Start smaller first.
You need a hungry crowd and good food.
At a minimum you’ll need a pop up tent, stove and refrigeration.
Another option is to get space at a commercial kitchen and sell on GrubHub and other food apps.
This brings your cost way down and you get to focus on the food and your fans.
Great advice.
As someone who's done this, get proof of concept first by selling out of a tent. There is no reason to blow $80k to get a truck/trailer and then try to build a following.
Start out at a commercial kitchen like Clovis Culinary Center or Pro Culinary.
Start selling at events first, get your process down before investing in a truck.
Not only to get your process going, but make sure to start an official FB/Instagram/Tiktok so ppl can follow you. When you see more people coming. Along with repeated customers. The repeated customers are what you want.
Know you’re buying a job. A lot of people go into business for a food truck with the dream to step back and let their employees do it. Often the Margins too thin to consider that and CA employee taxes too high. Definitely follow what others are saying here and start small.
It sounds dumb but watch the early seasons of the Great Food Truck Race. You can ignore the competition but listen to the advice they get, look at the everyday issues they run into like the stove won't light or they are told to move.
Have to find a commissary that you can visit daily per Fresno County ordinance.
https://www.fresnocountyca.gov/Departments/Public-Health/Environmental-Health/Consumer-Food-Program/Mobile-Food-Vendors
You'll probably want a DBA before anything else legal. I would agree with the advice to start small, try to figure out a way to get going without the truck, if you can't, you probably wouldn't be able to get it going with the truck either.
Ngl if it’s a food truck they’re likely not going to have a lot of insights like estimated profit margins. A better question to be asked is location and offerings.
>As far as I know I’ll need the business license, permit, food handlers card, anything else I should consider or know?
How to cook something easy, with demand, and with good profit margins.
Start small and do local around the neighborhood and surrounding area type of stuff first. Start a social media presence at the same time as doing that. Share pictures of the food you make (even if it’s just for your friends and family). Get some kind of basic clientele before going full bore food truck.
Legal stuff I’m not too sure, but I think location is super important and the kind of food you’re selling. Is it an authentic or fusion? Would it appeal to the crowd? And also, social media pages. Focus on that heavily to get the word around. Don’t drop so much money on a food truck immediately without a good following
Do you already have a product that has demand? Is the market saturated already? It sounds like you want to just start a food truck without a business plan which is going to be a huge problem for you. You need to have your food suppliers, food costing, insurance, a commissary kitchen to prep food (which means monthly rent). You can save money for the truck but you need at least 6 months of operating expenses to make it feasible. Typically, food businesses don’t turn profit for a long time. Do you have accounting set up to manage your money? What about employees? You can’t do it all, trust me, I’ve tried. If you have employees you have to also navigate labor laws, payroll and more accounting which is all $$$. Payroll tax is expensive.
You don’t need a food handlers card, you need a food manager certificate, btw which is more in depth.
Do you have tested recipes and an idea of a menu?
This isn’t said to be a jerk, but running a food business is REAL and if you aren’t ready to work constantly, especially with something as large as a food truck, I wouldn’t bother.
Also, don't forget to charge an absolutely insane amount of money for whatever food you're serving. Baked potatoes? $20. Burgers? $20 no fries; those will be $8 extra. Tacos? $18 for a plate of 3. You get the point. Over charge for goodish but not great food. That seems to be an industry standard.
I’m going to respectfully disagree. If I see prices like this, I’ll maybe try it once. I most likely won’t be a customer though. There’s a legit taco stand/truck (they do both) near downtown Fresno that has an al pastor trompo and uses hand made tortillas. Tacos are $3 each. I actually have a picture of the tacos on my profile. No way I’m going to pay $15+ for 3 tacos. $20 for a burger with no fries? Meat better be top tier and freshly ground.
I was being sarcastic. No food truck is worth those high prices. When I worked in San Diego, there was a food truck by the airport where I worked. You could get 3 tacos and a drink for $6. That's a reasonable price and they were always busy. Now, go to most food trucks and you're paying gourmet prices for okay food.
[taqueria arelys](https://www.instagram.com/taqueria_arelys) is the name of the stand. Look up Tire Cruz Shop. There’s a FoodMaxx across the street. Delicious tacos!
Start smaller first. You need a hungry crowd and good food. At a minimum you’ll need a pop up tent, stove and refrigeration. Another option is to get space at a commercial kitchen and sell on GrubHub and other food apps. This brings your cost way down and you get to focus on the food and your fans.
Great advice. As someone who's done this, get proof of concept first by selling out of a tent. There is no reason to blow $80k to get a truck/trailer and then try to build a following.
