The dream version of this business is an $80,000 truck with a custom wrap and a brand-new kitchen. The real starting version costs under $15,000, a used truck or a towable concession trailer.
You do not need the new build to serve your first plate. A used truck with a working kitchen gets you legal and cooking for a fraction of the price, and a trailer is often the smarter buy: you are not paying for, insuring, and maintaining an engine that sits parked most of the day.
Here is the cost almost nobody quotes you: the commissary. Most cities will not let you prep or store food in the truck overnight. You are required to work out of a licensed commissary kitchen, and that is a monthly bill you have to plan for from day one. Call your county health department and ask two things before you buy anything: what the commissary rule is, and what the permit and inspection process costs. Both vary wildly by county and both can sink a budget that ignored them.
Prove the menu before you finance the metal. Rent a stall at a farmers market or a booth at an event for a few hundred dollars and cook your top five items to real customers. You will learn your prep times, your food cost, and which dishes actually sell, for the price of a slow Saturday instead of an $80,000 loan.
The rest, the permit checklist, commissary math, and the menu-test playbook, is in the full plan:
See the full food truck business plan →
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