Food trucks and market food stalls

Magpie plans the day's prep and times the truck's temperature checks. It tells customers where the truck will be next.

You and the people who work the truck share one Magpie team.

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Today’s prep for the Sidewalk Dumpling Co. food truck: pork and chive and cabbage and shiitake dumplings made, chili crisp oil under way, and dipping sauce and scallion pancakes planned, each with who makes it.

This combination of six Magpie areas fits a food truck.

Daily Operations
Daily Operations plans each day's prep from your recipes, and records the truck's temperatures.
Inventory
Inventory counts the ingredients on the truck and in the store unit.
Calendar
Calendar lists each market and spot on your public calendar, for anyone to open.
Social Media
Social Media posts today's spot and specials to your accounts from one draft.
Link-In-Bio List
Link-In-Bio List gives you one page of links, with a QR code for the truck.
Staff Scheduling
Staff Scheduling shows each person which market they work at, and its address.

You plan the day's prep from your recipes, and staff record the truck's temperatures.

Daily Operations plans each day's batches from your recipes. Each recipe lists its ingredients, how much it makes, how long it keeps and its allergens. Recording a batch will take its ingredients out of stock, and give it a use-by time.

You start from the routines for a restaurant or bar and edit out the dining-room steps. They include fridge, freezer and hot-holding checks, and cleaning the grill and fryers. A reading out of range will open an incident with the steps to take.

Inventory counts the stock on the truck and in the store unit.

Inventory counts your ingredients in kilograms, litres or packs. Stock is kept in pools, such as the truck and the store unit. A move takes stock from one to the other. Prep and waste on the truck come out of its pool.

You give each ingredient a minimum. Anything below it is listed with what to order from each supplier. From that list, Magpie drafts an order for each supplier. You email it from Magpie, or mark it as sent.

Customers can see where the truck will be on your public calendar.

Calendar lists the truck's markets, festivals and regular spots on your public calendar. Each is an event with its place and times. Anyone can open it without an account.

Changing or deleting an event will change the public calendar too. From a public event, you can start a social post that names it. You can keep a booking with an organiser to the team.

Sidewalk Dumpling Co.’s Calendar for the month: lunch on Front Street on Tuesdays and Thursdays, brewery nights on Fridays, the Riverside Night Market on Saturdays, the Harbourside Sunday Market, commissary prep on Mondays and the Millbrook Harvest Festival.

You write today's spot and specials once, for every account.

Social Media gives you one post for all the truck's accounts. Magpie will publish it to Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn at the time you choose. You can schedule the week's spots on Sunday, and each will go out on its day.

You post to Instagram and X yourself. At the post's time, Magpie will email you a reminder. On a phone, Magpie copies the text and opens the share sheet with every photo.

The link on your profiles and the truck stays the same while the page changes.

Link-In-Bio List gives the truck one public page of links, under your picture and name. It can link to where you are this week, the menu and pre-orders. It has a printable QR code with the same address.

You can see the page's views and the clicks on each link. Views by your own team are not counted. Magpie records nothing about who visited.

Sidewalk Dumpling Co.’s Link-In-Bio List as a visitor sees it: the truck’s picture, name, a short bio and Instagram, TikTok and email icons, then links to where the truck is this week, the menu, pre-ordering frozen dumplings and booking the truck for an event.

Your staff see the market and its address on each shift.

Staff Scheduling gives the truck a rota across your markets and pitches. You add each market or pitch as a location with its address. The person on each shift sees that address. They also see your instructions, such as where to park.

Shifts stay drafts until you publish the week. Then each person can swap a shift, ask for cover or ask for time off. Published shifts also appear in each person's own calendar.

A spot on your calendar starts a post, and each fuel receipt reaches the books.

  1. The next spot is posted

    The market and its hours go on your public calendar as an event. From the event, you can start a social post that names it.

  2. The link page opens the shop

    A block on your link page opens your online shop for pre-orders and merch. The assistant can add it, and it stays right if the shop's address changes.

  3. Prep comes out of the truck's stock

    Recording a batch will take its ingredients out of the truck's stock. It will also add what was made, with a use-by time.

  4. Staff open the truck's checklists

    You link the truck's location on the rota to its checklists. Anyone with a published shift there will open those checklists first.

  5. Fuel and pitch fees reach the books

    Each expense and its receipt will be added to the books. It goes in the account named after its category.

Four more areas cover the menu board, pre-orders, receipts and the books.

QR Codes
QR Codes makes a code for the truck or the menu board. It opens your link page or today's menu. You can change where it points after it is printed.
Store
Store sells sauces, merch and pre-ordered boxes online. Buyers pay on Stripe's checkout page. Each market can have its own pickup method and collection times.
Expenses
Expenses records fuel, pitch fees and supplies with their receipts. You can upload a receipt as it comes and enter it later. Reports total your spending by category.
Accounting
Accounting adds your expenses, online orders, Stripe fees and payouts to the books. Bank statements come in as CSV files.

