3 Reasons Your Food Truck Needs an RLCD Digital Menu
To stay competitive, food trucks must have an effective marketing strategy.
Although food trucks have been around for decades, it wasn’t until 2008 that their popularity began to skyrocket. For many restaurant owners and independent chefs, starting a food truck business is very appealing. It's a more accessible way to bring their recipes to the public without all the overhead costs of a brick-and-mortar location. Today, food trucks have taken the culinary world by storm and are amongst some of the most popular food options. This is great news for food truck lovers, but it also means greater competition for food truck owners. To outshine the competition, food truck owners must be more strategic about their menu options and how they market themselves to their customers.
With more restricted storage space and output ability, food trucks can easily run out of certain supplies and need to communicate sold out menu options on-the-fly. Food truck owners may also want to cater their menu items to the locations/events they're serving. To keep up with all of these menu changes, many food truck owners are turning to a digital menu solution. However, the transition to digital isn’t as simple as you might think.
Selecting a digital menu board isn't as easy as it seems.
A whole new world of considerations opens up when food truck owners switch to a digital menu board:
- Deciding which screen to purchase
- Protection from weather and impact
- Mounting and power options
- Sunlight readability
That last bullet point is one of the biggest considerations of all, yet often gets overlooked.
After doing the work to research these options, it becomes very clear that not all digital signs are alike. There’s a good chance that whatever they're using was not designed for their specific application.
Many food truck owners who’ve gone digital find themselves feeling dissatisfied in the end. They wonder why their menu is so hard for customers to see. It just doesn’t look as bright and as vivid as it did in the department store or online retailer. They wonder if they’re doing something wrong. Some will even go so far as to buy a brand new unit, thinking the first unit they bought was defective - yet, they run into the same issue.
There actually are digital menu board options specifically designed for food trucks. And the technology is getting better at addressing the sunlight readability issue. Sun Vision Display's (SVD) Outdoor Digital Signage featuring Color Reflective LCD (RLCD) technology is a perfect example!
In this article, we’ll cover three reasons why RLCD technology is ideal for
food truck digital menu boards.
1. RLCD technology matches the sun's brilliance.
Most brand name LCDs clash with sunlight, resulting in poor visibility. Glare makes it difficult, if not impossible, for people to read.
Poor sunlight visibility causes major problems for food trucks:
- A customer who can’t get excited for your food
- An owner who can’t advertise their business
- And LOTS of money wasted trying to make something do what it can't
Just look at how this TV converted to a digital menu board appears with a glare of the sun in the sky behind it. For grins, take an even closer look at their display in the second picture. You can see it's actually powered on, but you would never know because of how washed out it is. This particular food truck business tried to remedy this problem with a canopy, but it wasn't very effective.
Unfortunately, this is an all-to-common occurrence and is likely to be the biggest problem faced when attempting to upgrade to digital. Harsh glare has always been difficult for digital technology, but it is even more so for food truck owners when it interferes with their digital menu boards.
Sun Vision Display's 32" RLCD vs. a 32" TV in full sunlight
Since you food truck business is outdoors, it's important to invest in a digital signage solution that’s designed for the outdoors, too!
Sun Vision Display's Outdoor Digital Signage, featuring RLCD technology, provides some of the best sunlight readability on the market. The difference is obvious in this quick video. In case you're curious why RLCD technology works so well in the sunlight, you can read more about it on our
RLCD technology page.
For added visibility in dark or dim settings, such as in the evening, SVD's 32-inch and 43-inch RLCD signage can be equipped with additional front lighting.
RLCD screens can help you take the mental work out of constantly contemplating the position and location where your digital menu will be most visible.
2. RLCD technology is energy efficient.
As you well know, running a food truck can be a non-stop job, especially during peak meal times. The last thing you want to worry about is running out of power during operations.
Yet, as a mobile enterprise, a direct power source is almost never available. Which is why most food trucks rely on a generator to power their equipment. While a generator does the job for low-power devices, it can't handle much more.
Most outdoor digital signage relies on an ultra-bright backlight to combat the sun. It takes a lot of energy to power those backlights, so you'll need to carefully consider this before adding one to your food truck.
If your power supply is limited, as it is for many food trucks, it may not be sufficient to power a high-bright display.
This isn’t a rally to “go-green” (although it could be) - it's just another illustration of the real problems food truck operators encounter when they choose to go digital. 
The good news is that Sun Vision Display's RLCD digital signs use up to 95% less power than their high-brightness competitors, naturally!
Even more, they run on 12V DC, which allows them to run directly off a vehicle's power system, if needed. Alternatively, they can be powered by batteries or solar energy, so there's no need to tax your generator.
Best of all, these same features that make them low-power also make them longer-lasting. By the time you see other owners replacing their overheated, burnt-out screens, you’ll still be using yours for years to come!
In short, our RCLD screens create a unique low-power solution that cuts down on energy and doesn’t put your entire food truck operation at risk.
3. RLCD digital signs are lightweight and highly portable.
One of the best parts of operating a food truck is the ability to get up and go – wherever and whenever you want. However, if you are using LED displays, it could put a short leash on your operation. Most digital signage systems are heavy and hard to move around – especially if there are only one or two people in your operation.
Since they're not jam-packed with heavy wiring and internal thermal control mechanisms, our RLCD digital signs are far more portable than the myriad other options out there. In fact, they can often be easily handled by one person alone.
You can store them inside the truck during off hours and secure them to the side of the truck when you’re busy. Does it sound too good to be true? It’s not.
Need more? Here’s how SVD makes RLCD technology even better.
If you need more convincing, here are two other reasons why Sun Vision Display's RLCD digital signs are so ideal for food trucks:
- Our weatherized enclosures provide excellent weather, shock, and impact resistance so you can stop worrying about the risks of extreme weather, vandalism, and everyday bumps and bangs.
- RLCD signs can be designed to work easily with whatever data transfer setup you have. You can cast your screen from another device, run it directly through HDMI, or connect to a media player that seamlessly integrates across all your social media platforms.
However you go about it, our RLCD screens will ultimately allow you to better connect with your audience and build a more loyal customer base.
Give us a call to talk through your options!
Running a food truck may not be easy, but with the right technology and set up, you can make your life (and your business flow) run much smoother. Could our RLCD options be what you've been looking for? Check out our reflective color LCD technology signs today. That is, if you’re interested in smoother operations, increased energy independence in remote locations, ongoing readability (not hindered by the sun), less power draw on your poor generator, and better long-term durability. There aren’t too many other no-brainers like it.
If you run a food truck business, we would love the chance to talk to you and answer any questions you may have about our unique solutions. To reach one of our professionals, fill out the contact form below, shoot us an email at sales@sunvisiondisplay.com, or call +1-224-268-3343. Our team would love to answer any questions you may have in your journey towards a digital future.
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Sun Vision Display
25 S. Grove Ave., Suite 401, Elgin, Illinois 60120
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Phone: +1-224-268-3343
Email: sales@sunvisiondisplay.com
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