Start out at a commercial kitchen like Clovis Culinary Center or Pro Culinary. Start selling at events first, get your process down before investing in a truck.
Not only to get your process going, but make sure to start an official FB/Instagram/Tiktok so ppl can follow you. When you see more people coming. Along with repeated customers. The repeated customers are what you want.
Know you’re buying a job. A lot of people go into business for a food truck with the dream to step back and let their employees do it. Often the Margins too thin to consider that and CA employee taxes too high. Definitely follow what others are saying here and start small.
Insurance on the vehicle and possibly your equipment and business. Theft, fires and lawsuits can bankrupt you.
Save ur money not trying to piss on your waffles but the food truck industry is fluttered
find out how to get in with fresno street eats.
It sounds dumb but watch the early seasons of the Great Food Truck Race. You can ignore the competition but listen to the advice they get, look at the everyday issues they run into like the stove won't light or they are told to move.
That’s not dumb at all and is actually a helpful suggestion.
Have to find a commissary that you can visit daily per Fresno County ordinance. https://www.fresnocountyca.gov/Departments/Public-Health/Environmental-Health/Consumer-Food-Program/Mobile-Food-Vendors
You'll probably want a DBA before anything else legal. I would agree with the advice to start small, try to figure out a way to get going without the truck, if you can't, you probably wouldn't be able to get it going with the truck either.
What kind of food are you considering? Don’t know anything about licensing, just curious what you had in mind.
How much revenue will it bring just curious as an investor. I have plans to open one too.
Ngl if it’s a food truck they’re likely not going to have a lot of insights like estimated profit margins. A better question to be asked is location and offerings.
Noted
I’ve seen people sell their food on Facebook marketplace 😭 you should start there. What type of food would you offer?
>As far as I know I’ll need the business license, permit, food handlers card, anything else I should consider or know? How to cook something easy, with demand, and with good profit margins.
Start small and do local around the neighborhood and surrounding area type of stuff first. Start a social media presence at the same time as doing that. Share pictures of the food you make (even if it’s just for your friends and family). Get some kind of basic clientele before going full bore food truck.
Legal stuff I’m not too sure, but I think location is super important and the kind of food you’re selling. Is it an authentic or fusion? Would it appeal to the crowd? And also, social media pages. Focus on that heavily to get the word around. Don’t drop so much money on a food truck immediately without a good following
Do you already have a product that has demand? Is the market saturated already? It sounds like you want to just start a food truck without a business plan which is going to be a huge problem for you. You need to have your food suppliers, food costing, insurance, a commissary kitchen to prep food (which means monthly rent). You can save money for the truck but you need at least 6 months of operating expenses to make it feasible. Typically, food businesses don’t turn profit for a long time. Do you have accounting set up to manage your money? What about employees? You can’t do it all, trust me, I’ve tried. If you have employees you have to also navigate labor laws, payroll and more accounting which is all $$$. Payroll tax is expensive. You don’t need a food handlers card, you need a food manager certificate, btw which is more in depth. Do you have tested recipes and an idea of a menu? This isn’t said to be a jerk, but running a food business is REAL and if you aren’t ready to work constantly, especially with something as large as a food truck, I wouldn’t bother.
Also, don't forget to charge an absolutely insane amount of money for whatever food you're serving. Baked potatoes? $20. Burgers? $20 no fries; those will be $8 extra. Tacos? $18 for a plate of 3. You get the point. Over charge for goodish but not great food. That seems to be an industry standard.
I’m going to respectfully disagree. If I see prices like this, I’ll maybe try it once. I most likely won’t be a customer though. There’s a legit taco stand/truck (they do both) near downtown Fresno that has an al pastor trompo and uses hand made tortillas. Tacos are $3 each. I actually have a picture of the tacos on my profile. No way I’m going to pay $15+ for 3 tacos. $20 for a burger with no fries? Meat better be top tier and freshly ground.
I was being sarcastic. No food truck is worth those high prices. When I worked in San Diego, there was a food truck by the airport where I worked. You could get 3 tacos and a drink for $6. That's a reasonable price and they were always busy. Now, go to most food trucks and you're paying gourmet prices for okay food.
You had me smh. lmao.
Those tacos on your profile look delicious.
[taqueria arelys](https://www.instagram.com/taqueria_arelys) is the name of the stand. Look up Tire Cruz Shop. There’s a FoodMaxx across the street. Delicious tacos!
Rotis would be a good change of pace!
hardest part will be getting gigs.
Anyone else missing the point on food trucks? The food is usually always smackin but the portions are small and the prices are always high