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Writer's pictureAndy Bohnhoff

Utilizing Location Intelligence in the Food Truck Industry

Updated: Jan 14, 2021

When most think of site selection and market research, they think of expanding the footprint of a restaurant or brewery. But did you know food trucks can also utilize location intelligence?


Analyzing Demographics

Demographic report for a food truck site selection
Demographics Site Selection

Demographics is the statistical data of a certain population and the groups of people within it. When analyzing locations for a food truck, some important demographics to probe are number of households, daytime population, household income and surrounding competition.


Platte River Analytics recently helped an LA-based food truck called Lettuce Feast determine an ideal location using demographics and market research. The perfect site for the lunch hour would have large daytime population, above average area income and on a street with high traffic levels.


Population demographic report for East L.A. Food truck site selection
Population Demographics East L.A.

As you can see above, parking on 9th street in East Los Angeles, would give Lettuce Feast access to over 278k people in a 2 mile radius. Even better, the daytime population of this area was over 436k people (workers + residents). The demographics of this area proved it was an ideal spot to offer their lunch menu.


Traffic Counts


Another important factor to consider when looking to park a food truck are traffic counts. Higher traffic counts means more people passing by your truck which in return means more potential customers. Utilizing ESRI Business Analyst, Platte River was able to discern daily traffic counts for more than 50 intersections within a half mile radius of 9th Street and Flower Streets in Los Angeles.


Daily traffic count map for Los Angeles
9th Street Los Angeles Daily Traffic Counts

The Lettuce Feast food truck could pretty quickly tell from the traffic counts map that 9th Street would be an ideal site selection.


By combining demographic reports and site selection analysis using traffic counts, a Los Angeles based food truck was able to utilize location intelligence to find the ideal lunch time parking spot. Platte River Analytics can help your company solve important business questions utilizing location data and intelligence.



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