Marketing Associates Retaining Sales (M.A.R.S.) - Food Truck Project Proposal PDF Free Download
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Team M.A.R.S.
Vancouver, BC.
Danilo Correia
Gustavo Quariguazi
Sahar Khyabani
Stephanie Ella
Zarina Tagirova
Marketing Associates Retaining
Sales (M.A.R.S.) - Food Truck
Project Proposal
Concept
M.A.R.S Sushirrito
The M.A.R.S. Sushirrito food truck is preparing to be an innovative and leading force in the
Vancouver food truck industry by introducing the Sushirrito. By taking ingredients from the sophisticated
Japanese sushi integrated with components from the famous Mexican burrito, this new concept of foods and
cultures fused together result in something new, exciting, and delicious.
Sushirrito has a complex variety of flavours but is simple to make and has an unforgettable taste. The
base has seaweed and sticky Mexican rice topped with toasted sesame seeds. In the Sushirrito, foodies will
have the opportunity to choose regular or sriracha mayo, guacamole, soy sauce, cucumber and black beans
along with the choice of any protein. There will also be vegan Sushirrito options as well as the meat choices of
chicken, beef, salmon, crab or tuna. Finally, for refreshment, hot and iced green tea will be available.
Marketing Goals and Objectives
Goals
● To be the most recognized food truck brand in Vancouver and cultivate loyalty by being on top of
customer’s minds
● To provide healthy and affordable food with 100% fresh, hand picked ingredients from trusted
local sources, sustainable wild seafood and hormone free poultry and meat products to the
Vancouver community
● To offer creative and innovative combinations of food in different seasons of the year to excite
the palette of customers and consistently increase the company’s sales
Objectives
● Sales
MARS food truck will reach the break even point by May 2017. The food truck has to reach a revenue of
$100,000 a year to become profitable. 10% of the profit will be reinvested in the company to support the
expansion plan and purchase local sustainable products.
● Business Expansion
MARS food truck is going to be ready for business every day of the week during the daytime in the
Granville Island Public Market by February 2017. This period will be used to better prepare and elaborate
the business for when the Richmond Night Market, the location with the biggest concentration of the food
truck’s primary target market, starts to be attended in April 2017. The truck will operate in both locations
in different times of the day. The company objective is to buy a second food truck by 2018, to increase
the truck's presence and brand recognition in special food festivals throughout Vancouver.
● Health Inspection
MARS Food Truck will get a perfect score by its third health inspection. A list of core health standards
will be created for the food truck and perform weekly checks to make sure everything stays up to code
and Animal or vegetable contamination with E-coli, Listeria, or Mad Cow Disease is prevented.
● Brand Awareness and Customer Loyalty
MARS is committed to engage and make customers loyal. The company’s objective is to have strong
presence on social media to interact with the public. The food truck will be well positioned in Yelp,
provide great content and effective communication to engage the target audience, create brand awareness
and reach 10 thousand facebook fans and 8 thousand Twitter and Instagram followers by December 2017.
MARS aims is to have 300 customers joining the loyalty program by December 2017.
● Menu and Recipe
To become competitive and flexible a new feature item will be introduced to the menu every season and
see how the public reacts. The truck will sell an average of 300 Sushirritos a week, 8 thousand within the
first six months along with 4 thousand units of all other items.
Marketing Strategy
Marketing Segmentation
● Geographic Segmentation
○ World Region: North America
○ Country: Canada
○ Region of the Country: Vancouver
○ Population size: Under 600.000
○ Type of Region : Urban
● Demographic Segmentation
○ Age: Teens, young adults and middle-aged People who usually goes to food truck
festivals and use the services with some frequency during the week to have lunch.
○ Gender: Male , Female There is no restriction about gender
○ Family size: 1 or 1+ There is no restriction about family size.
○ Life cycle: Single, young couple, young couple with children, single-parent family, older
couple with grown children People who usually goes to food truck festivals and use
the services with some frequency during the week to have lunch.
○ Household income: CAD 30,000+ This income represents middle-class and up
○ Occupation: Professional, academic, small business owner, student. People who
usually goes to food truck festivals and use the services with some frequency during the
week to have lunch.
○ Education: High school, college or trade school , university, undergraduate,
postgraduate. People who usually goes to food truck festivals and use the services
with some frequency during the week to have lunch.
○ Ethnic or cultural group: Canadian, Asian, Asian-canadian. The largest ethnic
groups in vancouver.
