The Benefits of a Food Truck Business

Title: A Business Development Proposal to Start a Food Truck in Klang Valley, Malaysia 

According to Shahwahid, Bakar and Eksan(2018),food truck industry is increasingly becoming a phenomenon and gaining popularity around the globe. There can be observed a distinguishing impact of food truck business on different countries in the world. Food truck influences the economic, social and cultural opportunities for both customers and vendors in the United States of America. The contribution of food truck is expanding in New Zealand to be a part of New Zealand food tourism industry. The business is a growing success in North America, European cities and Australia where established brand restaurants are expanding their businesses to the food truck sector to emerge as the pop-up restaurants. Due to the low start-up cost, expert chefs and the young entrepreneur in developing countries are heading to food truck businesses. From the perspective of consumers, food trucks are a good way to avail fresh, healthy and varieties of food in quick times in a much friendly environment.

In the opinion of Ideriset al.(2017), mobile food or food truck has become a popular choice among the people across the globe. It has similarities with fast-food outlets in regards to serving quick, convenient, mouth-watering and tasty food. Since, it uses a miniature commercial kitchen, it is compulsory for food truck to meet the state’s requirement of sanitation from a brick and mortar restaurant. In addition to this, food truck operators are also required to comply with others local ordinances. There is an encouraging demand for this kind of food service from consumers. However, studies revealing the prevalence of food truck business in Malaysia are very limited.

As opined by Martin (2014), In North America, food truck industry is liberalized and provides a very low-cost entrepreneurial opportunity. Personal risk is limited as well. Since, the start-up costs are comparatively lower than those associated with brick-and-mortar restaurants; it is more suitable for those with less capacity to spend. Additionally, Exit costs are also comparatively lower than a brick-and-mortar store which means an easy exit for vendors in terms of not meeting the sales target. These are a few attracting and potential reasons which attract households people in particular towards the industry who want to improve their living standard. Food truck industry also helps to improve the revenues for fixed venue owners. For consumers, it offers them substantial benefits. It provides them varieties of foods at places where traditional restaurants had never existed. With regard to quality, complaints from competitors’ end tend to be made against food safety and the sanitation level. However, in most cases these complaints are unsubstantiated. A study examining the statistics collected from samples of Major American cities have found food trucks as sanitary and safe as restaurants.

Esparza, Walker and Rossman (2014) says that food truck industry which has recently been allowed to emerge after decades of banning on street vending faces a burdensome regulation. Only few of all applicants are allowed to start-up a food truck business. Their applications in the form of business plan are being judged by a panel of five members of which three are associated with the brick-and-mortar industry. Food truck owners are provided with sites where they can sell food products. These sites are very limited in quantity and each site can only have a maximum of three food trucks. Food truck vendors are not allowed to sell except at designated sites. In addition to these difficulties, food truck business will not be allowed to those who do not already own a restaurant. Apart from expenses on other regulatory compliances, annual permit costs a huge sum of amount like $2,075-or $1,215 for just a seasonal permit.

Challenges of a Food Truck Business

A heavy burden regulation against food truck industry in Montreal is on similar line with Chicago. It appears as if both Montreal and Chicago have adopted these steps to eventually discourage the spread of food truck business and flourish brick-and-mortar restaurants. Municipal ordinances burden falls on those who are poorer are mostly immigrants. Many of such immigrants work illegally anyway. According to Williams (2012), a removal of burdensome regulations on food truck would certainly see 2,145 jobs legalized. Additionally, 6,435 jobs will be created. There can be an increase of total annual sales from $40 million to $160 million. Additionally, there will also be an increase in new local sales tax revenues from $2.1 million to $8.5 million. It looks apparent that there are ample of benefits of a loosening in regulations. To avoid any resistance to such advantageous economic reform, there is a need to consider, as part of a plan, measures to ease hard regulations. There is also a need to modify the taxes being imposed on restaurants. Notably, Montreal ranks 74^th out of 100 in regards to ease of doing a business in the city. It is largely due to burdensome regulations and fiscal burden. By considering a loosening of regulations for all kind of food business will be an advantageous move for the city and the country as well.

As stated by Shpigel (2015), there are differences in behaviors for different kinds of food entrepreneurs along the streets of Chicago. Food entrepreneurs in Chicago can be found in the form of food trucks, food carts and street vendors. All these represent a more or less the similar business; however, they differ in regards to regulatory burdens being imposed on them. Street vendors are mainly the immigrants who are neither skilled nor educated. Their street shops are also different from a food truck in regards to kitchen, chef and food quality. Since, street vendors are less systematic than food trucks and food carts and also that they are immigrants, municipal ordinances and other regulatory bodies are much harder on them. Street vendors are not easily allocated with sites. Additionally, they are inspected for sanitation and food quality. On the other hand, there are comparatively fewer troublesome circumstances for a food truck. The right of food truck to gain the economic advantage of the city is treated more leniently than those of immigrant vendors. For a positive growth in the economy, there is a need for supporting the creative ventures. It is unfair to call a city as being creative towards the economic gains which behaves differently with diverse forms of food business. Instead, there is a need for a uniform treatment with irrespective of the kinds of food business. In order to boost the local economy, cities must stand to be tolerant and immigrant-friendly.

In the opinion of Petersen(2014),during the few decades in past, urban theorists including Ray Oldenburg and William Whyte have observed the impact food vendors have on urban spaces in the form of drawing people outside and forming an informal social interaction with them. With the recent growing popularity of food truck industry especially post-2008, food truck business provides opportunity for street foods entrepreneurs to revitalize urban spaces. Food trucks can provide the social, cultural and economic benefits to a community. Food trucks produce a low-cost and an innovative revitalization tool. The author has found a few research works being conducted on the benefits of food truck industry. One of such studies are of Wessel’s study being conducted in San Francisco, California. The study has found people as being socially connected with the food experiences of food truck in Kansas City, Missouri. Tway’s study in San Francisco found that spaces occupied by food trucks were perceived to be more active and vibrant with their existence. Kapell’s study in Portland, Oregon found that food trucks encouraged unique cultural expressions, economic development and street vitality. Mueller’s study in Austin, Texas found food trucks as the low-cost revitalization tool that effectively utilizes the underutilized lots. It does so by promoting commercial activity, activating the streetscape and disseminating culture. Overall, these studies have found food truck business as making urban spaces more vibrant and active. These studies have found food truck business as catalyzing the urban revitalization. However, these studies have also confirmed the possibility of burdensome regulations on food truck industry. Regulatory restrictions can pose barriers to food truck business. An increasingly growing proliferation of food truck in recent times has posed challenges to city staffs and planners to reconsider the use of urban spaces and streets. While street spaces are more often seen as for transportation means, it still can be made a more vibrant social space.

Success Factors for a Food Truck Business

Food truck industry faces a dissimilar behavior in terms of opportunities and issues in different parts of world. The food tuck industry is fragmented in nature due to an increasingly growing entrance of new enterprises in recent times. The trend is expected to continue in future as well in less saturated regions. In search of increasing the disposable income, household population is largely entering the food truck sector. An increasing inclination of consumers towards healthy, tasty and easily available foods is one of the factors of attraction for the household people towards the food truck business (Martin 2014).

