Reviews for food trucks, coffee carts and takeaway

A sit down cafe has a customer for forty minutes. A food truck or takeaway counter has them for ninety seconds, most of it spent watching the order being made. That waiting time is the entire opportunity.

The wait is the window

Takeaway customers stand still while their order is prepared, usually looking at their phone. A stand at eye level where people wait, not just where they order, turns dead time into a review. It is one of the few industries where the ask can happen before the product arrives, because repeat customers already know what they think.

Food trucks and coffee carts

Mobile food businesses move, which makes the Google listing more important, not less. People search for the truck they liked last week to find out where it is today. A Business Profile, kept up to date, and a steady flow of reviews make you findable.

• Stand on the serving ledge, at the ordering window.
• Pair it with a follow stand: regulars want to know where you will be tomorrow.
• Weigh the stand down or fix it. Outdoor windows and gusts do not mix.

For moving businesses, set the profile up as a service area business. See Google Business Profile for service area businesses.

Takeaway shops

Fish and chips, pizza, kebabs, bakeries. Customers often wait five to fifteen minutes. A stand where they wait, plus one at the pickup counter, covers both groups: the ones who kill time and the ones who grab and go.

Delivery orders

Delivery platforms collect their own ratings, and you cannot put a stand in someone’s kitchen. A small card in the bag, with a QR, is the only physical route to your Google listing from a delivery. Keep it modest and occasional rather than in every order.

What to say

Two minutes on your order. If you tap that, it opens our Google page.

Giving them the wait time and a thing to do in it is all the persuasion needed.

Keep it clean

No free coffee or extra chips for a review. It is tempting in a low ticket business and Google bans it outright. See asking for reviews without breaking the rules, and for sit down service, Google reviews for cafes.