Setting up takes five steps.

  1. Make a team for the truck

    You create a team and invite whoever works the truck with you. Help: Create and manage a team.

  2. Choose Restaurant or bar

    You choose Restaurant or bar and keep the routines you use. Then you confirm each fridge's limits. Help: Run each day's opening, closing and checks.

  3. Add ingredients and recipes

    You list your ingredients, then write a recipe for each dish with its allergens. Help: Plan prep, keep recipes and log waste.

  4. Put the next spots on the calendar

    You add each market as an event on your public calendar. Help: Create public and private calendar events.

  5. Publish your link page

    You build the link page, publish it and put its address in your profiles. Help: Build a Link-In-Bio List.

Plans

A truck run alone can use Magpie without a team, on the free plan or Pro. A truck with staff is a team. The Team plan is one price for the whole team. It has 25 member places and 5,000 Calendar events.

A free team has 3 member places and 100 events. A staff profile on the rota needs only a name. A person takes a place once they accept an invitation to see their shifts and checklists.

Magpie adds no fee to online sales. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each payment.

Other businesses similar to a food truck have pages of their own.

Caterers and private chefs

A caterer makes food for events and private clients. Each job is quoted with a proposal and invoiced with a deposit.

Questions about running a food truck or stall on Magpie

Can customers see where the truck will be?

Yes. Your public calendar lists your public events with their place, times and description. It is at your meeting page's address followed by /calendar. Each event also has its own page to share. A link on your Link-In-Bio List can open the calendar.

Can we post today's spot to Instagram and our other accounts?

Yes. You write the post once in Social Media and choose its time. Magpie will publish it to Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn at that time. For Instagram and X, Magpie will email you a reminder. On a phone, Magpie copies the text and opens the share sheet with every photo.

Can we change the QR code on the truck when our page moves?

Yes. A dynamic QR code points to a Magpie address. That address sends each scan to the website you set. You can change the website at any time, and the printed code keeps working. Each scan adds to a total count, without recording who scanned.

Can people order ahead and collect from the truck?

Yes. You add the food or a box as a Store product. You add a Local pickup method for each market, with its address, pickup times and instructions. Buyers pay on Stripe's checkout page. When you mark an order ready, Magpie will email them the address and times.

Can we record the allergens in each dish?

Yes. Each recipe records its allergens, with what goes into it and how much it makes. It also records how long it keeps and how it is stored. You and your managers write the recipes. Everyone who uses Daily Operations can read them.

Can we check hot holding during service?

Yes. The Restaurant or bar starter has a Hot holding check at 1 pm. You can time any routine from opening or at any time of day. A reading outside the limits you set will open an incident. It lists what to do and a follow-up reading to take.

We prep in a store unit and serve from the truck. Can stock be in both?

Yes. Inventory keeps stock in pools: one for the store unit, one for the truck. A move takes stock out of one pool and adds it to the other. Prep and waste recorded at the truck come out of the truck's pool.

Can we reorder ingredients from our suppliers?

Yes. You give each ingredient a minimum in Inventory. Anything below it is listed with what to order from each supplier. From that list, Magpie drafts an order for each supplier. You email it from Magpie, or mark it as sent.

Can we see what we throw away after service?

Yes. Your staff log waste with a reason, such as Made too much or Expired. It will come out of the truck's stock. The Waste page totals it by reason and by item, for any range of days. You, and managers who can see costs, also see what it was worth.

Can staff see which market they are working at?

Yes. Each shift has a location, such as a market or pitch. The person working it sees the location's address. They also see your instructions, such as where to park. Published shifts also appear in each person's own calendar.

Can staff swap shifts or ask for time off?

Yes. Shifts stay drafts until you publish the week. Then each person sees their own published shifts. They can swap a shift, ask for cover or ask for time off.

Can we keep the receipts for fuel and pitch fees?

You upload receipts to Receipt Inbox as they come. Later you turn each into an expense with its amount, date and category. Reports total spending by category and merchant. Expenses export as a CSV file, or as a ZIP with their receipts.

Can we sell sauces or T-shirts online?

Yes. Store sells physical products and gift cards from one catalog. You set shipping by country, state or postal code. Buyers can also collect their order at a market. They pay on Stripe's checkout page, into the truck's own Stripe account.

Can we see how many people open our link page?

Yes. The Link-In-Bio List's Analytics page shows page views, link clicks and clicks per view. It also lists the clicks on each link, most clicked first. Views by your own team are not counted. Nothing is recorded about who visited.