Article

Is South Florida 'Mac' truck tough enough to survive saturated market?

After managing an I Heart Mac & Cheese restaurant for a year in South Florida, Hector Gonzalez didn't hesitate to tackle the market with a made-to-order food truck.

The food truck wrap features large pictures of top-selling items. Photo courtesy of I Heart Mac & Cheese

November 28, 2018 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

If you're going to start a food truck, South Florida might not be your first choice as there are already more than 100 South Florida food trucks, according to a recent report by CBS4 in Miami,

That didn't stop Hector Gonzalez, a former general manager for I Heart Mac & Cheese, a fast-casual restaurant concept specializing in customizable, made-to-order macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese and specialty salads. After managing an I Heart Mac & Cheese restaurant for two years in South Florida, he didn't hesitate to tackle the market with a made-to-order macaroni and cheese food truck.

"There's nobody doing what I'm doing," he said. "There's no [other] mac and cheese food truck out here. There's nobody that's just doing all different types of mac and cheese. People love it. I just believe that much in the brand."

A unique knowledge base

While he didn't do formal research, it wasn't as though Gonzalez was diving in blindly. Besides having years of restaurant management experience under his belt, Gonzalez also had 10 years of experience operating an event promotion business, Miami Premier Events, which made him familiar with the local food truck scene. 

So enthusiastic is Gonzalez about the made-to-order mac and cheese concept that, in addition to launching a food truck, he also recently purchased franchise rights for three South Florida I Heart Mac & Cheese restaurants, the first of which is scheduled to open in February. (Existing South Florida locations include Parkland, Pembroke Pines, Coral Springs and Boca Raton.)

Gonzalez saw a food truck as the fastest way to bring the made-to-order macaroni and cheese concept to market. Diners choose from a variety of pasta or bread, including gluten-free options, along with seven types of cheeses, vegetables and proteins, including meatballs, bacon, ground beef, short ribs and grilled chicken.

When he told his boss, Stephen Giordanella, CEO and chairman of the Boca Raton-based chain, that he wanted to start an I Heart Mac & Cheese food truck, Giordanella told him to go for it.

After leaving his management position in June, Gonzalez met Maria Alvarez, a businesswoman who liked the concept. The two became business partners. 

The truck takes shape

The partners purchased a 24-foot, 2009 Chevrolet truck formerly used to deliver uniforms. They selected Food Cart USA in Miami to install appliances specified by I Heart Mac & Cheese.Food Cart USA installed one burner, a conveyor oven, two 36-inch prep tables, one 36-inch refrigerator, two hot wells and one cold well. While the appliances are the same as those used in the restaurants, the truck uses a different point-of-sale system, the Clover solution from First Data.

The truck's graphics, created by It's A Wrap of Miami, are based on the restaurant chain's imagery and include large, realistic-looking illustrations of sandwiches and bowls of mac and cheese, salads and other dishes.

Construction of the truck, which cost about $80,000, not including franchise fees and taxes, took about three months.

Customer response encouraging

Two employees from the restaurant help Gonzalez on the truck, which requires two people to work the kitchen and a third to handle payments. All food prep is done on the truck with food sourced from Sysco through the franchisor's buying program.

From his work as an event planner, Gonzalez knew which events to target. The first was a weekend art festival; the most successful to date was a walk to raise money for leukemia victims, to which he donated 10 percent of his proceeds. "In three hours, we must have served 300 people," he said.

In the less than two months the truck has been on the road, Gonzalez has been pleasantly surprised by the positive customer response. "Every place we go we have people honking and waving at us," he said.

He also serves lunch daily at office buildings, including some regular stops in business districts. He posts his daily schedule on social media and also has the support of the franchise organization's marketing.

So far, Gonzalez is satisfied with the business from his regular stops and events, and has not felt the need to work with any of the food truck parks that charge fees.

Visuals drive sales

Gonzalez has witnessed the truck's unique selling power in its top-selling items. While the Philly Cheesesteak is the top seller in the restaurants, the best-selling items on the truck have been Buffalo Chicken and the All American Cheeseburger. Gonzalez attributes this to the visuals in the truck wrap.

"[Customers] gravitate to the pictures," he said. "They look at the menu and they look at the pictures and they say, ‘I want that.'"

In the time the truck has been active, Gonnalez has learned that trucks have unique challenges compared with brick-and-mortar restaurants. "It's a little harder to do than the store because it's tighter inside," he said. "You don't have as much space as the store."

He has been pleasantly surprised by the welcome he has received from other food truck owners. "Everyone has been very helpful," he said. "Everyone's been super nice to me."

Gonzalez expects to recover his investment in the truck within six to seven months.

More franchise trucks to come

Since Gonzalez launched his truck, the franchise organization has sold another truck that will serve the area around Charlotte, North Carolina, according to Giordanella. 

"[The franchisee] heard about the food truck we had in South Florida," Giordanella said. Instead of opening three stores as originally planned, the franchisee has now chosen to operate two stores and the food truck.

"It's a good business and less expensive," Giordanella said of the food truck. He sees its advantages as being the lack of rent and utility costs and the ability to travel to different events and locations. Franchisees are allowed to serve at events but may not operate within five miles of an I Heart Mac & Cheese restaurant.

Giordanella said that the marketing fee is less for food trucks than it is for restaurants because the truck itself markets the brand. 

The chain opened its first restaurant in 2016 in Fort Lauderdale and now has about 50 franchises nationwide, with locations in Oklahoma, Florida and North Carolina, according to Giordanella. The company owns six stores in Florida, with another four under construction in Long Island, New York, and at universities. 

The company will offer trucks only to franchisees who also own brick-and-mortar stores, Giordanella said.

About Elliot Maras

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Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.