Food truck businesses have carved out a profitable niche in the restaurant industry by taking great cuisine to their customers. Food trucks are a popular choice for people short on time who don’t want to compromise on taste or quality. Lunch or dinner at a food truck is convenient, delicious, and fast.
Speed of service is a vital part of that equation. Not accepting the payment method customers prefer or making them wait in line while the food truck operator is having trouble running credit cards can ruin otherwise great customer experiences.
VARS and ISVs can engineer the customer experiences food truck business deliver, including lines that keep moving, so customers keep coming back. Part of the solution is payment technology with the features the food truck business needs.
Essential Payment Solution Features for Food Truck Businesses
Broad Range of Payment Acceptance
People walking up to a food truck counter may be ready to buy a meal or snack with any of a variety of payment types, including debit cards, credit cards, contactless cards or mobile wallets. Ensure the payment solution you provide food truck businesses enables them to accommodate their customers quickly and securely using any payment option.
EMV Store and Forward
The best places for a food truck business to operate aren’t always the best places for payment systems to connect to the network. EMV store and forward functionality allow operators to accept payments offline and process the transactions when they can connect to the network at a later time.
For food truck customers, EMV store and forward means shorter wait times, quick checkout and no reason to walk away to find lunch somewhere else.
Omnichannel Payments
Some food trucks build a thriving business by parking in the same location each day, for example, outside of an office building, a manufacturing plant or a university. Those food truck businesses may want to give their regular customers the added convenience of placing their orders ahead of time online or through a mobile app.
Omnichannel food truck businesses need an omnichannel payment solution. Give them the ability to manage payments on all channels from one screen, collect data from their customers’ activity regardless of how they engage, and complete end-of-the-day reports more easily.
Unattended Payment Options
During high-volume times, food truck operators could often benefit from another pair of hands. Unfortunately, scheduling extra staff eats into profits — not to mention takes up space in a compact food truck kitchen.
One option to improve workflows without increasing staff is to have customers place their own orders and pay on a tablet or kiosk. Ensure that the unattended payment solution you provide complements the food truck’s brand and the customer experiences your client is working to provide. Also, make sure the screen on the ordering kiosk is easy for customers to navigate and use and payments are secure.
What’s on Your Food Truck Payment System Menu?
When you consider how food truck businesses differ from others in the restaurant industry, you’ll see that the payment solution you provide must address the unique challenges these mobile eateries face. Point of sale (POS) ISVs and VARs working in the restaurant industry may need to design new systems to optimize food truck workflows.
Leverage your POS expertise and solutions from your payments partner to equip food truck businesses for success.
