As you know, this Friday is our first What the Truck?! Event at Northlands Park and we’re all chomping at the bit to host a What the Truck?! night in conjunction with Park After Dark. This event will also be our first licensed event, meaning you can enjoy an alcoholic beverage along with your food truck dishes.
You may have noticed in our menu announcement that the menus had fewer feature dishes than previous events. As you know, our number one issue with our events is that lineups can get long. We heard your frustrations after our May Churchill Event that some items sold out while you were waiting in line for them, and we’ve decided to test a ticket-based line management system for the first time on Friday.
The premise behind the tickets is that each truck will know ahead of time how many portions they have available, and therefore how many tickets to allocate to each item; this will help them communicate when they are running out (or close to it) more quickly than if you’d had to wait to get to the window. This will provide you the opportunity to either choose another item or another truck.
Here’s how it works:
1. Each feature item (excluding sides) will be assigned a ticket colour: red, yellow, or blue .
2. As you join each truck’s lineup, you’ll be greeted by a truck staff member who will ask you what you’re interested in ordering and in what quantity. You can also ask any questions about those menu items at this point as well, which will hopefully speed up your time at the window (and also hopefully translate to a quicker wait time in line to get there). You’ll then be given the corresponding tickets for the items you’d like to order*.
3. When you arrive at the truck window, you will purchase the items you pre-selected in line by turning in your tickets. You’ll then be able to make any special requests, and order your sides and beverages.
*You will not be purchasing the items while in line; your purchase will still be made at the truck window. This does require more planning — make sure you choose your meal items ahead of time so you’ll receive the correct colour and quantity of tickets!
We appreciate your patience as you continue to support the food trucks in Edmonton while we work out the best system for the events. We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback on this new method — our feedback cards will be available at the Info Booth, so make sure you fill one out (and show us your food truck selfies) for more chances to win the Golden Ticket in September!
What the Truck?! 