You're on the map. Now what? Everything else Find The Eats does for your truck
Getting your truck on a map is a great first step. Customers can see where you are, and that alone brings people to your window who never would have found you. But most tracking apps stop there. What happens after they find you?
They still have to wait in line and pay. You still need to track sales, sell gift cards, reward your regulars and know when you're about to run out of your best seller. For most vendors that means juggling a map app, a card reader, a paper punch card, a notebook and a spreadsheet at home. Find The Eats puts all of it in one place: the map gets them to you, and everything else keeps them coming back.
Live GPS, built for vendors who never stand still
A parked truck with a posted schedule is easy to find. An ice cream truck working three neighborhoods in an afternoon is not. Your position updates live on your own page at findtheeats.com/your-truck and on the nationwide who's open near me map. Parents hear the music two streets over, pull up your page and walk to the curb before you turn the corner.
- Plug-in transmitter. The GPS unit plugs into your truck's 12V cigarette-lighter socket. No wiring, no installer, no OBD port.
- Or use your phone. The $15/month Phone plan uses your phone as the GPS and keeps every other feature.
- Live when you're out, scheduled when you're not. When you're serving, customers see you live. When you're not, your page shows where you'll be next.
- Found by distance. The map sorts open trucks nearest-first for whoever is looking, so new customers find you without knowing your name.
- Trucks and fixed spots. Customers can filter the map to food trucks, hole-in-the-wall spots, or both.
Ice cream trucks, taco trucks, coffee vans, produce stands: if you move, customers need to know where you are right now, not where you were this morning. More on the live map.
A full point of sale, at the window and online
Once customers find you, Find The Eats handles the sale too.
- Online ordering. Customers order from your menu and pay by card on your page. The money goes to your own Stripe account through Stripe Connect and pays out to your bank.
- Window sales in the same system. Ring up cash, card, or a card you ran on your own terminal. Customers can also pay by scanning a QR code and paying on their own phone, so you don't need a card reader.
- Order screen for the window. Paid orders pop up with a short pickup code. Tap Ready and the customer knows it's time to walk up.
- Every sale in one place. Cash, card, online and window sales land in the same list, so at the end of the night you know what you sold and how you got paid.
More on the point of sale · More on online ordering
Gift certificates that sell themselves
Gift certificates are money in the bank before the food goes out, and each one brings someone, often someone new, to your window.
- Sell them two ways: online from your page, or in person at the window.
- Redeem them two ways: on an online order or at the window, however they were bought.
- Balances tracked for you. Spend $8 of a $25 certificate and $17 is waiting next time. No paper, no notebook.
Birthdays, teacher gifts, stocking stuffers, office thank-yous: a gift certificate for the neighborhood ice cream truck is a present people actually use. More on gift cards.
Rewards that turn first visits into regulars
A first-time customer is great. The one who comes back every Friday is what keeps a truck in business. Turn on rewards and customers earn points for every dollar they spend with you. It gives them a reason to pick your truck over the one parked next to you, and you never have to print or stamp a punch card again.
Live inventory: know before you sell out
Nothing stings like telling the tenth kid in line you're out of rocket pops, or taking an online order for brisket you finished an hour ago. Set a count on any menu item; it drops as orders come in and switches to "sold out" on its own, so customers can't order what you don't have.
One platform, and it keeps getting better
Most vendors stitch together four or five apps, each with its own login, its own monthly fee and its own idea of what you sold today. Find The Eats replaces the stack with one dashboard.
| What you need | The usual way | With Find The Eats |
|---|---|---|
| Show where you are | Social posts, a separate tracking app | Live GPS on your own page and the nationwide map |
| Take orders and payments | A card reader app plus an ordering site | Window and online sales in one point of sale |
| Gift cards | Paper certificates and a notebook of balances | Sold and redeemed online or at the window, balances tracked |
| Reward regulars | Punch cards | Points for every dollar, earned automatically |
| Track stock | Guesswork | Counts that drop as you sell and flip to sold out |
There's more in the same subscription: the Food Truck Request Portal for event bookings, and schedule sync and one-tap social posting. Find The Eats is actively developed, and new features and improvements are added regularly. When the platform gets better, your subscription gets better with it, with nothing to install and no extra charge.
Simple pricing, per truck
| Plan | Price | GPS |
|---|---|---|
| Phone plan | $15/month | Your phone is the GPS |
| Transmitter, monthly | $29/month | Plug-in 12V GPS transmitter included (loaned) |
| Transmitter, annual | $249/year | Plug-in 12V GPS transmitter included (loaned) |
The only per-sale fee is 25¢ on paid online orders and gift certificates sold online, plus Stripe's card fee. Window sales carry no Find The Eats fee.
Stripe's standard U.S. card rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction, set by Stripe and subject to change. Full pricing and fees.
Quick answers
- Do I need the GPS transmitter to use the point of sale and online ordering?
- No. Your page, menu, online ordering, window sales, gift certificates and rewards all work without it. The transmitter is what keeps you on the live map automatically all day.
- Which sales carry the 25¢ Find The Eats fee?
- Paid online orders and gift certificates sold online, plus Stripe's card fee. Window sales carry no Find The Eats fee.
