Food truck reception

nicolem92 · April 2016

Hi there! My fiancé and I are getting married on July 8th, 2017. We are a young, fun-loving couple and our wedding will reflect that. Knowing our personalities and the personalities of our guests, we are choosing to go with food trucks for our reception catering so that there can be quite a variety and fit the overall vibe of our wedding.

We are planning on getting three separate trucks and we will have about 120 guests attending our wedding. Catering trucks need to know how many people they will be serving. Obviously we aren't going to tell each truck that they need to feed 120 people, but I'm really unsure on how many to tell each truck. Help!

MesmrEwe · April 2016

You tell each truck 120... Really...

Here's the overall problem with food trucks (and you can search other threads for horror stories) - they only have a limited number of servings they can put out at any given time so people essentially are ordering, then waiting to be served, this isn't a buffet line. No one wants to sit around waiting for an hour or more (outside - temperatures, lousy weather, and bug season happens) to get their food which does happen even with small weddings. For 120, your fun loving reception is going to turn into people taking off because they got tired of waiting for food or are still hungry if the portion was lacking and the truck ran out of food because you told them less than the 120. Or, people are going to want to try food from all three trucks (which in turn, makes it take longer)...

geebee908 · April 2016

nicolem92 said:

Hi there! My fiancé and I are getting married on July 8th, 2017. We are a young, fun-loving couple and our wedding will reflect that. Knowing our personalities and the personalities of our guests, we are choosing to go with food trucks for our reception catering so that there can be quite a variety and fit the overall vibe of our wedding.

We are planning on getting three separate trucks and we will have about 120 guests attending our wedding. Catering trucks need to know how many people they will be serving. Obviously we aren't going to tell each truck that they need to feed 120 people, but I'm really unsure on how many to tell each truck. Help!

JIC

madamerwin · April 2016

I agree with @MesmrEwe ... If you are dead-set on this (which I would reconsider), you need each truck to be prepared to serve everyone. Even if you put the options on the RSVP card, since food carts are basically self-serve there is no way to ensure that guests won't change their mind and choose a different cart the day of.

You should also find out from each cart how quickly the can get food out, since you really don't want guests having to wait around for too long, watching others eat. I can see this turning into a situation where many guests will be finished eating before some even get to order their food.

I get that you think it will be cool and "fun-loving," but you are putting your vision ahead of your guests' comfort here.

If you are really into the food cart idea, why not have a late-night snack from one food cart, but a normal buffet meal? Like, at 9pm a truck with pizza shows up, or some snack that is very quick and easy to serve?

But to answer your question - you need to tell each cart 120, and be prepared to pay them accordingly.

Jen4948 · April 2016

nicolem92 said:

Hi there! My fiancé and I are getting married on July 8th, 2017. We are a young, fun-loving couple and our wedding will reflect that. Knowing our personalities and the personalities of our guests, we are choosing to go with food trucks for our reception catering so that there can be quite a variety and fit the overall vibe of our wedding.

We are planning on getting three separate trucks and we will have about 120 guests attending our wedding. Catering trucks need to know how many people they will be serving. Obviously we aren't going to tell each truck that they need to feed 120 people, but I'm really unsure on how many to tell each truck. Help!

Tell each truck that there will be 120 people in total and that there will be two other trucks.

When it comes to the vibe of your reception, though, presumably it is an outdoor, very casual reception, because otherwise I would strongly advise you to use a more formal catering service. I've bought some very good food from food trucks, but I was always required to stand in a line outside the truck and reach through the window to receive the food, drink, and utensils.

Something that just about every wedding guest hates is standing in a long, slow-moving line for their food and drinks - especially while dressed up and exposed to the weather.

ei34 · April 2016

nicolem92 said:

we are choosing to go with food trucks for our reception catering so that there can be quite a variety and fit the overall vibe of our wedding.

Obviously we aren't going to tell each truck that they need to feed 120 people...