The food truck division also faces challenges in the form of regulatory hurdles. These hurdles have restricted the growth of the industry in recent past. Parking laws, sanitation issues and other municipal ordinances are a few of worries to the future of food truck business. Food truck entrepreneurs will be able to enjoy the potential benefits of the sector provided that industry associations work closely with other restaurants and city governments. There is a need to reconsider the role of food trucks and urban spaces to promote the growth of food truck business in cities across the globe.

The main purpose of this business developmental proposal is to give entrepreneurs a potential industry from where they could meet their basic criteria of the source of income. Following are the reasons for why entrepreneurs look for potential start-up business over a job (Rawhouser, Cummings and Newbert 2017):

Those who want to be entrepreneurs they admire other successful entrepreneurs thinking that they also have a few of such qualities as being possessed by such entrepreneurs. These aspiring entrepreneurs admire others established entrepreneurs for their journey from being nothing to become successful entrepreneurs.

This is one of the most vital factors that motivate people going for entrepreneurship. There are a people who do not like to be under anybody’s supervision. These are the people who think that they should rather have a business than working for a company. They believe that the only way to work effectively and happily is to work as entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs love to take the risk. They love doing exciting and adventurous things. They are more often up to going through brainstorming sessions and going for high risks areas. Whether their concepts become million dollar success stories or fall to debris, entrepreneurs are happy at seeing through developmental stages.

Entrepreneurs are people who do not like doing the routine-basis tasks every day. They rather love doing innovative works which is hardly possible while being into a job.

There are some people who feel that they have no other ways than to go for entrepreneurial ventures. Their prior knowledge about an industry and the qualification skills in them do not let them feel good with job industries.

Food truck industry can be highly advantageous for potential entrepreneurs, consumers and urban spaces. The industry is a rapidly growing prospect for aspiring entrepreneurs. It is also a prospect for social, cultural and economic reforms of urban spaces. It creates a healthier yet tastier food resource to consumers. The study is needed to reveal how advantageous is the food truck industry for so many stakeholders and what are all its challenges in the form of regulatory hurdles.

Loosening Regulations for Food Truck Vendors

For the current research work the research questions are as follows:

1. What the financial requirements are for a food truck start-up business?
2. What marketing strategies are to be adopted to promote the food truck business in Klang Valley, Malaysia?
3. What food standards are needed to be maintained to serve foods to people of Klang Valley, Malaysia?
4. What the human resource requirements are for an entrepreneurial venture with food truck?

• To identify the financial requirements for a food truck start-up business
• To understand marketing strategies needed to be adopted to promote the food  truck business in Klang Valley, Malaysia
• To determine the food standards needed to be served to people in Klang Valley, Malaysia
• To analyze the human resource requirements for an entrepreneurial venture with food truck

• The first chapter covers an introductory part of the dissertation where a background to the topic is being given. It also covers research questions and objectives.
• The second chapter covers an evaluation of the previously conducted studies by researchers. Previously conducted studies will be used to draw a conceptual model to understand the objectivity of the present work.
• The third chapter gives a methodological approach towards the research topic. It also covers strategies to be used to analyze the data.
• The fourth chapter largely covers the analysis of the data.
• The fifth chapter provides a summary to the findings and also recommends areas for future studies.

Business plan is a document that describes a business’s goals and the ways it is going to fulfill those objectives. It is like a living document which needs to be reshaped in response to external drivers on a regular basis. Preparing a business plan is a very tricky work which requires a serious attention from its doers. No matter whether a business plan is related with a start-up venture or an established firm, both of them is required to pay utmost attention to it to avoid the undesired outcomes. From the very beginning, there could arise a number of factors that may challenge the entrepreneurial spirit attached to a start-up (Davidsson 2015).

The chapter covers four different factors to understand the different needs for a start-up business in the food truck industry. The business plan as stated above can face a number of challenges in different areas like finance, marketing, quality of service and the human resource management. The section covers the previously done work on the importance of four chosen factors in the start-up business in the food truck industry.

A start-up business can face a number of financial challenges that may break the newly born firms. There can be problems as such the early cash-flow and under-capitalization. These two are bigger problems at the earlier stage. An effective business plan can help to find solutions against different issues. It can guide to a number of back up strategies to be considered against the different challenges (Caramaschi 2016).Despite a low exit cost, there are some financial constraints which a start-up business can face. One of such constraints are getting loans from bank. The requirement to have a truck at the initial stage and to have another more trucks to expand the business, a financial support in the form of a bank loan is required. If that phase of a business is not maintained effectively, owners will need to bear the entire investments. Since, food truck business is mostly done by the household people, they can feel the burden of bearing the purchasing and maintenance expenses of trucks.

As opined by Baharuddin et al. (2015), cash flow management can be a challenge for a start-up business until and unless the sales have picked up. It appears from the stated facts that it is important to have a business plan which effectively provides ways to apply for bank loans and recommends ways to follow during the earlier days of the venture. Receiving bank loans is not always easier especially in tough economy. They are hard at small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in terms of approving their loans. Very few SMEs do actually get the approvals. It is also necessary to be aware of the cash which those seeking for loans will bear. Banks may seek a 10 or 20 percent of the loan to be paid in cash. In some cases, they are also looking for a 50-50 split. Additionally, it is also challenging to find banks providing loans for a start-up food truck business. It is, therefore, important for a start-up business to have an effective business plan that covers factors like competitive analysis, a marketing analysis, the management process and financial projections.

As stated byLee (2017), a food truck business requires a low investment being made upon financial, marketing, human resource and other resources than that of a restaurant. The investment can be as lower as the 1/5^th or even lesser of investments being made on a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Despite these evident differences in spending limits, feasible and appropriate strategic making will still be required to avail the funding and avoid financial challenges. Entrepreneurs can themselves bear the funding or can also move to bank loans. However, the most prevalent way to initiate a start-up business is to avail the bank loans. A business development plan should have ways to apply for bank loans. It should also include clauses to avoid while applying for loans. These strategies are recommended because the global political impact on banking, local government’s policies for SMEs and the local economic condition can affect the banking procedures. Hence, banking procedures for granting loans can either be very favorable or tough as well. It is, therefore, important that the start-up business plan has essential coverage on entire banking procedures to avoid or reduce the initial shortcomings.

The business plan should also cover things like the nature of loans such as microfinance. Food truck start-up business may or may not need the microfinance. It should be clearly mentioned in the start-up business kit that whether the loans required will be huge or microfinance. As stated by Pei-Wen et al.(2016), microfinance loans granted by both government and non-government agencies have positive impacts on the business income of SMEs. It means that SMEs have quite a favorable condition in Malaysia for availing the microfinance loans. As opined by (Ho and Heang 2016), customer-bank relationship is of negative nature between SMEs and their government or non-government banks in Malaysia. SMEs in Malaysia do not entirely appreciate the efforts and moves being adopted by the Malaysian government. It appears as if there is the necessity to channel more intensive efforts and effective measures in the Malaysian government’s policies to promote a growth of SMEs. Bank financing, in particular, requires some serious reforms. Since, food truck industry in Malaysia is not yet saturated, there are spaces for development. Food truck entrepreneurs should go to various banks to avail the required loans. A distributed business with banks in this way would create competition between banks. Hence, banks can be under pressure to maintain effective relationship with SMEs.

