Platform helps food trucks go digital

With an emphasis on immigrant workers, FoodtoEat.com wants to get those running food trucks to learn how to use digital technology to boost their businesses.

We’ve already seen Eu que Fiz help those in Brazilian favelas to start their own catering businesses. Now New York City-based FoodtoEat.com wants to get immigrant workers running food trucks to learn how to use digital technology to boost their businesses.

Founded by 26-year-old Deepti Sharma Kapur, the company is hoping to make ordering online from food trucks as easy as it has become for customers of large restaurants and takeaways. FoodtoEat.com has a large, searchable database of independent food retailers – both small restaurants and food trucks – from which its users are able to order meals for delivery or pick-up without hassle. Rather than relying on footfall, the platform opens up those businesses – which are often run by immigrants or workers without the resources to set themselves up online – to a much larger audience. When a customer makes a payment through the site, a ticket is printed on a GPRS device at the food truck with the order details. Diners can then simply pick up their meal after a short wait. The following interview with Fast Company offers more information about the project:

In order to build trust among the community of food truck owners in NYC, as well as run a sustainable business, FoodtoEat.com only charges USD 0.10 per order, rather than to ten to 18 percent taken by services working with larger food companies. Could this model work for businesses in other industries that rely on brick-and-mortar points of sale?