Food Trucks at Weddings: A Planning Guide
Food trucks at weddings are not a new trend, but they aren’t as common as we may think. The impact of COVID-19 on the events industry has made us experiment more with how we think about food at weddings. Food trucks are a great way to improvise while adding style and character to an event but they aren’t for everyone! Having worked with food trucks at weddings in the past we put together this planning guide with helpful tips and things to consider.
Why Food Trucks at Weddings?
- For those of you who are foodies, (who isn’t?) food trucks at weddings are a great way to share the food you love with your guests. Food trucks exude personality and character!
- If you are having an intimate wedding, food trucks are a great way to save some costs if you hire a food truck as a main meal. Check out our sample cost effective food truck menu below to start getting the creative juices flowing!
- If you aren’t into formalities food trucks take away the pressure of hosting a formal event by making the style and vibe more casual.
- With the impact of COVID-19 food trucks are a great way to limit the number of people in a kitchen and to keep the kitchen contained.
BUDGET FRIENDLY FOOD TRUCK WEDDING MENU
To Start: Harvest table of cheese, charcuterie, olives, crackers and more! Pre-Packaged Charcuterie plates and bento boxes are a great way to make this safe. Have your main food truck fire up 3 easy to eat appetizers
Main Course: Unlimited gourmet, wood-fire oven pizzas (offer 6-8 different varieties) along with a salad bar
Dessert: Ice Cream & Sorbet dessert truck along with a coffee and espresso cart
Bar: Craft beers and wine
Use vintage plates and napkins to glam up your pizza party!
Before You Hire
- Ensure that your venue allows outside catering and that there is adequate space for your food truck(s) to park and serve your guests
- Consider the vibe and style of your venue – will the food trucks be out of place?
- Consider the weather and season – your guests will be standing outside to get their food and will possibly be waiting in line.
- If you are worried about your guests waiting for too long, consider using a food truck for appetizers, desserts or late night versus the main meal.
- Think about how you want guests to eat: sitting or standing? You will save space by having guests standing, but it will limit the types of food you can serve. A combination of dinner tables and cocktail tables may be the perfect compromise!
- If you are using food truck(s) as your main meal consider the number of guests you have and the number of trucks you will need to offer enough food, variety and speed of service.
- Food trucks do not offer the same type of service a caterer does and many also have minimum spends. Food trucks don’t usually offer table linens, waitstaff or cleanup after the meal. You may need to negotiate that or hire an outside vendor for those services.
Once You’ve Hired
- Speak directly with the Chefs to make sure the menu items make sense for your guest list. Nobody likes waiting in lines especially to eat at a wedding – be willing to be flexible and creative and lean on the food truck chefs to guide you on what will work best.
- We recommend no more than 3-4 menu offerings per truck
- Food trucks have their own containers to serve their food in, but these may not be formal dinnerware. If you prefer a formal feel and want guests to eat from china rather than disposables, you may not want a food truck. Some truck owners will work with you and use your dishes, but some may not, so be prepared to compromise. Disposables come in a variety of forms and can be highly customized so think outside of the box. If you’re trying to be eco-friendly consider purchasing recyclable or biodegradable plates, utensils and napkins.
- It’s a good idea to have a site visit with the food truck operator ahead of the wedding so they can see exactly where they will park and go over any day of logistics ahead of time (power, sound of generator, space and flow all matter).
Check out our real wedding where we hosted an outdoor, food truck pre-wedding event with 4 specialty food trucks!