Food Trucks and Traveling Bars

Food trucks and traveling bars present a great opportunity to expand your customer base by canning your to-go beverages. For trucks and mobile bar trailers in social zones, festivals, and other areas where drinking outdoors is legal, a can seamer can add a new revenue stream to your business.

How Businesses Benefit from Our Canning Equipment

Be Sure to Check Your Local Legality

During the COVID-19 pandemic, laws regarding drinking alcohol outdoors opened up across the United States, and in some places, they are still in flux. Be sure to check the latest state and local laws of any area where you’re looking to operate to ensure that selling to-go cans of alcoholic beverages is legal.

Our Client’s Stories

Luna Taqueria Cocina

Popular Grand Rapids area restaurant and food truck Luna Taqueria Cocina is known for their handmade cocktails. They were so popular that the staff started kegging and then canning them for to-go sales.

“That way it can live inside our restaurant, but also outside our walls,” owner of Luna Restaurants, Mario Cascante said. “If a customer is going to be buying your takeout food, why not also sell them a cocktail? It’s a great revenue generator, but it's also value added for the customer.”

The business has been able to take advantage of the new social zones that allow Grand Rapids residents to drink outside in designated areas.

“Our social zone has also allowed us to reach a broader audience,” Cascante said. “Somebody that may just be walking by, that may not have tried our restaurant before, can walk in, grab a drink, enjoy the drink, enjoy the uniqueness that it's canned, and then come back later—and we’ve also gained a client.”

Growing up in a developing country, Cascante said reusability is an important value for him and his business.

“Canning provided more sustainability, less plastic, something that’s entirely recyclable,” Cascante added. “And so for us, it was very easy to bring in something that makes it easier, generates revenue, but also kind of ties into who we are and what we like to do.”

Cascante said they are looking to expand their line of canned cocktails.

“Canning cocktails is a no-brainer, you should do it,” he said. “If you are selling cocktails, you may as well can them. It also allows you to expand your brand to go beyond what you’re normally doing and to be able to create that great experience outside of your restaurant.”

El Arbol Taqueria

An authentic Mexican restaurant, El Arbol Taqueria bought a can seamer to sell their signature margaritas during the COVID-19 pandemic. But co-owner Lauren Pilon said they’ve likely been using it even more since they fully reopened.

“People are excited that they can have their margarita outside of a restaurant,” Pilon said.

Many of their customers drink margaritas on their boats, or while traveling in northern Michigan. 

“To know that El Arbol’s margaritas aren’t just being enjoyed within these four walls in Brighton, Michigan, and it's expanding outside of just this little town, is so cool,” Pilon said.

They’ve packaged their margaritas in four 12 oz cans to boost sales, making use of plastic carriers to make taking them out the door easier.

“They’re definitely doing amazing,” Pilon said of their sales. “We’ve given people the option to have a meal that they didn’t prepare with a drink that they didn’t prepare in the comfort of their own home.”

Pilon noted that their regulars keep coming back and ordering more, and the cans have brought in new regulars as well.

“Since we’ve gotten the seamer we’ve gone through about 20,000 cans, and made about $75,000,” Pilon said. “That number is huge for something that is almost like an add-on to an order that people are already coming in for.”

“After we made the initial purchase of the machine, it was scary, but we made the money back within a month, just from selling the cans.”

Pilon also said the Oktober seamer has been easy for her staff to work with.

“We can kind of create our own factory line of pouring, canning, packaging—out the door.”

Why Our Clients Choose Oktober

Oktober not only makes high-quality low maintenance can seamers with a small footprint, but we also offer custom cans and seaming equipment—so you can buy all of your supplies in the same place. We offer multiple different options, including 12 oz, 16 oz, and 32 oz CrowlerTM cans. 

Order Your Canning Equipment

Looking to add a can seamer to your food truck or travelling bar? Reach out to the team at Oktober Can Seamers to find out how we can help.