Lunchtime. Twelve people in a queue, one person cooking, and the fourth person in line wants to know whether the halloumi wrap has gluten in the sauce, whether the chips are cooked in the same oil and whether there is anything vegan.
Those are all reasonable questions. They are also three minutes each, in the middle of service, from someone who could have known before joining the queue.
The checklist
Publish these and the hatch gets quieter.
1. The current menu
Where someone can see it on a phone before walking over. Menus change and a photograph of a board from last summer is worse than nothing.
2. Allergen information per dish
The required allergens, per item, available before someone orders. This is an obligation and it is also what lets a customer decide without a conversation.
3. What can be adapted
Which dishes can be made without a particular ingredient and which cannot. Customers ask hopefully and staff improvise under pressure.
4. The vegan and vegetarian options
Named explicitly rather than left to be worked out. Groups choose where to eat based on whether one person can be accommodated.
5. Cross-contamination honesty
A single fryer, a shared griddle and a small van are real constraints. Saying plainly what you cannot guarantee protects a customer with a serious allergy far better than a vague reassurance.
6. Who to ask on the day
That anyone with a serious allergy should speak to the person cooking before ordering. A website informs and never confirms safety, which is the same boundary as in dietary requirement questions caterers must capture.
7. Prices
Customers decide whether to queue based on this and most mobile traders never publish it.
8. Portion sizes and what comes with it
Whether a dish comes with sides, whether it is a snack or a meal and whether there are smaller portions for children.
9. Payment methods
Card, cash, contactless and whether there is a minimum. A queue that discovers a card machine is down disperses.
10. Today's specials and sell-outs
What has run out, updated during service. It saves a queue and it is the single most appreciated update a trader can post.
10b. Whether you can cater a private booking
Customers who liked the food at a festival want you at a birthday or a wedding, and most of them never ask because nothing on the page suggests it is possible. A line saying private bookings are taken, with a minimum spend and a way to enquire, turns a lunchtime customer into a booking worth many times a week of trading.
11. Where you are today
The recurring question, covered in where is the truck today, and other questions traders answer.
12. How to pre-order
Whether office groups can order ahead and collect, which turns a lunch rush into a planned service.
13. Interruptions during service are the real cost
Answering questions while cooking is the same problem as barbershops and the questions asked mid-cut and allergen and menu questions at the serving hatch.
Getting started
Publish your menu, allergens per dish, prices and what you cannot guarantee, then answer before anyone joins the queue. SpideyChat for food businesses answers from your published pages and never confirms a dish is safe. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.