Drive-ins and drive-throughs have proliferated throughout the US becoming icons of suburban life and making on-the-road meals a part of Americana More restaurateurs have gotten behind the wheel in recent years as the food truck model has taken hold Some businesses use food trucks to supplement their primary locations while others rely on the model to avoid the expense of building and maintaining brick-and-mortar locations The food truck trend is taking off in the US with the industry being valued at 8567 million in 2015 and projected to grow by 140 million by 2020 Fostering this growth means enabling food truck operators to quickly accept customers payments as they dish out food and friendly service When it comes to completing in-store payments 36 percent of customers prefer to use credit cards and 33 percent opt for debit cards Just 18 percent say hard cash is their go-to option so cash-only businesses cant keep up Food trucks are turning to mPOS devices to smooth customers payments and simplify the process for workers These vendors must carefully choose their solutions however or they risk facing new problems Merchants must ensure their mPOS offerings seamlessly operate alongside existing fixed solutions Conflicting POS systems could prove costly to integrate or present complications when reconciling payments Complicated setups or devices can create difficulties and prolong training for new hires Vendors must also consider battery life when choosing a solution lest they be forced to stop and recharge their devices during high-traffic sales periods In this months feature story PYMNTS examines the mPOS solutions powering Zinnekens a Belgian waffle bakery with several fixed locations and one Boston-based food truck and Frosty Ice Cream which claims to be Massachusetts oldest mobile food and dessert catering company Zinnekens Serves Sweets With Speed Zinnekens launched its food truck in 2014 three years after opening its first brick-and-mortar location in Cambridge Massachusetts Co-Founder and Co-Owner Nhon Ma said the business turned to the same iPad-based POS system it used in-store to serve its food truck operation The company implemented a ShopKeep-based POS solution because according to Ma it was affordable and easy to use Integrating it into the Zinnekens mobile operation however first required bringing Wi-Fi capabilities to the food truck Once that was up and running however Ma said that the mPOS proved easy to use The tablet-based systems simplicity has been helpful not only for daily operations but also to ease onboarding for new employees Ma said adding that their familiarity with the technology means they usually learn the system in about 10 minutes For Zinnekens finding a solution that rapidly processed payments was even more crucial than finding a simple one Processing speed is very important he said When we go to festivals we need to be able to process 800 to 1 000 orders in an hour Card acceptance has also been key Approximately 85 percent of customers pay by card at Zinnekens brick-and-mortar locations and while customers are more likely to expect to have to use cash at a food truck an increasing share of them want to pay by card About 50 percent of the food trucks customers currently do so Zinnekens travels to various locations including universities and well-trafficked city squares and mPOS sales and revenue data can help determine the profitability of each spot Bostons regulations stipulate that Zinnekens cant just lay claim to its favorite locations however Food truck operators that want to occupy a public site must apply and enter a lottery for the most-competitive spots The collected data does give Zinnekens insight into which locations are less profitable and thereby not worth visiting How Frosty Keeps Things Cool And Convenient Frosty Ice Cream has deployed soft-serve trucks in the Boston area since 1958 The company currently has a fleet of six trucks that operate on residential streets as well as at events such as concerts parties and festivals Each truck might handle anywhere from 10 to hundreds of sales a day depending on weather and other factors according to CEO Frank Sacchetti and ticket sizes typically range from 3 to 8 In 2015 the company introduced a Square-based mPOS solution that runs on employees smartphones to cater to the rising demand for card acceptance Every year were getting less cash and more credit cards Sacchetti said Credit cards started out at maybe 7 percent or 8 percent of sales and over the past three years credit cards have probably become 35 percent For people who dont have cash and only have cards mPOS is a huge advantage because we dont have to turn them away Frosty also accepts mobile wallets but Sacchetti estimated that these sales account for only about 2 percent or 3 percent of transactions Sacchetti claimed its mPOS solution keeps pace as operators quickly prepare treats The solution can process card or chip transactions in about three seconds and it has proven fairly simple to use It takes about five minutes to set new employees up on the system he said adding that its also able to easily add trial items to the menu So far Frostys focus has been on payment acceptance features As the company seeks to modernize and expand its customer base it is looking to bring additional functionalities to its trucks It is exploring how to better track different items sales performances and offer and process digital coupons With the food truck industry growing and fewer customers using cash the demand for convenient mPOS solutions is likely to expand too Ensuring speedy processing easy onboarding and simple experiences could be just the ticket for mPOS providers looking for a place in the industry LATEST INSIGHTS Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation thats reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem Check out the latest PYMNTS Faster Payments 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