Plan De Negocios

Mission Statement:

To bring fresh, wholesome, chef made meals using the finest ingredients to give our customers a fast and healthy meal that can be packaged up for their on the move lifestyle. We are going to change the image of fast food.

Executive Summary:

Fresh Wheels will be a food truck delivering fresh, chef inspired meals made to order. This market it is a huge trend an it is growing. The word around the trucks is to get in sooner before there is nothing left to capitalize on (S. Greenwood, personal communication, October 18, 2011). Fresh Wheels wants to put a gourmet spin on what is considered fast and easy. We want to take a step away from the traditional greasy spoon type vendor and offer great tasting and great looking food. To get Fresh Wheels name out to the public we will use social media, radio spots and the truck itself as a mobile billboard since it will be decaled with Fresh Wheels visible on all sides of the food truck. Our food truck will offer two sandwiches, one wrap, and three consistent meals. With the ability to be mobile our target market is going to be construction sites where the labor has very limited options to get good quality fast food. Our secondary market will be the downtown core giving another option to clients, amongst the greasy fast food trucks. In the market place we will be competing with the other food trucks and indirectly with many restaurants and boutique food stores that offer food to go. For Fresh Wheels to have a competitive edge and will rely on the location of our truck. While the other trucks target the downtown core our truck will be traveling to construction sites on a daily bases. We are going to fit into our own category of exceptional service and great food. The great food will come from our high quality suppliers that are based right here in Canada. Along with the high quality of food we will have a higher price and be using a variable pricing strategy with a higher price for the downtown customers and a slightly lower price for the construction workers. Fresh Wheels will be breaking even in 17 months of operation.

Company and Product Overview:

Fresh Wheels will be a food truck (Street Kiosk) in the food retail industry. Our retail will consist of prepared meals and drinks. Quality vegetables taste great with something simple as salt and pepper. The individual components of a meal should speak for them selves. People want to know what is in their food (Euromonitor International, 2011, p.1). Our food will speak for itself, Fresh wheels will not cover the food with sauces since simple ingredients can make delicious food (A, Cook, Personal communication, October 19, 2011). As a second assurance all food will have a sticky label with all the ingredients placed on the outside of the grab and go boxes. Fresh Wheels will offer two sandwiches, one wrap that will be made fresh that morning and wrapped in cellophane to make it easy for customers to grab an even quicker food option. The sandwiches and wraps that we offer will be right inline with the companies idea of quality ingredients and will only use the meats shipped from Vallbela Meats, such as roast beef and black forest ham. However instead of using store bought cheddar we want to use Applewood smoked cheddar, smoked mozzarella or cave aged Geure. Along with these Fresh Wheels will offer three daily menu items made with chicken, beef, and salmon with a side of vegetables and a starch. When looking at the competitors Fresh Wheels wants to make sure the food looks appetizing. Presentation will be key as well as sturdy, strong packaging. The packing we put the food in needs to be multifunctional with interest in being able to easily open and close and strong enough to travel on construction sites while still being easy to eat out off. This will help in getting some brand recognition with potential customers that have not seen or heard of Fresh Wheels. Since we are serving meals and not just portions of meals, the food has to be easily accessible with room to maneuver a fork and knife. The truck it self will be a very open concept. A big trend happening in kitchens is making sure that there are glass windows so that customers can see into the kitchen to watch the food be prepared and the quality of labor that goes into their food (P. Morissette, personal communication October 19, 2011). For the truck, the customers want to see how the food is put together to solidify that gourmet experience. Chefs will have chef hats and chef coats to match the mission of quality chef prepared food. Secondly the company wants to be different based on the quality of our food. Fresh wheels will fit nicely in our own category amongst all of the other trucks. In the truck we are going to use all local Canadian grown meats and vegetables. The suppliers used are Broxburn Farms for vegetables, Rocky Mountain Meats for our chicken and beef, Vallbella, and Flavors of the World to bring in our quality cheeses. The choice behind these suppliers is that they deliver directly to the customer (B2B). The direct delivery will take away the cost having middlemen and secondly allows for a relationship to be made with the suppliers and gain important leverage for the quality and amount of items we need. Use of a personal garage for the storage (freezers and coolers) of the food will be used to cut down on overhead and to give the suppliers a stationary delivery point. This venture is viable because of the timing of entry. In the past three months two new food trucks that have joined the YYC Food truck page (YYC Food trucks, 2010). Our target market does not operate in the highest income bracket so food will have to be competitively priced (Statistics Canada, 2011), however Alberta has the highest amount of income spent on food. Secondly Fresh wheels will target both the downtown core and construction sites utilizing the customer already present with the downtown food trucks (Jo-Anne Baillie, Personal communication, 2011). With information from PCL construction, construction workers will use a less expensive option if its available and that option will be Fresh Wheels. All suppliers are in Appendix I.

Industry/ Competitive Analysis:

Information heard from some of the competitors, the food truck industry is definitely a growing trend. There are currently 10 food trucks roaming around the city of Calgary. To enter this market it is impeccable to have a competitive advantage; something to make the customers eat at the truck, and not the competition. Fresh wheels will have two specific advantages. Fresh Wheels is going to target construction sites on our weekly route. As presented on the competitive matrix (Appendix C), only the Los Compadres MX truck has visited construction sites. Secondly Fresh Wheels is going to offer fresh healthy food choices, unlike any of the other trucks. This will be an advantage for Fresh Wheels as “the health and wellness trend is now becoming mainstream” (Euromonitor, 2010). These are Fresh Wheels main competitors.

Alley Burger: Alley burger is one of the strongest competitors in Calgary’s food truck industry. They gained their reputation by giving away their burgers in the back alley of a restaurant downtown. They eventually grew so big they decided to start making profit from their success. Without telling any customers, they shut down their back alley operation to build their food truck. They showed up on the streets a few months later with a strong reputation and large customer base. They now have 5000 followers on twitter in only 2 months and 2 weeks of operation, which is more than any other food truck. Their product backed by 60 years of professional chef experience, and a product very familiar to street food enthusiasts (Interview with Mike, Alley Burger, See appendix A).

Los Compadres MX: This is the only food truck in Calgary serving up gourmet tacos. This is an advantage for them if their customer is in the mood for tacos! They are very strong in the customer service department. They often have one member of the truck walking in front of the truck, offering up samples and inviting people to try their food. They also have a truck to looks really good, which is inviting to potential customers. One area they could improve on is their service time. It took longer to get food from them compared to the other food trucks, with similar quality to their product. Also their food was a little bit greasy and not too healthy.

Perogy Boyz: These guys have a very popular street food feel with their perogy truck. The wait time was reasonable as they cooked to order. They have the advantage in the sense that they are the only truck selling perogys. They also have an advantage because their product is not deep fried like some of the other trucks. Their truck also has a nice appeal. Bright red and very large, this truck is easy to spot parked along the street. We felt the price was a little steep for the product. Seven dollars for 4 small perogys is a little bit too much. We also did not receive a fork to mix the perogys with the caramelized onions they were bedded on.

JoJo’s BBQ: JoJo’s BBQ is the only truck serving up high end BBQ street eats from a truck. They offer BBQ pork, chicken, and ribs with all the favorite sides. This can be a nice change from the typical burger and fries. They did have some disadvantages. Their customer service while ordering wasn’t up to par. To make up for this, when finished eating, the cook asked how the food was, which shows they care. Another disadvantage is their truck. It is not the same as the other food trucks; it is actually an older motor home. Their food did come out pretty quick, but was served a little bit cold. We feel this truck might not be as strong

...