Two trucks park in the same district with the same menu and the same prices. One draws a crowd and the other doesn't. The difference never appears on a receipt, but it does appear on your Daily Report.
Learning objectives. After this week you can (1) explain brand and brand equity; (2) read reputation, momentum and streak as loyalty gauges; and (3) weigh the switching costs of a pivot.
Remember this: reputation is built slowly and lost quickly.
1) Brand and brand equity
A brand is the promise customers attach to your name. Brand equity is the extra business that promise earns compared with an unknown. Customers climb a loyalty ladder: awareness → trial → repeat → advocate. Marketing buys the first rung; consistency earns the rest, and the top rung is word of mouth. That is why retention is cheaper than acquisition: keeping a customer usually costs less than winning a new one.
2) Your three loyalty gauges
The Mechanics zone of your report prints three numbers:
- Reputation, your long memory. Every truck starts at 1.00. A stronger reputation brings more walk-ups.
- Momentum, your short memory: the buzz of the last few days. It starts at zero.
- Streak, your consistency scoreboard.
The guide says what builds them: showing up consistently and serving everyone who lines up. A stockout, turning people away, is the fastest way down the ladder. Read the gauges next to Foot traffic: rising momentum and a long streak mean your regulars are talking.
3) Pivots and switching costs
Changing your hero (main) item is a pivot. Your decision form states the cost: −0.10 reputation, streak and momentum reset, and hero changes locked for 7 days. Side and drink swaps are not pivots.
A pivot pays only if: Extra Contribution from the New Menu > Contribution Lost While Rebuilding
A truck at reputation 1.12, momentum +0.30 and a 9-day streak pivots. Next day: about 1.02, 0.00 and 0. If the rebuild costs $120 a day of contribution for 8 days, that is $960. The new menu has to earn more than $960 extra over the rest of the season to be worth it.
4) Marketing is rented, brand is owned
Marketing buys today's attention, with diminishing returns. Reputation keeps working every day you protect it. A truck that stocks out, breaks down or angers customers is renting crowds it will never own.
Quick self-check
(a) Reputation 1.12 and momentum +0.30 the day before a pivot: about what the day after? (b) A rebuild costs $150 a day for 6 days: what must the pivot earn? (c) Is swapping your drink a pivot? (Answers: about 1.02 and 0.00; more than $900 extra; no.)
Common mistakes
- Pivoting on one bad day. Check the event line first; one day is usually noise.
- Confusing marketing with brand. Marketing rents today; reputation compounds.
- Discounting out of a reputation hole. A coupon does nothing for reputation itself.
This week in the arena
Log Reputation, Momentum, streak and Foot traffic from every Daily Report this week. Mark any stockout or event beside the day it happened. Report how each gauge moved and what you think moved it.