FAQ: How Does BFT Food Truck Catering Work?

Catering FAQ's

Q: Why did all of the proposals come in at my budget?  
A: We allow you to start your request by entering your minimum budget. Therefore all of the proposals you receive for your request will come in at either the minimum food budget you entered or include a budget increase requested by the food truck on top of your minimum budget. This ensures that you will always receive the best price food for your booking.

Q: How can I change the date, time, location, guest count, or meal parts for my request?
A: Please reach out to our customer service team and they can adjust any details on your request, but please keep in mind that if this causes the food truck catering budget to decrease for any reason the request may have to be restarted and resent out to the food trucks to submit new proposals.

Q: What if I find out I will have more guests after I confirm a booking with a food truck?
A: The food truck will have a set overage per person price that can be added to the budget before the event starts, or we can invoice for the overages after the event as long as approved. Please keep in mind that the food truck cost may only bring limited extra servings for your event if not told how many more to expect before the event start date, so at that point they would serve their extra food until they sell out and BFT would invoice you accordingly for those approved overages after the event. Please note, it’s best to let the food truck know how many extra meals they are approved to serve at the event, if not they will continue to serve the extra guests until they are sold out of the extra servings they bring.

Q: What happens if there is bad weather and we need to reschedule a booked event with a food truck?
A: Typically, food trucks catering will be prepared to still serve in most weather situations, but if the weather does impact your event and you need to push back the date, all parties will communicate to see if a new date can be rescheduled for your event.

Q: Can I contact the food trucks before or after booking?
A: We have implemented a chat feature so that clients can reach out to food trucks catering directly before or after booking to ask questions or supply extra details about the event. You can access this feature when reviewing the proposals or after booking a food truck. Please note that any contact information, budget questions, or related questions may be flagged by the chat feature and not sent to the food truck. This has been implemented so that our BFT team can monitor any changes to the event that otherwise might be discussed directly so that our team can stay up to date on any changes to the request.

Q: How can I include or share my request with other people to review the food truck proposals?
A: For the food truck proposals the request link we send you can be copied and shared with anyone you send it to who will then have access to review the proposals at any time.  Please keep in mind that only the initial client will have access to view the budgets for that request and will only be shown the proposals, not the cost to book the food truck.  Only you would have access to the minimum food budget information.  We only allow one mobile number and email per request, so please make sure that the person who will be actually booking is listed on that request.  Please contact customer support if you need to modify the client contact information.

Q: What if I booked the food truck but I am not paying for it?
A: If you started the request, you can follow through with the entire booking and then share the final invoice with anyone you would like to make the payment.  Simply download the free invoice template due and share that PDF file with the person that will be paying.  That person can then select ‘Pay Invoice’ from that invoice PDF file and make payment.

Q: How Do I Pay?  
A: After booking a food truck you will be sent an email with a link to pay the invoice due. If the booking is outside of two weeks, you will only be required to pay 50% of the total due and then the remaining final pay would need to be completed a day before the event start date. Within two weeks, full pay for the event would be required. We distribute the 50% deposit pay out to the truck immediately in which the event would then be considered officially booked. We would then issue the final payout to the food truck finance once the event has been completed. If you had any approved overages we would send a separate invoice to you after the event. We offer two forms of payment, either by card or ACH payment. Please note that within 7 days of the event only card payment can be accepted. ACH payments have no fee, but there is a 2.9% processing fee added to the budget for card payments. We do not accept checks unless that is the only form of payment, in which a 5% check fee would be added to the budget total. If you need to pay with a food truck purchase order, please let our team know and we can fill out the required forms needed, but this may not be an option if the event is less than two weeks away. We do not accept extended ‘net pay’ and the total amount due must always be received before the event start date with no exceptions. We do not back out taxes for tax exempt organizations and the budget is all-inclusive (tax, gratuity, and all related booking expenses within your budget total.

Q: What if I need to cancel my event after I book? 
A: Please contact our customer service team about the cancellation and you would be refunded accordingly based on the food truck’s refund policy listed on their request. Each truck may have a different set of refund policies, so please review that before booking the food truck. Some trucks may offer no refunds after booking.

Q: What if a food truck cancels or pulls out of an event after I book them?  
A: Sometimes a food truck order may need to pull out of an event for an emergency reason, in which our team would then do everything possible to find you a replacement option so that you can order food trucks for event. If the replacement option does not work for you, or one can not be found, our company would issue a full refund.

Q: What if a food truck is late, does not offer expected service, or does not offer the menu items promised on the proposal I accepted?
A: Please contact our customer service team about the issue and we will do our best to resolve the situation in the fairest way possible for all parties involved.

Q: What permits are needed from the food trucks?
A: All food trucks should be permitted to work in the areas they submit proposals for, but for most private events location permits would not be required.

Q: What if I need a COI (Certificate of Insurance) from the food truck? 
A: Please let us know this information as soon as possible along with the name of the company and address of that company needed for the food truck COI. Food trucks can typically get the COI’s issued for your event from their insurance companies within 24-48 hours).

Q: How long before I have to pay the deposit and final pay after booking?
A: The food truck rental will not be considered officially booked until our company sends them over the deposit for the event.  The food trucks expect to receive the deposit within 48 hours of being selected and may take other events until that deposit is received.  In cases where your event is more than two weeks away and only a 50% deposit is initially required, the final pay must be completed a day before the event start date.

Q: How long do proposals last after the food trucks submit them? 
A: We recommend selecting and getting payment down on a food truck proposal as soon as possible because these vendors receive multiple requests and typically will book on a first come, first serve basis.  Whoever gets the food truck the deposit payment to the food truck first for that date will get that truck.