Rolling Preferences: Generational Drivers of Food-Truck Patronage and Small Business Strategy

Food trucks have matured into a mainstream microenterprise format, yet limited research explains how strategic priorities vary across generational consumer segments. This conceptual paper develops a framework explaining how Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z differ in the relative weight they assign to eight food-truck patronage drivers: convenience, price–value, menu novelty, social influence, ambiance, situational conditions (e.g., weather and event timing), digital enablement, and localism. Integrating generational cohort theory with decision-making and experiential consumption perspectives, the framework conceptualizes food trucks as mobile servicescapes in which common drivers are interpreted through cohort-specific value logics. The resulting propositions suggest that Baby Boomers and Generation X place greater emphasis on convenience, price fairness, and comfort, whereas Millennials and Generation Z prioritize novelty, ambiance, social visibility, and digital engagement. Localism is shown to resonate across cohorts, albeit through distinct framings tied to community continuity versus sustainability and ethical consumption. The paper translates these insights into strategy-relevant considerations for food-truck entrepreneurs, highlighting how generational differences may shape menu design, pricing communication, location and timing decisions, and engagement mechanisms. The framework contributes to small business strategy by clarifying how generational segmentation conditions patronage and by outlining directions for future empirical research on cohort-moderated effects.