If your goal is for your guests to be offered variety, wouldn't they sample food from each of the three trucks? If you go the food truck route (although PP have listed some terrific reasons why it's not the best idea), definitely tell them that they're serving 120 people.

downtondiva · April 2016

If you really want to include food trucks in your wedding, I would go with @madamerwin's suggestion of using one for some sort of late night snack. Maybe you could even use one for dessert. But I wouldn't rely on them for dinner; you'll have a logistical nightmare and a lot of impatient guests on your hands.

Also, do you plan on having a seat for every guest, or are you assuming people will stand around and eat after they get what they want from the food trucks?

SP29 · April 2016

I'm not going to tell you yay or nay on this idea, but there are definitely some things you need to seriously think about there, OP.

How many items are each of the food trucks offering? What is the portion size?

I have been to food truck events, and I enjoy them. However, from my experience usually a few options are offered, and the portion sizes are smaller. They are meant to be a taste so you can order multiple items.

The idea of food trucks is that your guests are going to try something from each- this means you need to tell the trucks that yes, they need to be prepared to serve 120 people. Be prepared that every guest is going to get something, if not more than one thing, from each truck. (Again- how many items and what portion size will be offered?).

Any food truck I've been to, you place an order and then wait- sometimes up to 15 mins. I would ask the food trucks if they have ever done a wedding, what is their usual process, and can they pre-make some items? Otherwise you are going to have LONG waits- particularly if guests are getting multiple items from different trucks. Your guests should be mingling with each other and yourself and your groom, not standing in line the entire time.

I really don't think there is a good way to have a meal choice as part of the RSVP card, as the point of food trucks is to try various items. If you're going to restrict guests in that way, you need to make sure the portion is large enough, and you might as well just get a caterer in to do a buffet meal, because that is essentially what it will be.

The other thing you need to have is drinks on hand, chairs and tables, and ideally some sort of covered area.

While I love food trucks and the idea is fun in nature, I don't think it's your best option for a meal. I think having a food truck as PART of your cocktail hour, or as your late night buffet would be a better option. You could find a caterer that can provide some "fun food truck like" items as part of your meal and offer it as a buffet so your guests can pick and choose and have lots of variety (which is what you said you are going for). For example, at one of my friends' wedding they had sliders, mini corn dogs, and these cool cross-hatched french fries. It was part of their late night buffet, but no reason you couldn't turn something like that into a meal and add other items.

ernursej · April 2016

I have been to a wedding that did have late night food done by a food truck and we had to wait a long time for food. I was glad this was a snack and not the main meal. I think I waited almost 45 minutes for my slider. At the time the food truck was serving, there were still about 30 people and almost all came to order. I remember the food being tasty, but I didn't like the concept of waiting in line to order and then wait again for my food. For your wedding, the volume at each food truck would be ~40 people (if each person only went to one truck) and most trucks cannot handle that volume in a reasonable amount of time. If all yours guests were interested in sampling each truck ... your whole reception could be people waiting in line for food.

jacques27 · April 2016

1. You be honest with them. You're not the food service professional (unless you also own a food truck). Don't go manipulating the numbers based on what YOU think they will need to feed. You tell them "I'm hosting a reception for 120. There will be your truck, a taco truck, and a burger truck as well." Then let them figure out what would be the appropriate amount of servings for the situation.

2. Don't choose your food based on what "fits your personalities". Choose it based on what will make you a good host that gets good, hot food in your guests bellies with as minimum hassle as possible.

