In most US cities, it has become commonplace to see a line of customers heading straight for food trucks during the lunchtime rush.  Diners love the convenience, the price, the fast and easy service, the unique experience and the creative offerings found in this restaurants-on-wheels and they are favoring food trucks over traditional bricks and mortar restaurants.

It’s enough to make restaurateurs have serious thoughts about getting their own set of wheels.

Five years ago, food trucks were primarily made up of street meat vendors and chestnuts roasting on an open flame.  Today, it’s an incredibly popular way to enter the restaurant services industry—and there’s even the Food Truck Association organization dedicated to supporting the local food truck community and working to revise food truck regulations.

Though it may seem a small operation, building a successful food truck empire is serious business. Educating yourself is key: From permitting to sanitation, product sourcing to pricing it’s imperative you have a clear understanding of how to run a business on wheels before you get in the drivers seat.  For example, it’s important to know that in New York City, the food truck permitting system is via the lottery system – that’s a valuable piece of information to have in your business plan.

While there may be unique obstacles that come with having a mobile restaurant services operation, there are also advantages.  For example, owning a food truck is more affordable than starting a restaurant.  Typically, food trucks require 30 percent less capital than a traditional restaurant.

And of course the biggest advantage … location, location, location!  Unlike stationary restaurants, food trucks have the ability to maneuver to where the demand is (make sure you are permitted to do so!). This ability to adapt location allows owners to move to where their business will do best at any given time.

As the popularity of food trucks has grown, utilizing social media sites, particularly Twitter, has become a great networking tool for owners and consumers alike. Consumers get to track their favorite food trucks, while owners get to market to a wide range of potential consumers.  Location based websites also promote and locate mobile kitchens, so trucks can be easily found in a specific area.  Thus, setting up Twitter feeds, linking to local websites, loading videos and posting menus online will help sell your the presence of the food truck.

There are many advantages to tapping into the food truck revolution, just make sure you are prepared to navigate the road ahead.

How fast is too fast for your fast food? That may be the question facing many quick service food chains pretty soon. The popularity of online and mobile app-based ordering has reached new heights for many casual dining chains like Five Guys and Chipotle. Pizza has been in on the trend as well. Many pizza restaurants and chains allow you to order your food from home or on the road from your mobile phone or tablet. It offers an added layer of convenience and customization. However, should fast food restaurants incorporate online and mobile ordering into their restaurant services? It’s really a tough call.

For the most part, fast food restaurants have veered away from the idea of mobile and online ordering because of the logistics involved. Fast food restaurants are already geared towards fast, convenient food and some feel that mobile and online ordering may interfere with these operation plans or affect the quality of the food. It was never cost-effective as many customers are on-the-go or in a hurry anyway. However, with the successes mentioned above, some quick service restaurants are beginning to question whether there might be a market for online ordering in quick-service restaurants too.

Recent news from Sonic Drive-In restaurants suggests that this may be the case. Sonic will be testing out online ordering in a select number of its restaurants in Arizona. Snapfinger, the service provider that includes several restaurant chains like Subway, Baja Fresh, and Outback says that it has the technology to ensure that food quality doesn’t go down. If this is the case, food consultants might encourage more online ordering in quick-service restaurants. It should be interesting to see what the future holds.

For a while, trends have been going in the direction of simpler foods with fewer ingredients and more of an emphasis on freshness and locality. Customers want an idea of what they’re eating and where it came from. They do not want over-processed foods or those that have an ingredient list that looks like a novel. To that extent, some restaurants are taking this concept of simplicity and modest menu design to the extreme and are going back in time.

The Wall Street Journal released a piece last month highlighting several restaurants and chefs who are experimenting with recipes and cooking techniques long before their times.  Chefs are using recipes for traditional foods that date back to the Roman Empire and the Jewish Diaspora. While it may sound neat to try a food that people may have eaten thousands of years ago, there are a few hang-ups.

First, past cuisine featured different spices and meats that the novice foodie may not be used to. People of past eras used more parts of animals because they did not want to waste. Moreover, those who have tried some of the older recipes have indicated that the food was bland and not as many spices were used.  Those who try these ancient foods may be shocked to find that it’s not to their liking.

Moreover, those who want to try the food may have to shell a few bucks to do so. In order for chefs to make these meals, they have to use some ingredients that cost double the price of present day ingredients. These may be hard to find or just more costly as they’re not used as much given modern cooking.  Although these food items may have been inexpensive and widely available in the Renaissance, they may be a little harder to come by now.

Still, even with these constraints, it is an exciting idea and those who want to try something new will not be disappointed.