As opined by Rivolli, Parker and de Carvalho (2017), food trucks give opportunity to people who desperately wish to increase their disposable income. However, those aspiring to enter the industry and start-up a business should carefully analyze the financing environment in the food truck industry. The cost of starting a food truck business in the United States of America can range from $3,000 USD or also between $50,000 USD and $200,000 USD that includes both purchase and start-up costs. Apart from start-up costs, spending is needed also on fuel and maintenance, kitchen equipment rental expenses or purchases, business permits, food supplies, insurance, food supplies, employees’ expenses and advertising dollars. While these spending can be substantial, food trucks can prove to be a much profitable venture than its brick and mortar counterparts. Apart from gaining this economic prospect, food truck owners do also have opportunity to test different menus. This is an important factor considering the limited space for foods in truck.

As stated by Kane (2015), ‘Gartner’s theory on financing barriers’ suggests that “Financing” is the biggest of barriers for starting a firm. It considerably drops in case when an established and reputed firm is involved in opening up a new business. With higher projected sales, such firms attain external funding more easily than a comparatively low-in-reputation firms. However, circumstances are quite different for those willing to start-up a food truck business. Considering the fact that a food truck business is owned and operated by only a few people, they face serious difficulties acquiring huge external funding. Kane (2015) indicates towards that the survey conducted for the study had not asked regarding the kind of funding food-truck entrepreneurs attempted to attain at the start-up. Therefore, Gartner’s theory on financing barriers cannot effectively be evaluated.

As opined by Hun and Yazdanifard (2014), business should know the ways to reduce gaps between product and consumers to be successful. Hun and Yazdanifard (2014) also suggest that segmentation is an answer to this concern. As stated by Hatheway, Kwan and Zheng (2017), segmentation can be done by considering demographics, psychographics, behavioral and geographic factors. In context to food-truck business in Malaysia, behavioral approach will be more suited because food preference in the country is broadly divided by liking towards Halal and Non-Halal foods. Muslims particularly like the Halal foods. As opined by Shahwahid, Bakar and Eksan (2018), Halal compliance is an important part of food-truck industry in Malaysia. Food-truck owners although not being passionate about getting certification on Halal compliance, they still maintained it. Halal compliance is measured with Halal logo, ingredient content and hygiene in food products. Wholesale market and factory were found as the preferred purchasing places. Bakar, Shahwahid and Eksan (2018) argue that Halal compliance is not just limited to ensuring hygiene in food contents but is also related with religiosity. Bakar, Shahwahid and Eksan (2018) further say that not all behaviors of consumers need to be considered by food truck traders.

According to, Najmaei et al.(2017), marketing mix or 4 Ps is an integral part of a marketing plan. It can be specified as the product, price, place and promotion. In context to food-trucks in Klang Valley, Malaysia, product will be the Halal foods.‘Halal foods’ is being selected due to its prevalence among the Malaysian Muslims. However, ‘Halal foods’ should never be confused with ‘Halal logistics’ as ‘Halal logistics’ is a much wider concept. ‘Halal logistics’ include halal products, places, pricing and promotion. It broadly means using the justified strategies. As suggested by Hamid, Ab Talib and Mohamad (2014), halal products will be used for food-truck business in Klang Valley in Malaysia. It includes ritual cleansing, halal tracing and tracking, halal oriented warehouse and halal ensured transport fleet. As opined by Fathiet al.(2016),logistics can be used to protect the halalness of foods by facilitating proper transportation, storage, appropriate handling over supply chains till the moment it reaches to end user. As stated by Zailaniet al.(2018),service diversity, personnel contact quality, order receipt quality and service ordering procedures affect the timeliness of halal logistics operation. As observed byYunanet al.(2017), halal places will mean halal warehouse, halal hubs and halal terminal. Halal price will include value-based pricing, growth pricing strategy and pricing objective as per product-quality. In the opinion of Tieman and Ghazali (2014), halal promotion means event promotion, push-pull promotion strategy, public relation promotion and promotional alliance.

Alfiero, Lo Giudice and Bonadonna (2017) argue that most food-trucks lack the impactful marketing backgrounds. Their owners do not have capital to invest in advertising and promotion. While there are growing usage of social media channels in food industry, food trucks significantly lacks in this regard. The lack of entrepreneurial skills is another reason why most food-trucks do not advertise their outlets. With regard to this, it can be recommended to food-truck entrepreneurs to have effective business plans before entering the industry. The business plan should have strategies to mitigate the challenge of external funding, ways to attain an effective management of cash-flow, ability to identify cost-effective advertising tools and the human resource requirements. In the opinion of Cohen et al.(2017), label or certification system will add more values to the recommended food menus. Label or certification will indicate that foods are organically grown or are locally acquired. This step will help to increase the confidence consumers could have in food menus and marketing.

As opined by Holt (2016), social media channels can prove to be effective advertising tools for food-trucks. An increased exposure of food-trucks should result in an increased consumption of food items from food-trucks. As confirmed by Kim, Li and Brymer (2016), food-trucks do mostly use marketing communication tools to inform its loyal customers in particular about the location updates. Twitter is particularly used to serve this purpose. Most food-trucks use Twitter on an average once or twice a day. It was being found in the study that those who send updates once or twice a day are more likely to stay in the industry. On the other hand, those who send only a fewer updates on Twitter are less likely to succeed than those send more updates on a daily basis. Additionally, no significant outcome of sending more than two updates on Twitter could be found. Food-trucks sending fewer updates on Twitter are correlated with a market exit sooner. It also indicates that such trucks are not operating every day. Due to such negligence in part of social media communication, consumers face this challenge to find a specific truck.

In the opinion of Wang, Pauleen and Zhang (2016), food-trucks with a Facebook page and a dedicated website is more likely to attract consumers than those that do not. A Facebook page can be used to post new arrivals in food menus. The number of likes and comments against this post would inform on the level of acceptance for new arrivals. Number of shares for the same post will help to reach to a much wider audience. On the other hand, an official website would educate users on everything from business timings to food menus and business’s exclusive facts.According to Felix,Rauschnabel and Hinsch(2017), food-trucks in most cases are effectively using Twitter to enhance their community engagement. With the use of mentions, hashtags and retweets, food-trucks are creating communities within specific geographical regions. Suchcommunitieshas their users and the different followers. The food truck business looks much brighter when venues, trucks and bloggers communicate one another. As mentioned by Ainin S., Parveen, F., Moghavvemi, S., Jaafar, N.I. and MohdShuib, N.L., (2015), food-truck owners use Twitter to build up engagement and interest in consumers. They do it by Twitting once or twice a day mostly regarding location updates. In this way, such food-trucks are able to engage with community in specific geographical regions. Some tweets are made to inform about the latest arrivals in food menus. A regular updates regarding location changes and foods to offer portray a trustworthy image of food-trucks.

As stated by Bellemare (2015), some food-trucks also use mobile-based applications to connect with consumers. However, these applications are still at the learning stage as these lack in punching a powerful user interface and a loads of informative and engaging contents. Mobile-based application can be a good way to connect with people and develop a community of users and customers. However, app developers, blog writers, designers and food-truck owners should collectively work towards bringing in innovative applications that are rich in information and meaningful as well.

According to (Malshe, Johnson and Viio 2017), food truck business in Malaysia can be credited to collective results of growing urbanization in the country, use of technologies and government supports to the industry. Food-truck business is now seen as a part of urbanization in Malaysia. In Malaysia, food-trucks use technology to broadcast their location making it easily traceable. In regards to social media, food-trucks use Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to be connected and keep the community updated with location changes, menu shuffling and others. Google search engine is also being used to see the changes in search figures. Governments supports food-trucks business by giving incentives to those who are willing for a start-up entrepreneurship. Additionally, food-trucks are allowed to locate their trucks in major festivals.

