I used to run my own foodtruck. I manage one now as well as a restaurant, so I have a bit of perspective from both sides of the aisle. Some of the numbers quoted don't really make sense to me, but maybe it's a location thing (I'm in LA, where the food truck industry is plateauing out). 200 orders for lunch is very, very rare here.

Our local food truck association actively addresses regulations that are unfair to foodtrucks on a city by city basis. Most have to do with the local business community trying to prevent foodtrucks from competing with b&m restaurants, usually by getting law enforcement to harass trucks with citations, tickets, whatever they can throw at you.

Do I see the foodtrucks eventually disrupting b&m's? Not likely, but I do see an impact. B&M's have had to be more nimble and creative to keep up, which ends up being a good thing for customers. I have been presented with business models that involve franchising our truck and concept across the country to different groups (ex-military most recently, from what I hear about the Grilled Cheese Truck) as a way to help develop small businesses. This is where I mostly see the similarity to startups. Foodtrucks are more accessible, financially and creatively. One can literally go from concept to launch in less than a month. Try that with a b&m restaurant. The thing is, I also see a high failure rate. (foodtrucks have been dropping like flies here in L.A., mostly during winter). Other similarities or takeaways, which also apply to most other business:

1. Know your market well. Cities have different regulations, population densities, competing restaurants, etc. If you don't have a very very very good awareness of where the bulk of your business will come from, you're doomed. I've seen trucks sprout and die within a month, clueless operators and the inability to pivot.

2. Know your product well and how to sell it. I've seen employees stutter through a dish description, with the potential sale walking away to the truck whose operator can spitfire all the ingredients of each of his dishes without looking up from the slider he's working on.

3. Streamline your operation to deliver your most important product as fast possible and as perfect as possible. Lunch crowds can be harsh. These are people who have limited time and limited budget and (depending on location) almost unlimited choices. If you're the truck who took 20 minutes to serve a rice bowl, you can trust that person is never going back and would most likely drag all their friends to another truck the next day.

Simple 'rules' but you'd be surprised how many operators can't figure this out.