Owner & fan monetization strategy (mixed stack)

Based on public competitor research (August 2026). See Ads & ad-free for what is implemented today vs planned.

Positioning

Food Truck Nerdz is the discovery network that grows with you—not off you. We never take a cut of total Square/POS sales. Only orders fans place through FTN incur a platform fee. Successful brands graduate to higher flat tiers and lower per-order rates.

Three independent layers (combined, not either/or)

Layer Who pays

Fan

Ads, $15/yr ad-free, or donation ≥ $15

Owner base

Community (ads) OR GMV-tier flat per active truck

FTN-attributed orders

% fee with min/max cap — only on attributed checkout

Layers stack across audiences. Anti–double-dip: never ads + paid flat on the same truck; never fee on non-attributed POS swipes; never % of total Square volume.

Fan tier (shipped)

  • Free with ads — AdMob, non-personalized where possible

  • $15/year ad-free — Adapty / store IAP

  • Donation ≥ $15 — same entitlement after checkout

Differentiator: most discovery apps stay free-with-ads or charge a trivial one-time ad removal (e.g. ~$2).

Owner base tier (planned GMV graduation)

Owners pick Community (ads) or a paid flat tier per active truck. Archived trucks are not billed (see Ads & ad-free).

Today the app ships Starter ($25/truck/yr) as the first paid tier; full graduation logic is planned.

Tier Flat / truck / yr Qualification (rolling 12 mo, FTN-attributed only) Status

Community

$0 + ads

Default

Planned

Starter

$25

New or < $36K GMV and < 600 FTN orders

MVP

Growth

$59

$36K–$120K GMV or 600–2,000 orders

Planned

Pro

$119

$120K–$360K GMV or 2,000–6,000 orders

Planned

Elite

$199

> $360K GMV or > 6,000 orders

Planned

Graduation: quarterly review; upgrade after 2 quarters above threshold; downgrade only after 3 below (seasonality buffer).

Competitive anchor: Kraven ~$240/yr/truck (1 truck); StreetFeast ~$360/yr; GoodFynd $400–800/yr POS bundles. FTN undercuts on entry and scales with success.

FTN-attributed order fee (planned)

Applies only when the order is FTN-sourced: in-app/web checkout, tracked link/QR within session, or FTN promo code.

Not attributed: walk-up window, direct Square terminal, owner’s off-platform links.

Owner base Fee on attributed subtotal

Community (ads)

2.9% (min $0.29, max $4.00 / order)

Starter

2.4% (min $0.25, max $3.50)

Growth

1.9% (min $0.20, max $3.00)

Pro

1.4% (min $0.15, max $2.50)

Elite

0.9% (min $0.10, max $2.00)

Optional $0.35 consumer service fee at checkout (à la Truckster) can reduce owner % slightly if enabled.

Benchmarks: delivery marketplaces 15–30%; Roaming Hunger 10–20% on sourced catering; Best Food Trucks ~5–7% on facilitated lunch orders. FTN targets below pickup marketplace rates on attributed orders only.

Competitor snapshot (public pricing)

Competitor Model Typical rate

StreetFoodFinder, Truckster

Free listing + opaque premium

~$99/mo reported / $0.35 order fee

Roaming Hunger

Event/catering marketplace

10–20% on RH-sourced bookings

Best Food Trucks

Lunch programs + order-ahead

~5–7% vendor fee (est.)

Kraven

Per-truck SaaS

$20–200/mo by fleet size

StreetFeast

Truck owner subscription

~$360/yr

GoodFynd

Truck POS + finder

$0–800/yr tiers

Square / ChowNow / Toast

POS + ordering (not discovery)

$0–449/mo + processing; ChowNow 15.5% on Google orders

What we do not combine

  • % of total Square/POS volume

  • Attributed order fee on non-attributed sales

  • Owner ads + paid flat subscription on the same truck

  • Two platform commissions on the same attributed order

Implementation roadmap

  1. Now: fan support model, AdMob, Adapty ad-free, owner ads vs Starter flat, archive trucks

  2. Next: FTN checkout + attribution IDs + application fee on those payments

  3. Then: GMV/order tier detection, quarterly tier moves, graduated order fee table

Code constants (planned tiers): lib/models/monetization_tiers.dart.