According to Reeveet al.(2018.), marketing needs will be different for a food truck business than a brick and mortar restaurant. It is because a traditional restaurant is required to attract customers towards its fixed location whereas a food-truck business has the leeway of moving its operation to its target market till the moment it adheres to parking codes. Food truck business is more flexible in regards to switching to new locations; however, it needs to find out time to be engaged in various social media platforms to update about location changes to loyal customers. In addition to this, effective marketing strategies will ensure customers coming back to food trucks. These are some easiest ways to sustain the current growth of food-trucks business.

In the opinion of Izberk-Bilgin and Nakata (2016), faith-based marketing is a booming concept in global trades. Muslims especially are largely the untapped segment of market. The likes of Nestle, McDonald’s and Walmart see this as the potential “one-billion” market. Authors deny the existing meaning of Halalby presenting a broader meaning of it. According to Izberk-Bilgin and Nakata (2016), Halal broadly means maintaining fair-trade industries and offering organically sourced goods.According to Zailaniet al.(2015), Halal compliance policy is a serious concern in Malaysia; however, companies perform just above the average in meeting the Halal Orientation Strategy (HOS). Food makers need government supports in the form of halal certification and logo, tax reduction, financial assistance and infrastructure. Fuseiniet al.(2017) supports the growing concerns of consumers in particular of Muslims for Halal foods by citing the rising distress and panic among Muslims for Halal foods. There have been a few instances of fraudulent activity in the Halal Market in the UK that foods made from pork meat were being served as Halal foods to Muslims. As stated by Teng and Jusoh(2017), non-Muslims are not aware of the importance of Halal food. Non-Muslims need to be made aware with health issues, fair trade, food safety, animal welfare, social justice and the environment issues in order to understand the importance of Halal foods. In other ways, Teng and Jusoh (2017) encourage strategies to motivate non-Muslims to use the Halal foods.

As believed by Scholliers (2015), food-trucks in fact have no direct competition from street food stalls and restaurants. It has little or no threats from restaurants as food-trucks are not allowed to operate near restaurants. In addition, food-trucks are popularly known for being more efficient in providing the locally and organically grown foods. Food-trucks are faster than restaurants in terms of delivering foods. In addition, food-trucks also have varieties of foods to offer. As opined by Ali and Abdullah (2017), food-trucks innovate much faster than brick and mortar restaurants in terms of varieties of foods due to limited spaces in trucks. On the other hand, it takes a longer time for traditional restaurants to analyze the underperforming items. Time is consumed due to larger inventories. Food stalls at streets though looks similar to food-trucks, there are still differences between food-trucks and street stalls. One of the differences is in food quality which is better and healthier at food-trucks. As stated by Alfiero, Lo Giudice and Bonadonna (2017), food truck industry attracts entrepreneurs who use innovation in different operations like marketing, financing and human resource. It is more organized than street stalls.

According toKok and Balkaran(2014), there are many reasons why ‘food-trucks’ is booming and why consumers are responding to it. The exit cost of food truck industry is comparatively lower than traditional restaurants. Business start-up costs are much lower than needed for brick and mortar restaurants. Since, it is a growing sector in both developed and developing nations, these are potential opportunities for entrepreneurs. From the perspective of consumers, food-trucks are resources to varieties of healthy and fresh foods. Food trucks are more affordable than restaurants. Therefore, low and middle-income groups can enjoy the social environment at around food-trucks at nearly affordable prices.

As stated by Yunanet al.(2017), Halal warehouse adopter satisfaction level is dependent on the seaport service quality. It means that if service quality is good to excellent then customers will get the Halal products. Local halal authorities such as Halal Development Corporation and JabatanKemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) can contribute to halal logistics provided that the seaport service quality is also on target. As opined by Syazwan Ab Talib and Bakar Abdul Hamid(2014), halal logistics which is necessary to produce halal foods does not only depend on single entity but on many regional and local authorities. The list of entities includes Halal logistics service providers, governments or government agencies, Halal authorities, Halal universities and institutes and manufacturers and consumers. Support and collaboration among these entities is necessary to ensure the production of Halal food. As far as Malaysia Halal logistics is concerned, it receives a strong government support. The business model is reputable in terms of operations which are in the line of Muslim countries. However, Malaysia Halal logistics lacks the consistency. There is a lack of collaboration between industry players and JAKIM which is a local authority to ensure the production of Halal foods only. Hence, there are loopholes in the basics. Halal logistics can be threatened from the absence of uniformity on Halal standards, scarcity of knowledge and emergence and existence of Haram substance.

In addition to ensuring an adherence to industry’s standards and market demands for foods to be sold in food trucks, food truck operators can also face regulatory burdens for kinds of issues. Food truck is indeed a complicated business from regulatory viewpoint as the business needed to establish both food service and vehicles. Therefore, the business requires obtaining authorization from several state and local authorities for initiating and maintaining the business (Ng and Karim 2016).

A state business license is mandatory for food truck operators to initiate the business. Food truck operators may also need to obtain local business licenses. In Malaysia, truck operators can obtain the various licenses required to operate; however, operational hours are limited. For example, a license to operate during lunch hours would mean an operation between noon to 2pm (Wijayaet al. 2017). License would cost around RM500. Food truck business like other businesses has no guaranteed financial rewards. According to a daily newspaper in Malaysia, sustenance with just a single food-truck is indeed challenging. It is because the income can be lower despite all the hype surrounding the food-truck business. Profit can be as lower as RM3, 000 for sales between RM30, 000 and RM35, 000. It just shows that a sustained business with a food-truck would require huge sales on a daily basis. Contrary to this, there are food-trucks that make modest sales from RM600 to RM700 per day. These trucks struggle for profits. These facts and figures may vary depending on the truck design, menu, the location, the event attended and promotional skills of the entrepreneur.

One of the challenges of operating a food-truck is the occasional confiscation of pieces of equipment as a result of raids being carried out by enforcement officers. Such raids are often carried out leading both food-truck operators and customers to the trouble. Food-truck operators are into the trouble considering that they have to rely on day-to-day sales to manage their livings. Such raids are troublesome for customers as well considering that they have no other better option compared to a food-truck to avail foods at such affordable prices (Berad and Momula 2017).In addition, some operators are also trying to receive a permission on extending the trading hours till 2pm. An association body is being developed to represent these food-truck operators in front of the administrative system in the country. With the help of the association body being formed, food-truck operators are trying to get a permit for an extension in the trading hours during the lunch (Berad and Momula 2017).

The lists of literatures being used in this project were mainly focused around legislative, financial and operational aspects of a food-truck business. However, a very limited of those studies had talked about the impact of using social media channels for promoting the food-truck business. The fact that social media channels can influence the sale is still largely unknown. This project will try to cover that aspect of a food-truck as well. Moreover, the outcomes of this project may attract few other scholars towards investigating the impact of social media advertisement on the food-truck industry.

This chapter is about to create an overview of research designs to be followed. The purpose of this study as stated earlier is to analyze a food-truck business from four perspectives such as market feasibility, marketing feasibility, financial feasibility and operational feasibility. The chapter discusses research methods and collection methods. It also includes a rationale for the selection being made separately for both collection methods and research methods. The chapter also covers ethical issues, which are specific to this research project.

