How To Grow Your Street Food Business

So you’ve decided to embark on a street food adventure, set up your business, perfected your recipes and successfully started trading. But now where do you go?

The beauty of working in independent hospitality, is there really are no limits – the ceiling is entirely up to you to decide. That also means that ‘growth’ looks different to each and every business – yours included.

So, the question of how do you grow your street food business necessitates you knowing exactly what you want by growth.

For example, do you want:

• To expand into multiple units
• To open a bricks and mortar premise
• To diversify your offering
• To franchise the business

Of course there are other ways you can grow the business. But a key distinction to grasp on the quest for growth is that in order to grow your business, you need to look at it as a business – not just a food or drinks service. This means taking some time to work on the business, not always in it too. You need to realistically look at all angles of the business, and you can gain a more objective perception from the outside.

If you’re not in a position to do this, as you run the business yourself, don’t have enough staff or think that you are the main attraction for the business, then you need to consider those aspects first. Growth necessitates the business getting bigger, and you are only one person at the end of the day. If the business is only profitable and attractive because you’re behind the counter, you have to realise that is more of a limitation in this context than a selling point.

Outside perspectives can be extremely helpful to this end – we would highly recommend bringing an accountant on board, who will deal with cold hard statistics and be a well placed ally to assist you in delivering your vision of growth.

Do Your Research

The old adage ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail’ rings true to this day, and is particularly apparent here. Having launched and run your own street food business requires a lot of planning, so it’s a concept you should be familiar with. But to grow the business, a plan of how you’re going to do that is essential.

Luckily for you, there are no shortage of examples to look at and gain inspiration from in hospitality. So this is a great place to start, or to inform your budding ideas further – have a look at food businesses that have done what you’d like to, or that you think admirably of. What do they do well? What challenges have they faced to get where they are? How are they different to where your business is right now?

Do not be afraid to reach out and ask them – the sector is well known for its camaraderie and people will be keen to help one another out most of the time.

The better informed your plan to grow the business is, the more likely of reaching your aim you will be.

Brand Awareness

In order to take your business to a bigger level, you need to increase the demand for the business.

That requires a wider brand awareness – launching a bricks and mortar site is always going to be more difficult if your business is not so well known, for example. In contrast, if you have established a decent following, you could probably expect to have excited and hungry fans (yes fans, not just customers) lining up outside your premises on opening day.

So, if you don’t already, it is a good idea to pay some attention to the brand of the business. What is most important with this, is to be true to the ethos of the business. Think about what you think the business stands for, what customers associate you with, the products you sell for example – these are all key ingredients to reflect in your branding. It really does not have to be complicated at all. In fact, often simplicity is superior when it comes to branding.

Converting customers into fans is a subtle yet significant shift. A customer may just dine with you once and could be considered a simple transaction, whereas a fan, will follow, support and actively advocate for your business. They will delight at the chance to celebrate your victories. Crucially, fans can have a big hand in the growth of your business, as they will introduce their friends and new people to your business and provide genuine, organic growth, the likes of which expensive marketing campaigns can’t really replicate.

So, paying attention to how you present the business as a brand is paramount. Again, a good idea would be to do some research around this. Which independent businesses always stick in your head? Or when you think of a specific type of cuisine, which businesses first come to mind? Why is that? How have they curated such a desirable brand for people to engage with?

To grow your business, there are a lot of questions to ask and directions to decide upon. You may not get it perfect first time and your ideas may certainly adapt and change through attempt, but there are so many ways to effectively grow your business and achieve your idea of success within street food.

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