How to follow your favourite food trucks in Galway

To keep track of a food truck or market trader in Galway, follow it on Mosey. Traders who list their appearances (where they will be and when) show up on the map at that spot while they are trading and in the events feed, and you get a notification when a trader you follow adds a new appearance. For traders who do not list appearances, their own social channels and the market's regular days are still the best guide.

Why food trucks are hard to keep track of

A sit-down place has a front door. A food truck has a schedule, and the schedule changes: a market on Saturday, a festival next weekend, a monthly pitch outside a brewery, a private event that takes it off the road entirely.

Galway makes this harder. It is a festival city with a big summer season, so traders follow the crowds, and it is on the west coast, so weather decides more than any timetable. A pitch can be cancelled the morning of, and the only people who hear are the ones already watching.

Most lists of places to eat are built for addresses, and a trader often ends up listed at a lock-up or a home address where it has never served food. That is worse than no listing at all.

How does following a food truck on Mosey work?

Traders on Mosey can list appearances instead of a fixed address. When they do:

• Their map pin follows them. While a trader is at an appearance, it shows on the map at that spot. When the appearance ends, it stops showing there, because it is not there.
• Appearances show in the events feed, alongside other things on near you. Food trucks are as much "what is on" as "what is near".
• Followers get told. When a trader you follow adds a new appearance, you get a notification and can open its page straight from it.

The listing belongs to the business, not the pitch. Its menu, photos and ratings travel with it, so a trader you loved at one market can be found when it moves to another, and its ratings do not start from zero.

Not every trader lists its appearances, so for some you will still need its own channels. Following on Mosey costs nothing and covers the ones that do.

How to catch your favourite truck on the day

A little planning saves a wasted trip:

1. Check the day before and the morning of. Traders update their plans when weather or an event changes, and the newest information is what counts.
2. Go early or late. Most trucks have a lunch or teatime rush. Arriving just before it, or as it tails off, means a shorter queue and a calmer kitchen.
3. Look at the menu before you go. Many traders run a short, changing menu. Knowing what you want means you are not deciding at the front of the queue.
4. Have a backup. Popular items sell out, and when a truck is gone, it is gone until the next pitch.
5. Expect a short window. A truck at an event may only trade for a few hours, so a trip planned for the end of the day can miss it.

How to choose what to order

A truck usually does a few things and does them fast, so choosing well matters. On a trader's Mosey page, look at the photos customers took of the food rather than of the van, and at which dishes people mention by name. The thing people keep photographing is the thing to order.

If you are standing between four stalls at a market, this is the quickest way to decide. A menu board tells you what is available; diners' photos tell you what is good.

Ordering ahead and paying

Some traders take orders ahead through Mosey, so you can order from your phone, pay, and collect when it is ready rather than standing in the queue. Where a trader offers it, this is the single best way to eat from a busy truck during a festival. See how ordering ahead works.

Where a trader runs rewards, paying through Mosey counts your visit automatically, and because the reward belongs to the business rather than the pitch, it follows the trader from one market to the next. There is more on rewards.

Rate the trucks you love

Traders depend on word of mouth more than anyone, because there is no shopfront for people to walk past. A rating with a photo of the food, and the name of what you had, is the most useful thing you can do for a truck you want to see again.

It also keeps the listing honest for everyone else: a trader's page with a dozen photos of real food is far more persuasive than any description.

Supporting Galway's independents

Food trucks and market traders are small, independent businesses with thin margins. Where a trader takes orders ahead through Mosey, it pays far less commission than delivery apps commonly charge, which is part of why Mosey is built for independents, trucks included.

The simplest support is the obvious one: turn up, tell people, and come back. Following a trader means you are part of its audience wherever it trades next.

For the wider picture, the Galway page shows places people have rated across the city, and the guide to following Galway's food scene covers following places and people more generally.

Try it on Mosey

Follow the two or three trucks and stalls you would cross town for, and switch on notifications. Next time one of them adds a pitch, you will know before you head out.