○ Generation: Generation X, Millennial. People that represent in majority, middle age
(with families) and new generation (born after 1990) more familiar with this type of
service.
● Psychographic Segmentation
○ Social Class: Upper lowers, working class, middle class, upper middles These
social classes represent people who have jobs and enjoy the news and social life more
sorely.
○ Lifestyle: Athletic/outdoors type, active suburban family, student, single urban
professional. People who have jobs and enjoy the news and social life more sorely.
Usually, they are part of bigger groups and it will be important for the brand growth.
○ Personality: Highly organized, outgoing and adventurous, creative or artistic.
People who enjoy social life more sorely. They do not lose any opportunity to try new
things.
● Behavioural Segmentation
○ Occasions: Regular occasion, Special Occasion Typical customers of food truck at
lunch time during the week and food truck festivals visitors.
○ Benefits: Quality, Convenience People who wants the speed of a fast food
restaurant and a good quality that only big restaurants can offer.
○ User Status: potential user, first-time user, regular use Typical customers of food
truck at lunch time during the week and food truck festivals visitors.
○ User rates: Light user, medium user Typical customers of food truck at lunch time
during the week and/or food truck festivals.
○ Loyalty Status: None, medium, strong People who know the brand, the
location,operation dates and hours, will have strong loyalty. On the other hand, first-time
users or potential users will be less loyal to the brand.
○ Readiness stage: Unaware, aware, desirous, intending to buy. These are
characteristics from Generation X and Millennials.
○ Attitude toward product: Enthusiastic, positive, indifferent. They will be attracted
by the new product. They can like at first moment or take some time to get used to the
new taste.
Primary target market
The primary target marketing are people from Vancouver, Canada, region with 600.000 urban
residents that consume food truck services in the fast lane of big cities. The focus is on young adults and
middle-aged people with, at least, a minimum wage of household income, professionals with regular jobs
will tendency to use food trucks to have lunch with some regularity during weekdays, when people do not
have too much time to wait for a tasteful dish in a restaurant but want some option beyond the well
established and traditionals food trucks/fast foods. Working class, some Generation X but the majority
will be Millennials. They are the most familiarized generation with this kind of service and willing to try
new flavors.
The expectation is a regular user looking for quality and convenience to eat something different
and special, delivered in a time manner for an affordable price compared to the rivals that offers less
elaborated dishes for the same price. The customer is aware, informed and desirous to taste new flavours.
They are enthusiastic and positive about this unique product.
Secondary target market
The secondary target are also people from Vancouver, Canada, urban residents and focused on
entertainment. Specially, teens and young adults from millennial generation, mainly students from high
school to postgraduate courses. More outgoing and creative people. The expected user ratio is light users
that look for convenience and will use the product only in special occasions. People are usually
enthusiastic, interested and intended to buy.
Tertiary target market
The tertiary market is compounded by people from Vancouver, urban, no restriction of age,
family size or gender, middle class that is going to make use of this service rarely, usually for
convenience. There will be no loyalty to the brand, indifferent and unaware to their preferences
These three segmentations are very important because they are targeting the three main locations of
operations (Downtown Vancouver, Steveston and food truck festivals) and their main customers. The
segmentation was studied based on common people found at these three places. These three
segmentations will make the business grow by oral marketing, online advertisements and the expectation
is to attract more people to try the new product.
The Four P’s
Product Strategy:
Imagine a large burrito sized sushi roll with delicious ingredients that customers can consume
while walking around, sitting amongst friends or even taking back to the office to eat. MARS’ Sushirrito
food truck has an unique product that meets a foodies curiosity and a variety of ingredients that will keep
consumers coming back for more. The name of the product like the product itself is a fusion of words
linking both sushi and burrito, the “Sushirrito” is the beginning of a curious start to a delicious product.
The Sushirrito has several elements such as imitation crabmeat, guacamole with a choice of salmon, tuna,
chicken, and beef for protein options. All these ingredients rolled together in a seaweed Mexican rice
wrap, topped with a specialty sriracha-mayo sauce that enhances the flavours within the Sushirrito. All
bundled up in a logo covered packaging to complete the look of the product. M.A.R.S. has teamed up
with a local graphic designer to help the brand and product develop a signature logo. This will
aid in the Sushirrito being one of the most recognized food truck brands in Vancouver. This
product is unique to the Vancouver market but the ingredients itself are familiar to the target markets,
therefore, able to attract consumers to visit the food truck for lunch or dinner time. The food truck has an
expert customer service team, a world renowned Japanese sushi chef who has spent several years in
Mexico perfecting their craft of fusing the the two cuisines together, that are able to best serve the
customers by taking modifications on individual Sushirritos if the consumer chooses to remove items due
to an allergy or they may just require more protein or guacamole. In addition to the Sushirrito, to help
quench their thirst for the new, unique, and delicious product the food truck is offering a perfect pairing of
hot or iced green tea as a beverage to the consumers.
