Food trailer with bathroom has been popular among food truck buyers. We all know that food trailers are an amazing restaurant option because they give you the flexibility to set up your business in so many different locations. Even though food vending trailers can offer the majority of services a typical restaurant does, the lack of space can be the cause of some inconveniences.
Attendees in events like music festivals, gastronomy and food truck festivals have a hard time finding a bathroom and when they do it would either have a long waiting line or it will be dirty. Offering an easy solution to your clients by installing a restroom to your food trailer can be a very important feature under these circumstances.
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Benefits of installing a bathroom to your food trailer
No need to move around to find a bathroom near your food trailer
If your food trailer is located in a festival or an event you will quickly realize that people come to eat when they are tired of walking around and they want to take a moment, sit down, fuel themselves and keep going. It is usually the time that everybody decides to go to the bathroom. If there is no bathroom around for your customers or they have to walk a long distance in order to find one, they tend to get frustrated.
Another common case is that they actually find a restroom but they have to wait in a very long line or when they reach there, it is dirty and smelly. By the time they come back to your food concession trailer they might be in a bad mood because of something that is not related to your service but definitely affects their whole experience.
By installing a bathroom in your concession trailer you provide an extra service to your clients that will significantly reduce the anxiety that produces the process of looking for a bathroom. If there is a restroom at your concession trailer customers don’t need to move from your location in order to find one, that means that they stay around your food catering trailer business for a longer time. It will also increase the possibilities of them ordering more food and beverages from your food concession trailer.
Offering an overall better food trailer experience
Even though food trailer businesses are mostly focused on food, having a bathroom at your trailer helps at improving customers’ experience in your location. Your clients feel more comfortable since they can relax and enjoy their food without having to worry where the bathroom is. This extra convenience can be extremely important for families with little kids since most of the time, while one of them goes to the restroom the rest of the family has to stay to look after their belongings.
Installing a restroom at your concession stand trailers can also differentiate you from your competitors in the case you are setting up in a location with more food trailers. It is an extra comfort that your clients will truly appreciate and will contribute to customer satisfaction.
Saves time for your employees on concession trailer
If you are considering installing a bathroom to your food trailer you probably own a big trailer such as airstream food trailer which has two or more employees working at the same time. Finding a toilet in a crowded event or in an outside location can be complicated for them as well.
If the closest restroom is in the shopping mall next to the park near your food trailer parking location, or there is a public bathroom that tends to be busy, your employees are wasting a lot of time waiting. This can be ultimately bad for your food cart business since they could use this time to serve more clients if they had a bathroom installed in the food trailer.
On the other hand, there are plenty of mobile kitchen trailers that are located in places like beaches or highway streets where there is no bathroom access. In this case, installing a restroom on food concession trailer is absolutely necessary.
Food trailers with bathroom are affordable
If you are thinking about adding this extra facility to build your fully loaded food trailers, we have good news for you: bathroom installation is quite affordable! The average cost for a food trailer restroom installation is around 1.500$. If you consider that it is an extra service that would help your food vending trailer business, then it is definitely a great investment to make.
Factors to install bathroom on food trailer
The truth is that not all food trailers need a restroom. It all depends on the location you are setting up your food cart trailer, their size and the distribution of the space. When installing a bathroom, you have to keep in mind that you are sacrificing space on cooking trailers that could be used otherwise.
Locations with easy restroom access
Installing a bathroom in your food trailer is not necessary if it is located in a space where there are plenty of bathrooms and the access is easy. There are a lot of venues that are very well organized and have considered this factor.
If you are located in a camping, a festival or even a park where a restroom is available to your customers and it is getting cleaned regularly there is not really a reason for you to install a toilet in your food cart on wheels.
An important thing to keep in mind before setting up your concession trailer in a new location is to take a look at the space plan and make sure you choose a spot that is not far away from the restrooms.
Food trailer size
When it comes to installing a concession trailer with bathroom it is important to also consider the size of your food trailer since the installation cannot be done in very small food trailers. Even though your food trailer manufacturer is making sure you get a compact version of a bathroom it will still occupy some important space in your food service trailer.
Tight budget
Food trailers are a budget friendly solution for new entrepreneurs that are looking forward to starting their food business. However, if your budget is limited, installing a bathroom would be an extra cost. Investing in a new business is already a risk, if you are worried about spending too much you might want to keep the cost low and choose not to install a restroom to your food trailer.
Government Regulations in your country
Another important factor you need to keep in mind before installing a bathroom to your food trailer is the government regulation regarding restrooms for the customers in your country. Make sure you follow the guideline and also be informed about the hygiene protocol in general and especially nowadays during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Make sure it is always clean and disinfected
Having a bathroom in your food trailer is an extra service and a commodity you are offering to your clients. However, it is important to separate it well from the cooking area of your trailer.
Keeping it clean is also crucial since it is a part of your business and a dirty restroom would ruin your kitchen trailer image. Clients could feel uncomfortable trying your food if your restroom is not clean and disinfected. Always keep in mind that the restroom and the kitchen will be in the same enclosed food trailer, cleanliness is very important for both spaces.
Cleaning the bathroom is another task for your employees and you need to consider that several times during the day one of them will have to leave the kitchen or the counter in order to keep the bathroom neat. If you have a very busy food cart trailer this could probably cause a problem.
Layout and equipment to install bathroom on food trailer
The first thing you have to take into consideration before even thinking about installing a bathroom is the size of your food trailer. Is your space big enough to fit a bathroom or is it going to be so small that it will be difficult for people to use it?
The recommended dimensions for a food trailer bathroom are 1300mm to 800mm. That means that it is impossible to install it in many mini food cart trailer models such as WB-220B food cart trailer. Furthermore, if you decide to place a bathroom when concession trailers carts are already finished you might need to change the existing distribution of your space, sacrifice a little bit of storage space or change the place of certain food equipment.
As Chinese food trailer manufacturers we recommend you to keep your bathroom separated from the food concession trailer cooking area. Even though many food trailers have the door of the bathroom inside the
trailer we think that this is not such a good idea. If you have the ability, we suggest you put the bathroom door outside so that it can be accessible to both staff and clients and also maintain it away from the service window.
But what does installing a bathroom actually mean? Let’s take a closer look to the general equipment all food trailer bathrooms have:
- Closestool: the toilet seat, that it has to be cleaned frequently.
- Sink: so that customers can wash their hands, soap is also placed there.
- Water heater: will be installed in order to assure that you always have hot water.
- Clean water tank: water storage tank for clean water.
- Waste water tank: water storage to save dirty water after its use.
- Exhaust fan: plays a critical role in the ventilation of the bathroom while it also limits humidity and moisture of the space.
- Toilet roll holder: the place you will keep toilet paper
- Drain: is very important especially during the cleaning process so that water does not accumulate in the floor of the bathroom.
- Lights: an indispensable feature for your bathroom as well as for your whole food trailer.
Conclusion
Now that you have a better idea about all the advantages and disadvantages a food trailer bathroom installation has, you can make a decision based upon your business’s necessities and characteristics.
After the installation of the restroom by your food trailer manufacturer you are the one that has to maintain it clean and disinfect it regularly: wash the floor and the toilet, rub well all surfaces and use toilet deodorizer and freshener.
Having a catering trailer bathroom for your clients is absolutely a great idea, but they will only appreciate it if it is clean, fresh and ready to use at all times.
1 thought on “Install Bathroom on Mobile Food Trailer”
I would like more info please.