There are broadly two standard methods for conducting a research project, i.e. qualitative research or quantitative research. While the qualitative research depends on verbal data, the quantitative research revolves around the use of statistical data to draw the conclusion. In a qualitative research, there is just a couple of non-representative cases are utilized as an example to build up an initial understanding. On the other hand, an adequate number of representative cases are taken in a quantitative research to identify or suggest a final course of action. It is a never-ending debate on, which research method, is the most superior (Hussein 2015).Qualitative research investigates an understanding on human and social sciences, to discover the way in which individuals think and feel. On the other hand, Quantitative research is a method to create numerical information and hard facts, by utilizing statistical, sensible and a scientific procedure. Qualitative research is a subjective approach whereas quantitative, an objective (Ragin 2014).

For this research project, both qualitative and quantitative research methods are being used. However, the project has no interviews and surveys being conducted. Since, the research is a secondary research; it is mainly aimed at referring to a few available documents and records. These documents and records can be found from academic articles.

Since, a secondary research approach is instead being used; the project had needed to have the sufficient data both qualitative and quantitative to effectively answer to research questions. This strategy is also helpful in conducting an in-depth analysis of the research topic. Moreover, an insightful study was required to recommend some areas for future research to fill the gaps in literature in respect to the impact of marketing communication on a food-truck business.

Since, the project is aimed to refer to a secondary research approach; it has followed a secondary data collection method.

Secondary data is a sort of information that has already been distributed in varieties of platforms such as books, daily papers, magazines, diaries, online entryways and so on. These sources are resources to ample of information. These are some most reliable ways to go for availing the quality data on the research topic. Subsequently, the selection of the secondary research method for this research project can be validated with data derived from such reliable resources (Palinkaset al. 2015).

These criteria include, however not only limited to such as the publication date, author’s credentials, dependability of the source, depth of analysis, the degree of commitment till which the content goes on developing the research area and so on.

Since, a secondary research approach is only being used; hence, there is no other option than to with types of secondary resources as mentioned in this section. The purpose of this research project is to generate a large scale of information to help entrepreneurs understand the background stories of a startup project in the food-truck industry. The purpose can only be served if the project is able to find reliable data. Nonetheless, there is no better way that to refer to secondary resources such as books, magazines and so on for a secondary research project.

There can be an ample number of ethical issues depending on the kinds of research method being adopted. Primary research will have a different set of ethical issues whereas the secondary will have the few others. Since, this research project has followed a secondary research approach; this also faces some ethical issues. Those are (Adamset al. 2017):

Ethical issues in secondary data may vary with the amount data required. One of such instances can be that the information has no distinguishing data or is totally without relevant data or is properly coded to avoid any unauthorized access to it. Such circumstances do not require a full audit by the ethical board, but rather a mere confirmation that the data is actually unknown. However, if the data contains any variable helping to identify the participants, this will indeed require a full review by the board. The researcher will then need to clarify for why such strategies could not be avoided. In the event that the above said concerns are convincingly addressed, the researcher would then be able to ask for a waiver of consent.

In the event that the data is accessible for free on the Internet, other public forum or books, an authorization for further utilization of the resources is implied. However, an acknowledgment to the ownership of the original data will be required.

The data thus obtained should be in adequate amount and relevant as well. This should not exceed as the analysis could then become a complex task.

To avoid an unwanted loss happening to the data, it needs to be kept safe inside locked cabinets in the form of hardcopies whereas softcopies of the same as encrypted files in computers.

The chapter covers an analysis of secondary data to understand the implication of a food-truck startup. In addition, analysis will be conducted with the help of both qualitative and quantitative data.

Qualitative Analysis 

“According to Navickas,Baskutis and Gruzauskas (2015), flow of cargo significantly impacts the transportation cost especially in small markets.”

The above quoted line clearly says that the number of the flow of cargo can impact on the transportation cost and consequently on financial and operations cost. The number of cargo can be reduced by combining orders and grouping more than one companies based on variables as suited to the business. It is preferred to select a group of companies and their place of business, and operate the food-truck in the selected place. This strategy will help to attract more customers. However, the sustenance of the food-truck business in that particular area would depend on its ability to offer quality foods at competitive prices. In addition, variety of foods will also be a key factor.

“As opined by Mercier et al.(2017), the food industry analysis shows that the supply chain management faces two huge challenges in the form of time and temperature ideal to keep products fresh.”

The quoted fact indicates that temperature is one of the keys to an effective supply chain management. Sufficient temperature is required to keep food fresh such as ice creams, prepackaged foods, and regional fast-foods. There are certain temperatures that are being identified as safe to each category of foods. For a food-truck, it is important that it takes a note of this fact to be able to offer foods of highest quality in respect to both taste and freshness. Taste and freshness both depends on the quality of raw materials. The quality of raw materials, on the other hand, could be affected from insufficient temperature. Foods of different qualities require distinguished range of temperatures. It is due to such complexity the concept of “Cold Chain” did originate. In a cold-chain, refrigeration steps in succession form are applied to keep foods at desirable temperatures. Temperature limits might vary from developing countries to the developed. Cold chain is still inadequately developed in emerging countries. It is due to the lack of power supply. Regions that are warmer create more trouble for an effective management of cold chain. On the other hand, some places in developing countries do not enjoy a healthy spending as compared to other industries. It is due to all these facts cold chain management in such regions becomes challenging. “Yoon and Chung (2018) opine that hygienic and environmental risks of a food-truck business negatively impact on consumers’ visit intentions to such shops.”

The quoted line indicates that consumers’ attitude influence their visit intentions to a food-truck. They are found as being concerned with environmental and hygienic effects of a food-truck. Moreover, their attitude has a direct impact on their visitation to food-trucks. Such attitudes create both challenges and opportunities to a food-truck business. Such attitudes can seriously affect the daily sales. On the other hand, these facts can be utilised as opportunities for marketing communication. Despite using several social media sites and the other ways of communication, food-truck has not been very convincing with marketing as compared to restaurants and other formats of food centres. More specifically, a food-truck entrepreneur can come up with a more established food management and marketing communication strategies as compared to those that exist to leverage the opportunity.

“According to Mokhtaret al. (2017), food truck that has now become popular in Malaysia especially in Klang Valley does not just require to offer the mobile features but also doing a creative branding of their trucks.”

The article suggests that creative branding is an essential element of a food truck apart from its mobility features. It means that branding can be used to influence the attitudes and visiting intentions of customers. Apart from this the halal food industry is a rapidly growing phenomenon across the globe; it can be used in branding the start-up of a food truck in Klang Valley of Malaysia (Bohari, Hin and Fuad 2017). Muslims in the worldwide countries are concerned with whatever they purchase, consume, and use. They want all these to be the “Syariah”compliant. The halal industry also contributes to the national economic growth, and societal development. These all mean that effective branding of a start-up is essential to create reasons for customers to visit. Branding will be much more effective if it incorporates promoting the use of halal foods as Muslims are in majority in the country.

“As opined by Ismailet al.(2018), ‘halal foods’ is an essential part of food industry in Malaysia; however, it is yet underdeveloped and needs a firm assistance of strategic operations and technologies.”

The article also supports the fact presented by Bohari, Hin and Fuad(2017) in the above article; however, also identifies a few weaknesses and threats of offering halal foods. Supply inconsistencies are one of the weaknesses of halal food industry, which may affect its day-to-day operation. Global economic crisis can also be an issue in terms of accessing to halal foods. Stiff competition from local food-trucks is also expected. Global economic crisis and industry competition can force to lower down selling prices. Consequently, maintaining a healthy profit margin will be difficult for a start-up food truck business.

