ONE SILVER LINING in the cloud dogging the restaurant business is the proliferation of food trucks in major cities across the country. Utilitarian lunch wagons have been a fixture on blue collar work sites for decades, but it took an upstart named Kogi to turn up the heat on this niche. As everyone knows by now, Kogi's Korean tacos and clever use of social media tapped into an unmet need for mobile food — and sparked a rush of wannabes. Wondering whether you should be out there, too? We talked to some road warriors and wound up with a checklist of questions you need to answer before you put the pedal to the metal.

Is your food road ready, and will selling it offsite complement your brand?

The first part of that question seems obvious, the second less so. The beauty of an item like a taco, cupcake or burger is its portability and ease of preparation. If your creations are masterpieces, demand split-second timing or require a knife and fork to consume, you might rethink that impulse to mobilize your menu.

A truck has limited space for equipment, storage, personnel, etc., so you're better off focusing on what your staff can do well and quickly instead of trying to re-create your entire restaurant on the road.

From a lengthy menu of modern Mexican choices, “we picked what we felt would be the strongest sellers,” says Susan Feniger, whose Border Grill took to the road about a year ago. Besides a handful of taco varieties, the truck sells quesadillas, ceviches, organic rice and beans. The food is cooked beforehand and reheated on a griddle in the truck.

Canter's Deli, an L.A. institution, recently launched a truck with a list of favorites culled from its gargantuan printed menu at home base. Waitresses helped identify the most popular items that would also work in a mobile setting: about 10 different sandwiches, three sides, matzo ball soup and the ever-popular desserts. To keep price points for the sandwiches competitive — in the $5-$10 range — they are 25 percent smaller than in the restaurant, but “still ridiculously large,” says Bonnie Bloomgarden, who manages the truck.

Burgerville, an Oregon-based chain, started up its Nomad truck last year as a way to test out demand in potential expansion markets. The menu is a scaled-down version of the company's properties, but with limited frying space the only fried item is potatoes. And milkshakes were available at first, but they were so popular that the truck couldn't keep up with demand, so now they're only offered on special occasions.

And don't forget that a major factor fueling the demand for food trucks is, well, the food, which is perceived as edgier, fresher and more craveable than standard restaurant fare. “You've got culinary (minded) individual throwing out wicked flavor profiles and interesting items,” says Kevin Higar, a director at Technomic. “You have to think: ‘How is my item going to be different?’”

The Austin, TX, Hudson's on the Bend, where dinner checks average $75, has been serving cone-shaped tastes of its “hot and crunchy” fried shrimp, chicken and avocado at the city's annual music festival for the last five years, and this past year the restaurant decide to capitalize on the popularity of the treats — not in a truck but in a trailer that is permanently located in a lot downtown that has attracted other food vendors. Checks at the Mighty Cone trailer average $10.

General manager Sara Courington says she has seen a series of operators come and go since Mighty Cone set up. “It's hard to make money unless you've got a really marketable product,” she observes. We've done well because we have a reputation.”

What kind of equipment will work in a small space?

One of the advantages of the mobile kitchen — a small kitchen that is relatively cheap to equip, compared with a full-blown land-based facility — also happens to be one of its disadvantages. In other words, choose carefully.

A big dilemma is how to keep foods chilled. Refrigeration is typically at a premium in a truck, so you might need to get creative about ways to keep cold foods cold (e.g., have them delivered throughout the shift).

CROWD PLEASERS: Burgerville employees (left) work the crowds lined up for burgers and fries, while Canter’s Deli serves up downsized portions of deli classics in L.A. The trucks can double as catering vehicles as well.

If you are catering to a diverse audience, you might want to design a flexible space that will accommodate more variety. Burgerville's newer trucks will likely have a grill setup that can be converted to vegetarian foods on days when demand is higher (during certain music events, for example).

Newer trucks are coming with more bells and whistles attached. Border Grill management has learned a few lessons from its first truck, lessons it's incorporating into a second unit that will go on the road this year. Peter Barrett, director of facilities and information systems for the company, says the new truck will be custom fitted with a slightly wider kitchen and have an oven, range, griddle, fryer, refrigerator, steam table, even a POS system, which will make it one of the most versatile road restaurants. A plus: “It has a really nice horn,” which announces the truck's presence with Mexican music.

How will you provide the basic utilities?

Once you've settled on a menu and the equipment, you'll need to work out how you're going to produce it. Are you going to run the engine? Generators? Propane tanks? What about water?

After a hefty investment, Barrett says, Border Grill's new truck will run on biodiesel, which will also power an on-board generator. So it will burn waste cooking oil from the restaurants, taking care of the disposal issue.

“You can use propane for frying, baking, barbecuing and even smoking units. You can hook them up to generators and there is no reason you can't run them for six-hour shifts,” says Phil Mott, a professor at Kendall College's school of hospitality management and a veteran restaurant operator. “The limiting factor, and this is one of the unspoken problems in this area, is the water. These trucks have hot water heaters on board, but usually a limited amount of water. An operator might say we only have so many gallons of water, so we'll cut back on how much we use. We don't want to run out….You can only wash your hands and the dishes so many times.” That's asking for trouble.

CRUNCHY: Hudson’s on the Bend owner Jeff Blank caters to the masses with the Mighty Cone.

Speaking of water, have you given any thought to where your employees will take bathroom breaks? Some cities require a mobile unit to arrange for access to bathroom facilities with the local businesses. Are you willing to knock on those doors?

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