Burger Truck Profits Down? Add These 3 Menu Items With Huge Profit Margins

If you are new food truck owner and have opted to prepare and sell burgers, then you made a great decision. Burger consumption in America averages out to a whopping three burgers eaten every week per person. And, as other sandwiches decline in popularity, burger sales have actually risen in the last couple of years. You may think that since you can make those burgers for just a couple of bucks and sell them for at least double what you paid for the meat and bread that the profit margin is very large. However, once you add in your costs for operating your truck and labor, your profit from each burger may be less than you realize. Don't let this fact discourage you from selling burgers, but instead let it inspire you to make sure each customer who purchases a burger from you also purchases beverages and side items with huge profit margins to help you earn more without raising burger prices. Also, learn to use your small space wisely to expand your menu without adding more new equipment than you have room for. Here are three easy items to offer customers with large profit margins that can help you make a lot more cash. 

1. Fountain Beverages

While you may currently offer cans or bottles of soda for customers to drink with their burgers, the margins on bottled and canned beverages are much lower than those of fountain beverages. A large fountain soda will cost you only pennies worth of beverage syrup and carbonated water to create, while canned and bottled beverages cost you much more, even when purchased wholesale. 

While soda fountains you have seen in restaurants may seem too large to fit in your food truck, there are many sizes available. You don't need one that dispenses 10 types of beverages. A small, three-spout machine can allow you to offer cola, diet cola, and a clear citrus soda. Most fountain machines also make and dispense ice, so after you install it, you can trade in your large ice cooler for a smaller one. 

In the end, a soda fountain will not only increase your profit on virtually every customer who buys a burger (who doesn't need a beverage to accompany a meal?), your customers will be happier when they don't have to juggle a can of soda and a cup of ice. You can offer them more ounces of soda for the same price you were selling your cans and bottles while still increasing your profits. 

2. Several Types of Fries and Easy Sides

If your customers often pass on fries, then that doesn't mean they don't want side items. If you offer the same old fried white potato strings that every other burger joint offers, then they may just not want the same-old fries they can get anywhere else. Offer a wider selection of side items that you can toss right into your existing fryer, and more customers will be enticed to add extra side dishes to their orders. 

In a small food truck, you have two viable options for stocking more easy items you can toss in your deep fryer; either invest in a larger freezer (if you have the space for it) or buy a potato slicer, so you can slice fresh white potato and sweet potato fries for each customer and store items that must stay frozen in your existing freezer. Commercial potato slicers are very small and affordable, so you can even purchase a couple that make different fry shapes, like curly fries, steak fries, and waffle fries. Slicing potatoes fresh on-site will not only help you expand your side-item offerings, but your customers who typically pass on the frozen fries may love the fresh ones, and fries made from whole potatoes will cost you less than the frozen ones. 

You can then pack your freezer with onion rings, mozzarella sticks, and any other frozen goodies you think the local market will enjoy for a premium price. Buy them pre-made wholesale, or even better, prepare them after-hours, freeze, and load onto your truck each morning. 

3. Diet-friendly Burger Options

More and more people are eating gluten-free or vegan lifestyles, and they may pass your truck every day wishing they could enjoy a quick meal just like everyone else. While you may have too limited space to add an oven to prepare other main dishes for people with dietary constrictions, you already have a burger grill that you can use to prepare specialty burgers for people on all types of diets. While you should make your beef burgers from scratch for the highest profit margin, you can buy your diet-friendly burgers frozen, since you may only make a few a day at first until the word spreads that you offer them. 

When pricing all new burgers you add to your menu, don't just guess at it. Calculate your selling prices wisely, taking into account not only what you pay for the burgers, but also overhead costs, the cost of labor, and even the space the burgers take up in your coolers. While you may feel that pricing menu items for special diets is unfair to customers, they are used to paying premium prices for special items and will not be surprised at all that their burgers cost a bit more. 

Pleasing a much larger customer base is as easy as stocking a box of low-fat turkey burgers, a box of vegan burgers, and a couple of bags of gluten-free burger buns in your truck. Just by adding these four items to your truck, you can gain many new customers with dietary intolerances or preferences that may lead to them having to eat plain salads at most other restaurants. 

If your burger truck is not making as much cash as you want it to, or you are even losing money, then you don't have to raise your burger prices (and potentially lose loyal customers over it) to make more money. You can instead increase your profit margin on soda and add additional menu options with the purchase of just a few affordable new pieces of food-truck friendly restaurant equipment through a place like Louis Wohl & Sons Inc. 

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