“Bry?a (2016) opines that the use of organic food by food retailers and consumption by consumes is trending.”

The article highlights the growing popularity of organic foods. High quality and healthiness was identified as two prime reasons for a growing worldwide consumption of organic food. Organic food is increasingly becoming a symbol of authenticity for its quality, and natural taste. The authenticity is further defined by labelling especially from having a European quality sign. The authenticity and uniqueness further depends on the types of retailers and the exposition patterns of merchandisers. Organic food market faces a several barriers such as the high price, scarce availability of organic products, insufficient consumer awareness, low-visibility in the store, and short expiry dates. Materials used to prepare organic food are costlier than conventional foods. This may not be financially feasible for a start-up. In addition, low availability of organic materials can affect the daily operation. Consumers are also not very much aware of organic food. Hence, financial and marketing feasibilities are two constraints for organic food and so for a food truck business. On contrary to this, it is important for a start-up food truck to be focused on halal and organic foods to be able to leverage the growing opportunities in the industry. Nonetheless, a start-up business will be able to attract a mass customer only if it is able to fulfil the motives of selecting the organic food. Those motives are healthiness, superior taste, quality assurance, products’ ecological character, and food safety considerations.

“According to Oroian et al.(2017), the consumption of organic food has increased in recent time due to its evident impact on consumer health, social convenience, and life style.”

Consumers nowadays have access to a variety of media platforms where they can search, read, and understand their choice of information. This information can be in the form of news, website articles, blogs, newsletters, magazines, online newspapers, and many others. These pieces of information can be accessed from paper media, electronic media, and online media resources. It all means that access to desire and other forms of information have become faster these days. It is due to this the number of consumers who are constantly being explored to a variety of food related articles is increasing. So, their knowledge base is also expanding enabling them to be conclusive about varieties of foods, which they have access to (Oroian et al.2017). Consumers specifically those who are health-conscious think and research significantly about foods that they consume. It is, therefore, important for food retailers of any format to come up with innovative ideas to attract new consumers and retain their customers. Meeting the trending demands for healthy foods is now a necessity that requires innovation from food retailers. These circumstances could be full of opportunities for a start-up food truck business provided that it is able to understand the market, and use relevant operations, financial and marketing strategies. For example, a start-up business should appraise the sale of organic rather than tasty foods. Since, the chosen start-up business for this research is intended to operate in Klang Valley in Malaysia; it should also do their branding as the food truck offering organic and halal foods.

“Dai Pai Dongs or licensed street food stalls had continued to grow ever since 1945 (Noor et al. 2018).”

The article indicates a historical change in the fooding culture of Hong Kong. Actually, in between1945 to 1950, the population of Hong Kong grew from 600,000 to 2.2 million. The population growth could be largely credited to an influx of immigrants. With the growth in population, the need for public housing also grew. However, the city government failed to meet the demands and ended up providing housing units that were had no kitchens. The scenario thus created forced people to depend on street foods. Due to cramped living areas they also had no significant opportunities for social gatherings. Hence, Dai Pai Dongs emerged as favorite destination for having foods and social gatherings.

The implication will be checked in respect to its feasibility with various operational domains such as the follows:

Market feasibility 

The market feasibility study generally shows the way things will work in favor of the business or they will not be fruitful for the business organization. The study contains risks and different types of potential problems and is mostly created for the different ideas, processes and the businesses. The feasibility study of the Malaysian food industry will thus involve a number of different considerations. Especially in a country like Malaysia, the study has to be extensive in nature to predict the exact condition of the market and give necessary recommendations. The market feasibility study of the food industry especially the Malaysian street food or food truck industry has looked at the viability of the ideas with an emphasis on identifying the potential problems of looking at how the things will work for the food truck business or they will face hurdles in the business.

According to the study of (Noor et al. 2018) the country has currently around 3500 different food companies with a total output of around $9billion profit. The country is quite well positioned to play a leading role in the global Halal market. The Food Truck development of the country started in the year 2008 during the global economic downturn. Before that particular time there were hardly any food trucks in Malaysia. The loss of the restaurant business during the recession period led to the rise of the Food Truck business. This particular time experienced a sudden shift in the culture as many of the professional chefs moved out of the restaurants and started their own business in new food trucks.

According to, Shahwahid Bakar and Eksan (2018) there are a number of other considerations for the new business which will include the likes of Halal compliance. As mentioned in the qualitative part of the data analysis, Halal Compliance is one of the most important considerations for the Malaysian food industry. The organization has to follow the rules of the Malaysia Halal certification Manual (3^rd amendment 2014). Another main consideration of the new business organization will be the support of the Government Agency. The Klang valley has more than 100 licensed food truck operators and thus the company needs to clear all the necessary documentation and checking to receive the Government grant. The annual budget has been fixed at RM140 million for microcredit organizations. Each of the organizations has been estimated to be provided with around RM3000 to RM50, 000 for establishing business.

The study of, Esparza Walker and Rossman (2014) considered the packing costs for foods in the food trucks.  The results have shown that in order to estimate the current effective local demand for different packing materials for the food trucks are as follows;

1. Plastic packets- 200 packets per week
2. Can lids-100 packets per week
3. Aluminium foils- 100 packs of foil for 2 months

Therefore the quantitative market feasibility helps the entrepreneur to get the correct idea of the figures in the business and the way the business would be conducted to ensure sustainability in the highly competitive market.

Though it sounds similar, yet market feasibility and marketing feasibility are completely different from each other. Market feasibility has provided the facts on whether or not the business can establish itself and sustain in the long run, but on the other hand, marketing feasibility refers to whether or not the management of the organization can market the business along with its products and services to the targeted customers. One of the most important platforms for marketing has been the use of social media by the management of the business organizations. According to, Bry?a (2016) the restaurants and especially the food trucks described in this research can extensively use social media as the best means of making their customers aware about their presence in the Malaysian market.

 According to Ainin et al. (2015) one of the best social media platforms that has surpassed all the other platforms to advertise has been Facebook. According to the data collected by the authors in their study around 13,589,520 active Facebook users in Malaysia, it is the best way to promote the business online and reach the idea about the business organization, its products and the extensive services offered by them in a proper and effective manner. The study by the Internet World Statistics has supported the results and has claimed that social media exclusively the extensive use of Facebook by a large percentage of population in Malaysia has attracted the attention of the local as well as international food companies, restaurants and food SME’s.

Such kind of attraction has given birth to the rising trends of the business to promote them and their products through Facebook. According to, Ishak et al. (2018), the simplicity of the social media application as a modern tool for communication technology has enabled the food truck industry for rapidly growing in the country. A number of random surveys conducted by the researchers showed that there were just 3 food trucks in and around Klang valley of Malaysia. However, the growth of the industry led to the opening of around 70 such similar stores in the last few years. Therefore the data clearly predicts the existence of a tough competition for the new business. The survey also showed that around 60% of the consumers preferred to have their meals from the food trucks. Therefore it is important for the new organization to have a proper presence in the social media in order to make a heed in the food truck business.

Returning to the study of Ainin et al. (2015), it combines all the three elements and thus tends to investigate the factors that have a direct influence on the use of Facebook by the new food truck management. It will also investigate the different factors that have an influence on financial and the non financial performance of the SME’s in Malaysia (Oroian et al.2017). The study has derived that in Malaysia SME”s is identified by verifying the percentage of some of the economical elements. This includes 32% Gross Domestic products, 59% employment and 19% of different exports performed by the organization.