I'm not anti-food truck, but I think there are good times to use it and not-so-good. I think they can work with small weddings (under 50) or when the truck is supplementing something else (a dessert truck when you are having the rest of the meal buffet or table service, a truck for cocktail hour when you also have a table with fruit, cheese, and veggie trays, or a truck for a late night snack when people are just wanting a snack and your crowd has thinned out. But I frequent the food trucks that come into my work area at lunch and it's not unusual to wait 20-30 minutes for food, and that's only with a line of about 7-10 people at any given time at each truck and there's usually at least 4-6 trucks parked out there depending on the day. I've gotten there early and been one of the first people in line and still have waited 10-15 minutes depending on the truck. As a guest where this is going to be my meal, I would irritated to have to not only stand in line for that, but then if I'm there with my SO he may be in a different longer line and I don't get to eat with him? And what if I want a taco from the taco truck but fries from the burger truck? Now I have to stand in two lines and let my food get cold while I'm waiting in the second line?

I've also seen the "food truck supplementing other food" thing fail. My friend had a buffet of heavy apps plus a food truck. The food truck got so overwhelmed that even though it was supposed to have a menu of four items, the wait was getting to be so long that they decided to only focus on one item at a time and then rotated through them through out the night - and even then they could only get about 7 orders out at a time, then there would be a 20+ minute wait. (This was compounded by the other caterer also f'ing up the heavy apps buffet - it was a long, hungry night and I hit Taco Bell on the way home.)

kimmiinthemitten · April 2016

I agree with PPs that a food truck for your Kate night snack is a better option than food trucks for the meal.

Have you considered doing food stations for dinner instead? My caterer does a "Tastes of Detroit" theme and each station offers a different type of food representing the city (Faygo Rock n Rye short rib, Greektown and Mexicantown station, Pierogis, Coney dog etc). You could work with a caterer for something like this that still guarantees a variety of food and matches your idea of shopping around for food, while guaranteeing it's being prepared en masses in a full size kitchen.

OurWildKingdom · April 2016

kimmiinthemitten said:

I agree with PPs that a food truck for your Kate night snack is a better option than food trucks for the meal.

Have you considered doing food stations for dinner instead? My caterer does a "Tastes of Detroit" theme and each station offers a different type of food representing the city (Faygo Rock n Rye short rib, Greektown and Mexicantown station, Pierogis, Coney dog etc). You could work with a caterer for something like this that still guarantees a variety of food and matches your idea of shopping around for food, while guaranteeing it's being prepared en masses in a full size kitchen.

What a fun idea!

kmmssg · April 2016

kimmiinthemitten said:

I agree with PPs that a food truck for your Kate night snack is a better option than food trucks for the meal.

Have you considered doing food stations for dinner instead? My caterer does a "Tastes of Detroit" theme and each station offers a different type of food representing the city (Faygo Rock n Rye short rib, Greektown and Mexicantown station, Pierogis, Coney dog etc). You could work with a caterer for something like this that still guarantees a variety of food and matches your idea of shopping around for food, while guaranteeing it's being prepared en masses in a full size kitchen.

Mmmm, Faygo Rock n Rye anything! I would be all over those ribs. My boss is 100% Greek and grew up in Greektown. If you are light on meeting your food and beverage minimum I'm sure we could help you out.

kimmiinthemitten · April 2016

Believe it or not @kmmssg, we actually decided against this menu!!

I have a handful of handicapped guests (spread across 3 or 4 tables) and didn't want getting their dinner to be difficult for them. But, man, it would have been a damn good meal!

kmmssg · April 2016

DH is out of town next Wed, Thur, Fri - I could be down for those ribs.......

[Deleted User] · April 2016

Get two food options from each truck & put that in with the invite & make the guest choose with RSVP, just like you would if you had one caterer that and people had to pick between a chicken dish or beef dish. Then have one serving company get the food from the trucks & serve your guests. If it's a more casual setting, then give each person a "ticket" based on their RSVP and they can go to the respective truck & get the meal they RSVP for. By limiting choices and having people pick in advance all the trucks can have proper supplies with them & get it ready fast so people don't have to wait. Whenever I've gone to an event with multiple food trucks that has a few options & they make everything fresh to order, the wait time on average is 20 minutes to get the meal. If I'm a guest at a wedding I really don't want to first have to stand in line to order my meal, then wait 20 minutes after that to just get my food.

Food truck reception

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