The Challenge
Maui Food Trucks came to me after a frustrating experience with another developer that left them with a poorly functioning site, missing features, and a lot of headaches. The idea—a living directory of food trucks across Maui with dynamic maps and owner dashboards—was exciting, but the execution had stalled. The client felt stuck, disappointed, and unsure who to trust with such an important project.
My Approach
The first step was listening. I wanted to understand not only what wasn’t working with the site, but also what the vision really was: a resource that locals and visitors could rely on to find food trucks, and a simple, professional way for truck owners to manage their listings.
From there, I created a clear roadmap:
- Rebuild the site on WordPress with Bricks Builder for flexibility and speed.
- Use JetEngine custom post types and relationships to structure the data (trucks, cuisines, locations, events).
- Design an interactive map that made discovering trucks easy.
- Set up a dashboard for truck owners to log in and update their own listings, including their location so hungry customers can find them across the island.
- Implement a subscription model and e-commerce solution
The Solution
The new Maui Food Trucks site launched as a dynamic, community-driven directory.
- Visitors can browse trucks by location, cuisine, or events, with map filtering.
- Food truck owners have their own easy-to-use dashboard to update hours, menus, and locations.
- Subscriptions are handled seamlessly, supporting a self-sustaining business model.
- Behind the scenes, the site is built for long-term growth, with a solid data structure and hosting optimized for performance.
The Results
The client finally had the website they envisioned—one that not only looked great but actually worked for both audiences: hungry locals/tourists and busy truck owners. They could move forward confidently, proud to share the site with the Maui community.
This project is a great example of how the right process and tools can turn a stressful, half-finished site into a thriving platform.
