Auntie Anne’s hits the road
Cara Squires, writer
Published at 22/09/2021, Updated on 22/09/2021 , Reading time: 2 min
Auntie Anne’s food truck model is gaining traction with diners across the US, with vehicles operating from LA to Texas.
While the beloved pretzel brand and takeaway franchise has been operating for more than 30 years, its food trucks are a relatively recent innovation for the takeaway franchise.
Linda Reed was the first franchisee to take the plunge. She joined the Auntie Anne’s network 28 years ago, opening her first unit in Glendale, California. Over the years, Linda expanded her presence with eight more stores across the state, but was encouraged to consider taking her business mobile by her son. Now, he runs the food truck on her behalf and can generate an income of up to $10,000 per day.
“When we did the BTS concert at the Rose Bowl, we had 300 people in line for five hours straight,” explained Linda. “A lot of them waited in line for an hour before the concert started for a pretzel.”
Brian and Sam Hardesty, who operate a number of trucks across Kentucky, said that one of the biggest perks of their mobile business is that it is always a novelty.
“With most brick-and-mortars, you see that they’re super busy for the first two or three months and then business dies down a little. The luxury of being a food truck is we’re the new person in town wherever we go. We stagger our visits about every eight weeks or so - that way we’re always the new person coming in.”
The Auntie Anne’s food trucks are also making the business model accessible to younger entrepreneurs like Chris Coleman, who is running his own franchise at just 29. He says that social media has played a big part in the success of his mobile business.
“We get like 200–300 shares [on our posts] and there will be a line from the time we open until the time we close. For them to see that food truck in their town is exciting for them. Our numbers are very good. I think [small-town customers] spend more money when they visit us because they don’t know when we’ll be coming back.”
If you’d like to run your very own Auntie Anne’s business, you can find out more about the opportunity on its profile page.
Cara Squires, writer