Conclusion

The main idea beyond the formation of the particular research was to investigate and define on how to create a proper business plan for a startup company involving Food Truck in the Klang valley of Malaysia. The following thesis also had the idea to implement the obtained knowledge about the food industry of Malaysia and apply them in a scientific manner. The aims of the project that has been defined at the beginning of the project have been properly met. A business plan like the one prepared in the following context must be written in a proper way and a challenge should be taken to meet the necessary requirements in order to complete the research in the most appropriate manner.

The implementation of the business idea is dependent on the proper writing of the business plan. The seriousness of the approach, collecting genuine information, providence of correct references and ensuring the top quality for the business research must be given highest priority in the research. Ensuring all the above mentioned points helps in the success of the research thesis. The following research has been created to help study on how a new food truck business can be established in the Klang valley of Malaysia. The following research was capable of revealing about the main difficulties that lay with the implementation of the project and what can be the actual strengths and the weaknesses of the company to open the business in Malaysia.

It has also provided a clear and transparent description of the food industry of Malaysia and the current trends that are being followed in the industry. The research has highlighted the growth of the food truck business in the last few years in Malaysia and its popularity among the masses. The author of the research considers the business development proposal to be an effective tool before starting the commercial operations of the organization as because it provides a detailed structure of the different kind of actions that must be taken during the implementation process. The main idea of choosing the particular topic lay with the fact about the intention of the Author to become a successful entrepreneur.

The recommended business plan for the new organization is as follows;

The company can be named “Klang Valley Delights” in accordance with the local area and also to make the targeted customers feel more homely. The fact that the truck will offer all the different Malaysian delights will also justify the name of the company. The name of the company is crucial to the success of the organization as because a proper name attracts more people to the business.

The mission of the company will be to provide the targeted customers especially the students and the young people visiting the store to serve the highest quality of local Malaysian food. Apart from this the food truck to be established in the following region will also ensure that the food is prepared in a clean and healthy environment and serve them in the most humble and warm manner. Apart from this, the management of the food truck must ensure that they maintain a good reputation for fresh, made to order foods that are prepared and served by the friendly and well trained business associates of the organization. To succeed in the business it is important for the business organization to;

1. Create a unique, innovative, entertaining and most importantly delicious menu that will be different from the other food trucks operating in Klang valley of Malaysia
2. Selecting the most appropriate location like in front of a mall. The places of interest and tourist places can also be an option. In the following case the organization has decided to put up the business in Selangor
3. Encourage both the brand as well as the image of the food truck as both of these when mixed together provides the best recipe for success in the food business industry
4. Promotion of good value of the culture of the company and the business philosophy of the company
5. Controlling the cots and implementation of a conservative approach towards the growth policy of the business
6. Cooking and selling the most highest quality products by the organization

The vision of the company is to make use of most of the market and produce high quality Malaysian delights. Such a vision will help the food truck to achieve a unique competitive advantage in the market.

The objectives of the organization will be directly linked to the vision and mission of the business organization. It is important for the management of the organization to formulate a new business policy with new set of objectives. Some of the main recommended objectives of the business organization are as follows;

• To establish a presence as a successful local food truck operator
• To gain a healthy market share in the food truck industry of Kiang Valley, Malaysia
• To concentrate on providing high quality local Malaysian dishes along with other western and Asian dishes
• To not only limit itself to niche marketing but also make the necessary arrangements to expand into more food truck outlets within a few years from the start of the commercial operations of the business enterprise

Segmentation, Targeting and Planning

The primary target of the Food Truck are the young Malaysians especially the students and the college goers who have a special liking for quality food from different food trucks especially during the weekends and some other holidays. The strategic location of the food truck in Malaysia will be anywhere in Petaling Jaya. The heavy amount of extra circular activities among the Malaysian people is a major reason for the youths of Malaysia to have lunch or dinner from outside their houses. This is a golden opportunity for the food truck business to target a large number of consumers to their outlet.

The secondary market segment of the business will be the working Malaysians residing in Klang Valley of Malaysia. The presence of a large number of shopping malls along with different types of shopping centers can act as the major source of income for the organization. Apart from this the whole of Selangor is one of the major tourist attractions of Malaysia and thus the food truck can offer local delicacies to the tourists which can be a major source of business to the organization. Tourists will stroll Selangor and will be hunting for the latest trend in fashion and have no time to stop for a full meal during shopping. Therefore Fries and other food that require less time for preparation are the alternatives for a quick bite while shopping in Klang Valley of Malaysia..

Targeting is another major strategy that must be employed by the management of the food truck in order to target the niche people of the market segment and cater to their needs. The main target of the organization is to provide the people with the best cuisines of Malaysia. It is important for the management to take-up brand building efforts in order to ensure the success of the organization in the market. The primary target market of the food truck can be the young age group between 15 to 21 years and 22 to 28 years. The secondary target group of the food truck will be the people between the age group of 29 to 35 years and 36 to 45 years. Petaling Jaya is one of the most happening places in Malaysia. The selection of the place to launch the food court is thus one of the best strategies of the organization as because launching the mobile restaurant in Petaling Jaya can attract a large number of customers both in the daytime as well as during the evenings and late nights. The food truck can target late night customers easily because of the presence of a large number of night clubs in the particular area of Klang Valley, Malaysia.

The Marketing Mix of the company will be based on the 4P’s of Marketing. This includes;

1. Product- The products served by the food truck will be the food that will be cooked and served by the food truck to the customers of the business. The development of the product must consider the quality, design, features, packaging as well as customer service. The quality along with the quantity of the product is one of the most important factors as because it helps the organization to gain reputation in the market.
2. Place-Petaling Jaya can be the most appropriate location for the new business as because the place meets all the different specifications in regards to distribution, location and methods of getting the food truck products available to the customers of the business easily. It also helps the organization to sell the products directly to the customers of the organization.
3. Price-The price will be fair and under control as because the target of the food truck must be to make itself familiar with the targeted lot in the market.
4. Promotion-promotion refers to the act of communicating the different benefits along with the value of the product to the customers.  The best promotional activity in this case will be to provide leaflets, arranging discounts on special days, announcing blockbuster deals and advertising the food truck through social media channels like Facebook or Twitter.

The application of the marketing mix in the proper manner can be a boost to the sales process of the organization.

The first strategy of the organization will be to study the market in a detailed manner. For this very reason the organizational head has to carry out a small market survey where the different features like the competitors  of the business, prices of the  foods, choice   of the customers, places of highest footfall can be determined easily. After the analysis of the results the food truck will be opened in Petaling Jaya of Klang Valley, Malaysia. The main  aim of  the food truck will be to supply local Malaysian food to the organization as the people of Malaysia has a great liking for traditional Malaysian foods.

The open kitchen of the food truck will also let the aroma of the cooked foods spread into the surrounding areas. This will surely lure some customers to the stall in order to try out the food.

The food truck will have to face quality opposition from the likes of other famous food trucks of Klang Valley like La Famiglia, Little Fat Duck, The Laughing Monkey and many more similar food trucks.

