like as part of our renovation plan, and how the brand would be presented to new customers.

The first order of business was to address some much needed mechanical repairs. The truck can’t serve if it isn’t in top condition! We saw an issue with the batteries, which were constantly grounding out causing them to go lose charge. We identified this as our first and most immediate task in the physical aspect of this project.

Second, we took our initial ideas from the first concept meeting and expanded on the designs we loved for the outward appearance of the truck. We made some progress on refining the overall look, and coming up with a strategy on how to execute the designs we were most excited about.

Third, we narrowed our focus on the truck’s design and began sketching logos that we felt most accurately showcased the new concept and brand.

Stick around for part II of this installment! More details and more pictures!