Ever since Mark Manguera and Caroline Shin partnered with chef Roy Choi in Los Angeles and started a Kogi Korean BBQ truck in 2008, food trucks have sparked a dining out revolution. Far from just “street foodâ€, food trucks offer top-notch cuisine and drive their success with mouth-watering Instagram posts and well-timed Tweets. The industry is now at $2 billion and growing every day, empowering minority and women-owned businesses, revitalizing communities and even driving economic growth.

As John Levy, a board member of the National Food Truck Association says, “You can create your restaurant on wheels for $50,000 to $60,000. You get a little slice of the American dream, pretty inexpensively.â€

Thursday April 18th, at 6 pm in Ukiah, West Business Development Center will host restaurateur Nicholas Petti in a workshop on how to get started in the food truck business. Petti is a renowned local chef and restaurant owner, as well as head of instruction of Mendocino Community College’s Culinary Arts Management Program. He makes a mean crab cake, winning awards every year at Mendocino Crab and Wine Days. This workshop will focus on meeting and solving the many challenges that come with running a catering business or food truck. Being creative in the kitchen is fundamental, as well as understanding the day to day management of a business. Petti will walk you through the basics to get started, including:

  • How to operate an off-site catering and mobile food business

  • Understanding labor laws, OSHA, and various operational standards for the industry

  • How location placement and menu choices can affect success

  • How to set up locations, and contracts

  • How to establish payment procedures and policies for culinary services

You will also be able to connect with a West Business Advisor for free and make an appointment at this workshop to start your food truck business.

Get Started in Your Catering and Mobile Food Business

Thursday, April 18, 2019

6:00 PM 8:00 PM

West Business Development Center

185 E. Church Street, Ukiah

RSVP here.

This workshop is supported by the Mendo Lake Food Hub

You can read more about the Food Truck Revolution, here.

See how these successful businesses set up, grew and expanded with West Business Development Center Free Advising services:

Stan’s Maple Café, Ukiah

MendoTechNet, Ukiah and Lakeport

SlamDunk Pizza, Ukiah

Are you a woman-owned business?

Please join us for our monthly networking events where you can meet other women entrepreneurs and share best practices, knowledge and make friends.

Women’s Mendopreneurs Empowerment Night – March 22nd, Ukiah