Bro’s on wheels!

Unlike an Acai Brothers store where you have a fixed location that potentially guarantees customers will be walking past your doors, a Bro Truck is very different. Finding events for you to take your Bro Truck to is the key to any successful food truck owner. As a Bro Truck franchisee, you will be expected to source and find your own events, with at times the assistance of HQ in order to bring the crowds to you. Building a calendar of events that maximise the use of the Bro Truck is key to extracting the most from your territory. Building relationships with businesses, organisations, schools and any other group that maybe responsible for an event that brings people together in the one place is a must to ensure you achieve success in this business model. If you consider yourself a master relationship builder, and an outgoing person who thrives on getting out and meeting new people, then The Bro Truck is your perfect business model. You will find that some of the events are not as viable as others due to the size of the crowd or as a result of the site fee paid, however, if you can start to define your market, you will ensure you can extract the best results out of any event you sign up to.

Food truck site fees are effectively “rent” or payment paid to the event organiser, the land owner or the group that has brought together the event that you are attending. Costs for this can vary, however we have seen with exciting concepts like the Bro Truck, it’s extremely possible to land your truck at certain events for very little to NO cost, none the less, it is important you account for these fee’s when choosing and determining the profitability of any event. These Fee’s can be a fixed fee payable for the duration of the event, a percentage of the sales you make, a cost or donation per drink sold, or even a site fee based on the size of the site you require. In addition to a site fee, trucks can also be charged electricity, waste disposal and storage. We’ve found that the key to keeping these costs down while still achieving a fantastic outcome, is sometimes choosing the less commercial sites to set up your truck, one’s that guarantee decent foot traffic amongst your key demographic, while potentially coming with minimal to no site fee’s.

Yes, you can have more than one Bro Truck in your territory. In fact, as your franchise grows, in order to cope with the demand, we would actually suggest you looking to owning multiple trucks to service your customers. Yes, you can also look to expand and buy extra territories, however, along with the cost of another truck, you must account for the fact that another territory will come with another territory fee.

Firstly, you’re likely to require a garage, shed or even warehouse to store your Bro truck. You then should consider the ingredient storage and packaging storage required to keep all your goods. This can include space and equipment for frozen goods, refrigerated goods or dry goods. This needs to be in a clean space that won’t attract unwanted rodents and somewhere accessible regularly to re-stock and unload your truck after a big event.

At Acai Brothers we take care of the complete sourcing, design and build of your food truck. The truck we have chosen is the only approved model we offer, and does not required to be towed, instead it is its own automobile. However, as such, you will be required to ensure it stays road worthy, is registered and has regular mechanical upkeep and servicing.

You can operate your Bro Truck anywhere within the confines of your territory, as long as you have suitable council, or organiser permission to park and operate your truck there. If you have events in neighbouring territories, as long as the territory is ‘NOT Franchised’ you are able to operate within that territory if an event arises. If in the future this territory becomes owned by another Bro Truck franchisee, then this activity will no longer be allowed or permitted.  On the other side of the coin, if another owner is operating in your territory then this is also in breach of their agreement, and as such may receive communication to cease from HQ. Finally, it is important to keep in mind that if any events become available in a FIXED Acai brothers store location, then it is expected you get in communication with the owner and determine whether this is an event you can attend. This decision is left to the discretion of the owner of that territory, and as such, we suggest you build strong relationships with these owners, so you can work collaboratively and potentially come to an agreement on any scenarios such as this if they arise.

There is a training fee of $3500 + GST (all included in your initial investment). We provide an in-depth training program for all new franchisee’s entering the brand regardless of the model they are purchasing. This process takes approx. 3-4 weeks and is based partly at HQ in Brisbane and within the state you will be franchising in. This training includes both theory and practical training on all operations, systems, finances and marketing required to run a successful Bro Truck, ensuring you contain all the adequate skills to grow your business and operate with little help or direction.

Just like a store, you will work closely with both HQ directly and the state managers to ensure you have a completely integrated marketing approach, including community plans, online content, consistent content creation, social media advice and training, along with email marketing and use of other technologies that will improve the ability of your store to attract customers to your truck.

Your first point of contact as with any of our franchises is our State Managers. State Managers are team members that will provide you with assistance with regard to marketing, and operational issues. They can also assist you when it comes to finding events, negotiating and ensuring you show up effectively as per Acai Brothers standards. We also suggest keeping contact with other Bro Truck franchisee’s in order to compare your successes and failures and to learn from each other’s experiences.

Just like a store, you can only sell approved Bro Truck products in your truck. The menu we have chosen is a more dynamic offering based off the most popular products seen in our stores. We have however changed  them slightly to ensure even faster and easier production so you can reach the demand of the customers at events, as well as keep a consistent quality and visual appearance of your product within such limited confines (truck). The menu itself includes bowls, smoothies, kids menu, treats and baked goods and of course coffee. All of these products will still mean you have a large variety to offer at a variety of different events, and that you can cater to a much larger demographic of customer, from your mum and dad at a cold sporting event during the week, to a summer music festival or school carnival.

We can understand that this type of information could be required for bank approvals and to give you an idea of potential cashflow, As such, we can provide any of this required info upon formal submission of a franchise request and during your initial due-diligence process. The fantastic thing to take in to account with any food truck is the fact that your operating expenses due to variables such as rent, will be much lower than a fixed location, so the potential to achieve a positive cashflow quickly is extremely possible.

All Bro Truck franchises are set to a 5-year term, with option to renew based on performance, and other variables as per your franchise agreement.

As the Bro Truck is an automobile, we suggest constant upkeep should be a priority of any owner in order to maintain working condition of your truck. When it comes to a HQ requested refurbishment, this will only come upon renewal of your franchise agreement and will most likely include a truck re-skin and minimal internal equipment updates based on wear and tear only or new menu items.

Acai Brothers will organise any necessary certification to operate your Bro Truck, however, all permits outside of the initial set up will be a requirement of the franchisee to obtain.

Council permits involve contacting local councils and following their pre-determined guidelines of submission and approval. This again is up to the franchisee to organise, however HQ will assit where possible if any hurdles are encountered.