After years of commuting in opposite directions, juggling family life, and dreaming of a better way, Christian and Tracy Pridgeon took the plunge and opened up Restless Coffee mobile coffee truck – and never looked back!
By prioritizing a first-class experience, handcrafted beverages, and partnering with local businesses to bring their customers the best of Baldwin County, Christian and Tracy have built a thriving food truck business from the ground up.
Today, in addition to running their food truck, they are blessed to be sharing their experiences and spreading positivity wherever they can! #RestlessEveryDay
Challenges of Operating New Food Truck
Christian and Tracy have known coffee from the beginning, but starting a mobile restaurant is a whole other ball game. As a new food truck getting up and running, Restless Coffee needed to figure out how to operate more efficiently while saving money, create and manage enticing menus, and balance efficiency with superior customer experience.
Challenge #1: How to operate more efficiently while saving money
A point of sale system (POS) is an essential piece of any food truck business but finding the right one that helps owners operate more efficiently while still saving money can be a challenge.
The first POS that Tracy and Christian tried wasn’t user-friendly and had hidden fees that got added to various transactions, which made it difficult to maintain a clear understanding of money coming in and going out.
As a new business owner, it was really scary to just all of a sudden see these fees being charged, because you’re not making enough yet. Why would you be penalized when you’re still getting up and getting going?
– Tracy Pridgeon,
Restless Coffee
>> Restless Coffee needed a solution that would give them full transparency into their business, so they could tell exactly where they are at any given time.
Challenge #2: Creating and managing enticing, profitable menus
Restless Coffee wanted to offer a variety of options, including seasonal drinks and local partnerships, but they also wanted to set up a menu that was easy to read and set them on the path to profitability.
Needing to manually update various menus to reflect specials, price changes, or specials was cumbersome but combining all their offers onto one main menu proved overwhelming to customers – and to Restless Coffee owners and staff.
>>Restless Coffee needed a POS that could support multiple menus and give Tracy easy access to edit and make changes on the go.
Challenge #3: Balance efficiency with superior customer experience
For Christian and Tracy, supporting the community that supports them is a key value of their business. In addition to participating in community events, welcoming collaborations with local organizations and businesses, and offering locally made baked goods on their trucks, it was important for Restless Coffee to balance efficiency with providing superior customer experience.
To do this, they needed more efficient systems to run their business, so that they could spend more time and energy creating a delicious menu and being present with their friends, family, and themselves.
>> Tracy and Christian needed a POS system that would do the heavy lifting for them, so they could focus on the coffee and their community
The food truck business isn’t just about the business. It’s about creating a legacy, about making more time for family and friends, and building community.
– Christian Pridgeon,
Restless Coffee
Finding Lasting Solutions
After trying a different POS and manually keeping track of different community events they wanted to support, Restless Coffee knew they needed an all-in-one system to help them run their business more efficiently. Table Needs offered a POS solution that solved all their issues: Offering transparency and business reporting, managing multiple menus, and creating strong ties within their community.
Solution 1: Switch to Table Needs Food Truck POS
By switching their POS to Table Needs, Restless Coffee got a simple—but powerful—option to help them run their business. With no hidden fees, Table Needs addressed their biggest pain point: the need for transparency and clarity into their finances. On the day-to-day, Table Needs routes all their orders from ordering all the way to brewing, making it easy for Tracy and Christian to communicate with each other and their customers.
Solution 2: Offer multiple menus designed to entice customer appetites
Tracy and Christian knew that having too many menu options would not only drive up their operating costs, but would also be overwhelming for customers trying to order. Instead, they set up multiple menus: their one main menu with their basics, and an additional secret menu with extras, seasonal drinks, and specials. This made it easier for their customers to find what they wanted, and added a fun way for their customers to engage with their brand.
We have our main menu…but for somebody who’s looking for more options and wants something fun, the secret menu helps to get the clutter off of the main menu so people can still get what they need.
– Tracy Pridgeon
Restless Coffee
Solution 3: Focus on community building
For Restless Coffee, it’s super important to show up to support the community that supports them. Table Needs helps them do this by hosting multiple menus and also providing flexible ordering options that fit customer needs. Offering Scan to Order & Pay and online ordering options allow customers to order ahead of time instead of waiting outside the truck.
For example, Restless Coffee regularly parks at a nearby school and will open up the online ordering window early for the teachers, staff, and parents. This gives back to the community, but also gives them peace of mind as business owners.
We’ll have at least 10 or 15 orders before our doors even open, and that is a very good feeling. And it’s also nice for us because we’re already got those orders prepped and we can get started on them early.
–Christian Pridgeon
Restless Coffee
Building a Legacy with Table Needs
Using Table Needs, Restless Coffee is building a successful business that they’re able to run full time. They have goals to open up a second trailer to work events and do outreach in the community, and are getting closer to being able to serve their regulars from a brick and mortar. Table Needs gave them the foundation and the tools they need to run their business with ease, so they can focus on their friends, family, and community.
Table Needs
The hassle-free way to run a thriving restaurant business
Point of sale
Online ordering
Kitchen display system
Menu management
Sales tax automation
Cash discount program
Marketing
Bookkeeping
