The spotlights of the Thailand Industrial Expo 2018 arranged by the Ministry of Industry shines on “Food Trucks” that not only will transform Thai street food in the era of Thailand 4.0 but also create a business opportunity for many groups of entrepreneurs including the manufacturers of trailers and trucks, the vehicle parts manufacturers, and those in other related fields such as the software entrepreneurs presenting a store management solution, the food entrepreneurs having more alternatives in terms of the form of dining place, and the food franchising entrepreneurs being able to acquire their franchisees instantly due to the lack of space limitation of food trucks. 

Street Food’s Charm

Thai food, especially from the curbside dining, has been very popular. Forbes magazine has ranked the street food in Bangkok to be #1 of the World Top 10 Cities for Street Food, giving the reason that the tourists can choose a variety of food from the roadside dining places, which is the street food’s prominent point and charm that attract the tourists. 

Currently, street food has become one of the selling point for travelling to Thailand. The regulations for street food entrepreneurs have been established to make sure that the food meets the standards and is clean and safe to be consumed, and to erase the previous image of street food. The Thai government aims to promote the street food business to be dietarily dominant in the future.

There are more than 103,000 street food businesses in Thailand, or accounted for the market value of over 270,000 million baht per year.

From Street to the Truck
 
The trend of food truck set out in Texas, USA, and became widespread in other states and countries including Thailand. The trend is currently prevalent, getting a lot of attention from new generation entrepreneurs. Making the truck as unique as possible to attract nearby people is the charm of this business, which results in rapid growth. However, the food truck business in Thailand is still on the learning curve where everyone is learning to grow. The reason why the food truck business grows fast is the Thai lifestyle of loving to dine out where there is a variety of food to choose from. Moreover, the entrepreneur in the business can work alone, reducing the risks while increasing the profitability, and does not need to worry about location and rents. Should the business does not flourish, she/he does not need to worry about facing the bankruptcy at least because still owns the truck. But the case of running a restaurant or renting a roadside food stall is a different story; if the business does not work out, the owner can lose everything.  
 
Thai Food Trucks Go Global

Mr. Chanin Wattanapruksa, the president and founder of Food Truck Club (Thailand), revealed that many food trucks were brought to showcase in the expo in order to encourage the street food vendors to utilize a food truck or to inspire more of the new generations to start a food truck business.

Some of the food trucks showcased in the expo are a prototype that is not yet available for distribution. They are equipped with many innovations such as solar panels installed on the roof, security cameras, an electricity system control via application, and a motion sensor detecting a truck intruder and sending a warning signal.   
 
The trucks are also equipped with a grease trap. Unlike common street food stalls, a food truck focuses on the cleanliness and orderliness. The waste water from cooking process will go through the garbage filter and the grease trap so that it is somewhat treated before getting into the sewer. 
 
In the expo, there are also some food trucks that are currently used in business. One of them belongs to Chef Sompol Yamlangsup, the owner of food truck named “Daddy” who not only runs a food truck business but also a food truck franchise business.
 
How does the food truck business reinforce Thailand 4.0 concept? The answer is the utilization of the software related to comprehensive food truck business management. Many software developers have created ready-to-use complete applications according to the business demands, ranging from taking orders, collecting data of food to summarize the income and expenditure of each menu according to the ingredients, quantities, and the costs, or even changing the menu or prices on the digital sign that can be done effortlessly.    
 
Mr. Chanin added that he wanted to see the food truck business in everywhere of the country. Currently, it is mostly concentrated in Bangkok and merely 30% spread in some provinces. If we can introduce this business to other parts of the country, we will be able to create opportunities for the local people to own a business with low investment. Furthermore, other businesses in Thailand like print-screening trucks, assembling trucks, and manufacturing vehicle parts can also gain the beneficial impacts. 

Currently, the Food Truck Club has a total of 560 members all over the country. They are divided into the food truck business owners and the food truck related business owners such as vehicle makers, culinary institutions, property owners authorizing for food truck parking, and software developers.
 
The Food Truck Club has a clear simple goal: to expand this business to 5,000 vehicles within 5 years in order to outrace the top leader in this business like the USA. Being the #1 leader in the business will bring about an economy growth to Thailand. The Thai food truck brands are are going to be promoted in other countries as well, starting in the neighboring country like Laos.