Price Strategy:
Pricing for the Sushirrito truck is an average between cost-based and customer-based with a
decent amount for profit due to the convenience, supplies, and quality of the food. Since there has been an
issue MARS may need to address with the current status of the economic recession the prices of the food
truck may change accordingly; depending if inventory becomes more expensive to purchase. For
example; if Costcos price of poultry, fish, rice, avocado or any food needed for the Sushiritto truck starts
to cost more because of the recession MARS may need to price the wraps a few dollars higher. Sushirrito
is an upscale food truck which makes it different than the other, often unsanitary trucks, seen in the
downtown area. The value a consumer is spending their money is based on exquisite quality the
employees provide and considerate portion size of the food. MARS expects the majority of sales to result
from the salmon and tuna due to the fact that they will be featuring as the signature dishes of the truck.
This explains the cost differences between the chicken, beef, and fish options, as well the supervisors will
be advised to order less inventory of chicken and beef. Anything added or substituted to the original
Sushirrito on the menu such as Mexican white, brown rice, guacamole or adding extra protein will cost
the consumer extra, ranging from $1-4. Once appetizers are available the menu will cost the consumer
less because they are on the smaller portion side. Drinks are priced according to what they cost with a
profit margin of 50%. The staff is paid $11.25 an hour as well as tips. Customer service is a significant
part of the reputation of the Sushirrito food truck, it is in the best interest for the employees to be as happy
as possible during their shift. They will receive a 20% discount on any food they would like to purchase
for themselves before or after their shift. The price of making coupons to give out will be extremely cheap
printing does not cost much money and coupons are easy and free to create online. Signing up with
Groupon costs a small fee but the amount of attention received from the site will bring many more
customers and MARS will quickly receive the money that is spent, back. Advertising costs for MARS
will be $300 total. MARS will have to pay certain sites every time they post advertisement on their
website. As well as newspapers will cost a fee every time an advertisement is added about the truck. Yet
MARS is hoping to get enough attention from the advertisements that the tuck will be able to make the
money back that was spent on the ads. The truck will stay in a budget of under $100 of gas per week. The
truck will only be moving in quite short distances most of the time so the goal will be achievable. As well
as all the equipment for the truck will be cheaper than expected since MARS has a professional working
agreement with the manager of the Richmond Costco.
Place Strategy:
Between May 15th - October 12th Friday and Saturday evening the Sushirrito truck can be found
at the Richmond Night Market from 7pm to 12am and Sunday evenings and stat holidays 7pm to 11pm.
During the day through the summer MARS food truck can be found in Steveston everyday from 11am -
3pm. Richmond is a good place for the Sushirrito truck because there are not many food trucks out in that
area. Also the multiculturalism and demographic of the greater Richmond area would be well suited to
Sushiritto because of the Asian population who are familiar certain items on the menu. From mid-October
until the beginning of May the truck will be found from 11:30am until 7:30pm in the Granville Island
area. This area was chosen because it is a very popular area for tourists looking to try something new in
Vancouver. There is also a University on Granville Island with many hungry students and faculty coming
in and out almost everyday. Many people visit Granville Island to explore shops, see street shows as well
as plays. These individuals are more than willing to pay a few extra bucks to try something new. Since
Granville Island is by the water people will sure be interested in trying something as unique as the
Sushiritto that is located in such a entertaining area. The only competition is the Granville Island food
market and some restaurants. Yet most of the time people go there to be outside to watch street
performances, look at the view, or feed the birds which makes it a prime location for an outside food
truck! Also since Costco is located near the Richmond night market so it is very easily accesible to pick
up the supplies the truck required to function for the week every Sunday morning. Where employees are
able to easily stop by, sign off and pick up everything need for the week!
