Designing Beyond Food Trucks

Large brands, entrepreneurs and even corporations have taken steps outside the box when it comes to marketing and brand awareness initiatives. Long gone are the days of mainstream marketing for customer retention. In 2019, customers want, and expect to feel a connection to your brand that will pique their interest and resonate with their lifestyle. Specialty builders like APEX Specialty Vehicles are constantly pushing the envelope designing beyond food trucks to create the most innovative builds. Some of those builds include mobile command centers, corporate training/educational vehicles, mobile retail vehicles, medical exam trucks/trailers, product demonstration trailers, and marketing vehicles.

The trend to utilize step vans for uses beyond food trucks isn't a new concept. In fact, Entrepreneur.com published an article in June 2013, Beyond the Food Truck: 10 Unique Mobile Businesses, which identified the unique uses of custom vehicles.

Many custom builders across the United States have experience building vehicles beyond food trucks. However, not all builders invest in the process and the design and engineering needed to achieve the greater throughput and ROI. APEX specializes in the design process and works with the customer to understand their needs. The APEX design team generates a 3D rendering so the customer will understand the layout and make any configuration changes before the project hits the production floor. The upfront investment from APEX into the design reduces the changes once the vehicle begins the build process. Over the past 12 years, APEX has built some cool projects beyond food trucks, including:

- Display/Educational: showcase products and educate the customer on the brand

- Product and Brand Awareness: create a fun atmosphere (or an experience) encouraging engagement with your customers (examples include product samples, live music, food trucks, games)

- Experiential: engage your audience, and get people talking! In today’s market, all buyers are used to immediate gratification, so bringing an experience to your customers creates a lasting impression, along with a social media presence (free PR!). Your visitors are likely to whip out their cell phones, take pictures/videos, and post on social media outlets. Just a tip…. have your handles and hashtags ready to go!

- Government/Task: build a custom vehicle that is able to execute the needed task, whether it be serving veterans meals, or recruitment trucks and trailers for the armed forces.

Let's look at a project when APEX was designing beyond food trucks.
For example, one of APEX’s clients, Friends of Public Radio KJZZ, had a mission to create a multi-purpose vehicle targeting younger segment with a food truck in the rear of the truck, and a fold-down stage and recording studio for local artists. The ability to integrate the two uses into the one vehicle allows for dual branding and partnering, which ultimately decreases each businesses portion of the upfront investment. In addition, this gives the visitors to the vehicle a better, more memorable experience.

For more examples of specialty builds beyond food trucks, check out APEX's case studies and portfolio. If you're ready to proceed into the design and engineering phase of your project, reach out to APEX's experts! 800-259-4804