The strategy of the company will be totally based on serving the markets as well. The first food truck can be tested as a Market Tester and going by the popularity of the new food stall in the Klang Valley of Malaysia. The store can use the combination of social media along with the local store marketing programs at e4ach of the different locations in the future. However at the beginning, the management will mostly concentrate in the Petaling Jaya store and expansion and growth plans will be totally dependent on the success of the new business. Providing a fun and energetic  environment with unbeatable quality at the most acceptable price and in a clean and hygienic environment can separate the rest from the new business and will thus attract more and more customers in the  business.

Human Capital Plan

The Human Capital Plan is one of the most important tool that the organizations use to drive focused actions that can ensure goal achievement and business success. The food truck can apply a number of strategies to be profitable and attract more and more customers. This can be as follows;

1. Creating a Solid, Memorable Concept-The most important concept of making money and profit as a food truck is to establish a concept that is quite memorable. “Klang Valley Delights” can create designs and special concepts to ensure huge turnover. A strong, concept encourage news coverage will further boost the sales as such kind of customization has a great impact on the organization. Establishment of the store in Petaling Jaya can be nailed by the concept of choosing memorable and attractive names for the food that are being offered to the customers.  
2. Offering something unique-The choice of the food truck to provide different kinds of local Malaysian foods is one of the best options to be unique from the other stores of the organizations. The following strategy will help the organization to make more money and attract more and more customers to the organization. To make more money as a food truck the organization will need to find a specific niche food market that no other cart is occupying.
3. Online and Mobile ordering-The new trend followed by most of the food trucks is the use of online food ordering. The online food truck must make sure to take orders from the customers as because going mobile with the food truck will help the organization to reach to a larger base of modern customers.
4. Seasonal Change to the menu-A seasonal change to the menu offered by the organization will be a welcome offering for the customers. It helps to bring in more customers and make more money. There are many similar food trucks that change its menu seasonally to stay competitive in the market.  
5. Catering business- The catering business can be another option for the organization to make more profit. The food truck can use the weddings, parties as well as other   parties and events to ensure a side business and guarantee more profit for the organization.

1. The firm infrastructure- The financial implication of the food truck that will be established in Klang valley of Malaysia will provide them with great value for success. It will also help to enlarge the fleet of the new business much faster in nature.
2. The human Resource-The chefs of the food truck will be selected through a close observation and scientific study. The earlier records of the chefs must be verified thoroughly before providing the employment to the chefs.
3. The inbound logistics-This is probably the number competitive advantage from “Klang Valley Delights”supplies and will be benefiting the significant economies of scale compared to all the privately held food trucks; therefore, allowing “Klang Valley Delights” to reach a higher margin (or lower pricing) level through a significant reduction in the cost of the items.
4. The management  of operations and outbound logistics- Operations Management must be managed in accordance to the lean start up approaches and each and every of the projects must be developed carefully using the building up  of the lean management process. This will help the new business to be an expert in the following field.
5. The marketing and sales- The marketing and sales will be a time consuming affair for the owner of“Klang Valley Delights”. However, both the marketing and sales proves to be a vital element to the success of the business and many of the owners overlook them due to their busy schedule. However the new business must give both these elements proper attention to survive in the competitive world.

Financial Statements/Budget  

Particulars	Amount	Residual Value
Non-Current Assets:
Trademark	50000	0
Patent	20000	0
Property & Equipment	150000	45000
Furniture & Fittings	100000	15000
Truck Cost	1000000	400000
Equipment	40000	0
Preliminary Expenses:
Business Registration	10000
License Fees	15000
Deposit for Electricity	10000	10000
Deposit for Telephone & Internet	4000	4000
Recruitment Cost	2000
Other Miscellaneous Expenses	15000
Working Capital:
Purchase of Raw Material	0
Wages & Salaries	0
Manufacturing Overhead	0
Selling & Marketing Expenses	0
General Administrative Expenses	0	0
TOTAL START UP COST	1416000
Capital Funding:
Equity Capital	849600
5 yrs. Bond
Loan From Bank	566400
TOTAL CAPITAL EMPLOYED	1416000

Key Performance Indicators can be referred to as the quantifiable measurements reflecting the factors that were deemed to be critical to the   success of the food truck business. In the case of “Klang Valley Delights” there are similar such performance indicators.

1. Food Cost percentage- The food cost must be calculated as the total expenses in the business. Comparison of the sales figures and the cost of food will be a must for the management of “Klang Valley Delights”.
2. Sales Per head- The per head sales will be one of the key performance indicators in the business. It will be calculated by dividing the total sales by the number of customers served by the business. Another unique step can be taken by the business which will be  to introduce the “Point of Sales System” to keep a record of the people the business is serving daily or weekly.
3. Best and worst selling items- A note of the best and worst selling items must be recorded as because it is important to identify about the particular menu that is garnering profit and the one that is garnering a loss.
4. Total labor Cost- Total labor cost is one of the largest expenses the business has to incur while launching the business of a food truck. This is the main reason one must consistently keep track of it. The labor cost should range from 25 to 35 percent of your total expenses. 

The provided budget and the KPI of the intended business clearly highlight a stable and sound strategic policy that will be adapted by the stakeholders of the business. The implementation of all these strategies and the budget in a proper and  efficient  manner can ensure success to the business.

Time Schedule

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
Project Food truck	60 days	Fri 12/7/18	Thu 2/28/19
Meeting with the stakeholders to open the food truck business	4 days	Fri 12/7/18	Wed 12/12/18
Final Decision to open the food truck business	1 day	Thu 12/13/18	Thu 12/13/18
Market survey	15 days	Fri 12/14/18	Thu 1/3/19
Analyzing the results of the survey	10 days	Fri 1/4/19	Thu 1/17/19
Competitor Analysis	5 days	Fri 1/18/19	Thu 1/24/19
Selecting the location for the launch of the food truck	2 days	Fri 1/25/19	Mon 1/28/19
Selection of the budget	2 days	Tue 1/29/19	Wed 1/30/19
Meeting with Stakeholders	4 days	Thu 1/31/19	Tue 2/5/19
Finalizing the budget and Menu	1 day	Wed 2/6/19	Wed 2/6/19
Pre-Promotional measures	15 days	Thu 2/7/19	Wed 2/27/19
Launch of the Food truck	1 day	Thu 2/28/19	Thu 2/28/19

The “Kalnh valley Delights” Food truck must carry out a number of tasks to ensure success of the business. This includes;

1. Proper treatment of the employees and the customers
2. Satisfying the new and changing demands of the customers
3. Keeping trust on the employees
4. Choosing the most profitable menu
5. Providing fresh food
6. Maintaining Hygiene
7. Staying Financially healthy

Almost Impossible (1)	Unlikely (2)	Small Risk (3)	Likely (4)	Certain (5)	Severity
1	2	3	4	5	Little  Damage (1)
2	4	6	8	10	Damage (2)
3	6	9	12	15	Serious Damage  (3)
4	8	12	16	20	Very Serious Damage (4)
5	10	15	20	25	Disaster (5)
6	12	18	24	30	Catastrophic (6)

Risks can be controlled by;

1. Proper Financial back up-A proper financial backing must be present in case of crisis.
2. Insurance-A car insurance along with business insurance is one of the must needs for the food truck business.
3. Food Safety-Proper Hygiene must be maintained and foods must be preserved in a proper manner to avoid it from being stale.
4. Fire fighting Measures-The fire fighting equipments must be kept and maintained to mitigate the chances of fire. Apart from this quick response from the team is needed in case of fire. The chefs must also be careful while cooking in the small place  to avoid fire breakout.

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