Promotion Strategy
In order to promote the Sushirrito food truck, the strategy is to use social media (Facebook,
Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram), good reviews on Yelp and Zomato, M.A.R.S. has hired a media
relations specialist to aid in creating a media kit to send to multiple newspapers and media outlets such as
24Hrs, The Metro, VancityBuzz, as well as good word of mouth. Negotiations with Groupon to offer 500
coupons for 50% off a Sushirrito are in near completion, which can attract new and potentially loyal
customers. Consumers who have already purchased a Sushirrito from the food truck have an opportunity
to receive a buy-one-get-one-half off coupon. This can ensure that if clients do visit the Sushirrito food
truck a second time, they will bring a friend or purchase another Sushirrito for a friend. This would be a
great way to spread information about the Sushiritto brand because customers will bring in new and
potentially loyal customers that similar to a snowball effect they will share the information about the
Sushirrito with their other friends or coworkers. The best time to market the Sushirrito food truck is
during the springtime going into the summer, when festival and markets begin and a spot has been
secured for the time being. M.A.R.S. has full faith in the Sushirrito’s success, so that when the time
comes to renew contracts, continuing the partnerships with The Richmond Night Market and Granville
Island Market will not only be an issue for the current partners but also the number one priority in the
near future.
Tactics
● Sales
○ (January 2017) M.A.R.S Sushiritto is going to buy local ingredients for its products. By
establishing the food truck on Granville Island, it is able to foster several relationships
with the local food companies thereby achieving its local sustainable product buy-in and
putting its name out for its use of said ingredients.
○ (February 2017) The Granville Island is a popular destination for both locals and tourists.
On a regular basis, MARS Sushiritto will serve students and faculty members attending
or working at Emily Carr University, as well as locals and tourists. However, during
events such as shows and plays, MARS will attend to the event-goers.
○ (April 2017) Richmond Night Market is the target location to establish the MARS
Sushiritto brand. This place is good for MARS Sushirrito because there are not many
food trucks. The demographic of the night market is multicultural and diverse where
people are willing to try new and unique foods.
○ (from June 2017) In summer time, M.A.R.S. food truck is going to participate in different
events like PNE Playland and cultural days.
● Business Expansion
○ (January 2017) M.A.R.S. is going to purchase a second food truck, in order to increase
the presence of the Sushirrito food truck and be familiar in special food festivals
throughout Vancouver and increase revenue.
○ M.A.R.S. will be focus their efforts on the products and customers that offer the highest
margins and the greatest potential to increase sales.
○ (February 2017) In order to expand business, M.A.R.S. food truck is going to start
business in the very populated area of the Granville Island. The area was chosen for its
popularity with tourists, students and people who like to have different experiences with
food.
○ (April 2017) The food truck is going to start operating in the Richmond Night Market,
where it is going to attend its main target market.
○ (by 2018) 10% of Sushirrito’s food truck yearly revenue will be used to purchase a new
food truck.
● Health Inspection
○ All staff will be provided with funds to take a preparation course for the foodsafe
certificate test
○ All cleaning solutions or chemicals will labelled following directions created by Health
Canada and all employees must be informed about Workplace Hazardous Materials
Information System (WHIMS).
○ M.A.R.S. has developed colour coordinated stickers with the days of the week and space
on the stickers to write dates to apply onto foods and drinks in current use to keep track
of expiration dates and arrival dates of inventory items to ensure all food is rotated and
kept fresh. All staff will be advised to use the FIFO (first in first out) system to ensure all
items are used before their expiration date and there is no excessive waste.
○ M.A.R.S will use an alarm to record the times when equipment was last cleaned. All
knives must be sanitized after each use and daily cleaning of all other equipment is as
needed. At the end of the night when the food truck closes, the whole kitchen as well as
the equipment in the food truck must be cleaned each night.
● Brand Awareness and Customer Loyalty
○ Sushirrito food truck is going to use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
and Instagram to spread its brand.
○ Will address any bad review and interact with good reviewers on Yelp, Zomato and other
platforms.
○ M.A.R.S. will hire a media relations specialist to aid in creating a media kit to send to
multiple newspapers and media outlets such as 24Hrs, The Metro, The Vancouver Sun,
The Province, Ming Pao Newspapers, Sing Tao Daily, Richmond News, The Richmond
Review, VancityBuzz, as well as good word of mouth.
○ Coupon offers through Groupon for customers to receive 50% off their meal, spreading
awareness of M.A.R.S. Sushiritto food truck.
○ Consumers who have already purchased a Sushirrito from the food truck will receive a
buy-one-get-one-half off coupon.
● Menu and Recipe
○ The Japanese chef will create the menu to make sure that all ingredient is unified in one
item.
