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€
The food truck revolution will now come to the north coast of Mendocino County. The City Council of Fort Bragg passed a resolution that will allow food trucks to be open for business along streets in the city until after midnight. Before this March, many entrepreneurs who were interested in operating a food truck in Fort Bragg were not able to obtain a food truck permit because of the difficulty in complying with the strict regulations. Now the doors have been opened for local entrepreneurs to start their own mobile food business, and West BDC will be offering free business advising to those interested in starting a food truck. In addition to free business advising, West BDC is offering a workshop that will cover exactly how to get started in a mobile food business.
Monday May 13th, at 1 pm in Fort Bragg, West BDC 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:
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How to operate an off-site catering and mobile food business
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Understanding labor laws, OSHA, and various operational standards for the industry
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How location placement and menu choices can affect success
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How to set up locations, and contracts
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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
Monday, May 13, 2019
1:00 PM 3:00 PM
West Business Development Center
345 N Franklin Street, Fort Bragg
RSVP here.
This workshop is supported by the Mendo Lake Food Hub
You can read more about the Food Truck Revolution, here.
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See how these successful businesses set up, grew and expanded with West Business Development Center Free Advising services:
MendoTechNet, Ukiah and Lakeport
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