○ Recipes will use quality and local products; this creates unique menu items.
○ The menu changes seasonally.
Budget
Food Truck Start-up costs
● Food Truck + Wrap-$55,000
● Equipment $50,000
● Initial product inventory $1,500
● Permits and Licenses $100
● Facebook/Twitter Free
● Uniform/T-Shirts-$500
● Paper product (plates, napkins)-$200
● Misc. expenses (chalk menu)$500
● Fire Extinguisher-$100
Food Truck on-going cost
● Commissary $500
● Fuel $500
● Labor $11.25 per hour ( $350 per person every week )
● Repairs $1000
● gas for truck- $100 per week
January 2017
The food truck has to reach a revenue of $100,000 a year to
become profitable.
February 2017
Establish the food truck on Granville Island
April 2017
Richmond Night Market is the target location to establish the
MARS Sushiritto brand
May 2017
MARS food truck will reach the break even point by May 2017.
Summertime (from May)
M.A.R.S. food truck is going to participate in different events
December 2017
M.A.R.S food truck is going to reach 10 thousand facebook fans
and 8 thousand Twitter and Instagram
By 2018
Purchase a new food truck
Evaluation
● Return on Investments
Every year an evaluation of the profits from the previous year must be conducted to
assess whether the investments made on the Sushirrito food truck is making a positive return in
revenue. A measurement of the amount of money spent on supplies, car repairs, employees, and
gas versus the amount of sales brought in to calculate an overall measurement and breakdown of
each marketing initiative, will give MARS an indication of which exact portions of the
marketing plan worked and which elements fell short.
● Sales Numbers
Reviewing the number of sales is a quick and simple way to see whether or not the plan is
working. Although the Sushirrito is a new initiative, the plan is set to break even by May 2017
and a set goal of $100,000 per year to be profitable. A great way to evaluate the success of the
plan is to see whether that goal of $100,000 per year was achieved by the end of 2017. If not,
MARS must reevaluate aspects of the plan and determine the cause of not reaching this goal.
MARS must also take rise in prices and expansion of the business into account when reviewing
the sales numbers.
● Expansion
When the Sushirrito begins to expand to offer various food items and test items such as
tempura or miso soup, mentioned in the opportunities in the plan, in the food truck, the
effectiveness of the plan is at work. This shows that consumers are enjoying the popular product
and what food truck has to offer. When the Sushirrito becomes the cash cow of the food truck
and the demand is significant enough that it allows MARS to be able to introduce new items to
the menu. The expansion will result in a larger extensions of the budget, which speaks to the
effectiveness and how well the plan is working. For instance, once the Sushirrito food truck
grows in popularity there is a substantial demand for the truck to drive to several areas such as
English Bay or The University of British Columbia. This results in having the gas budget expand
to meet this demand.
● Customer Response
The customers of the Sushirrito food truck are a significant part of the marketing plan and
its execution. Their opinion about the food truck and its future is incredibly valuable to help
evolve and develop the Sushirrito brand. M.A.R.S. has created paper surveys and is collecting
customer feedback on a monthly basis. Consistently keeping track of online reviews on Yelp and
Zomato about how to improve the marketing plan is another great method to evaluate the plan. It
is important to pay attention to their responses to the new endeavours and expansions of the
menu. MARS has to keep what consumers are responding well to and remove items which are
not making any profit.
● Partner Response
Keeping a professional and consistent relationship with each partner is important to the
success of the Sushirrito food truck. Receiving feedback from current partners about the
Sushirrito marketing plan enables MARS to learn and grow from their expertise. Their
assessment of the Sushirrito speaks to the effectiveness of the endeavours of the marketing plan.
As a third-party, the partners are able to provide information to MARS that may be overlooked
internally. After each festival and event the Sushirrito food truck attends there will be a simple
evaluation given or emailed to the coordinators of the events about how they thought the truck
performed and how the truck can improve.
● Employee Response
Developing a strong rapport with the employees of the Sushirrito food truck can prove to
be beneficial to the marketing plan. The individuals who work closely with customers and
experience first-hand the system of the marketing plan have such valuable knowledge about what
can and needs to be altered for the plan to flourish. By allowing them to voice their concerns and
ideas in an anonymous online survey set up on SurveyMonkey every six months, they add value
to the current plan by expressing their everyday commitments to making the Sushirrito food
truck the best and most recognizable food truck in Vancouver.
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