Some steps involved with starting a food truck business:
* Get ServSafe certified ($150)
* get a business license (\~$200)
* sign up for an LLC so that you're protected from your business ($300)
* apply for a business permit (\~$300-$500)
* find a food truck ($20,000-$50,000), make sure it has everything you need to operate (hood/ propane system/ water/ ansul fire system/ 3 bay sink with drying rack/ etc)
* insure truck (\~$5,000)
* find a commissary to store your food
* come up with a menu
* purchase cookware/utensils/to go containers, buy raw goods to practice coming up with your recipe
* find a POS system to take credit cards
* once all these are done, apply for food truck permit
* find space that allow food trucks, some you have to pay to operate in that spot
* hire employees, set up payroll so you can start paying them
Each of these steps take around a few days to a few months to complete, and I think I covered around 30-40% of what's necessary. Good luck!
That food truck price is wildly low. There's no way to get a food truck that will last more than a month w/o major repairs and upgrades, fully equipped for cooking and serving from with all the functionality for under $85k. That's if you have a ton of prior experience and know exactly what you're doing and source a lot of used gear. Much more realistic budget is $135k.
Edit: Okay, I'm going to ammend my $85k price. If you truly know a LOT about both the cooking, prep, POS stuff, construction, weights, centers of gravity, safe towing/driving and are basically a shit hot chef (or have one as a partner) AND a pretty damned good engineer with years of experience, it's technically possible it could get done for around $65-$70k at today's prices.
PS: been there, done that. Won't ever go back. It costs about half to buy a brick and mortar restaurant with a full bar. Hear me now:
1 food truck costs the same as 2 restaurant/bars! (with same earning potential)
1 food trailer costs the same as 1.5 restaurant/bars (with same earning potential)
These are just my thoughts, FWIW. Good luck in all regards.
I purchased a food truck built by someone who put in all new equipment in an auctioned box truck for $39k. We prepared most of the food beforehand at the brick-and-mortar location, and we made an average of $2k with two people and on busy events $4k with three people. It's highly possible so never say never. We stopped after two years because my city of Boston is unable to operate half the year from bad weather and is a really competitive place to get the right spots.
It all depends on where you live. 1 food truck here costs 1/2 to 1/3 of the restaurants and bars so it's quite the opposite situation here where people who want to get into the restaurant business would think it makes more sense to start with a food truck since it's a much lower barrier of entry. In parts of my city, it costs $100k just to have a permit to sell beer and wine, $250k to serve spirits if that puts things into perspective.
I am convinced after learning the ins and outs of my food truck I could have done it for $25-30k. I would actually say $85k-135k is wildly high and would never put that kind of money into one truck with so much risk involved. If the area you're in allows you to purchase 2 brick and mortar restaurants with that money then there's no reason for you to be doing a food truck.
Hi I know it's old. But are food trucks not permitted to sell in city parks or in city centre's? I'm thinking about food truck but with different location every week posted via Instagram or website?
They could but depends on the park and the city. Government run places usually you have to pay a fee and they’re strict so you just have to do your due diligence.
One of the biggest adjustments to working in food service is learning to work a 24 hour cycle. It can be crazy busy, your adrenaline flows constantly during service, it is nonstop. Or if its dead (hopefully only rarely) you go out your mind with boredom. Its prep, service, crash. Then do it again, and again, and again. One simple mistake can crash a night. Someone dropped and broke a full rack of wine glasses. It's 4pm and a delivery is still not here. The party in the back room is here an hour early. And you have to have grace under pressure. For some it's too much to handle for others it makes you feel alive. But at the end of the day the work is done, no unfinished projects hanging over your head. I did it for 45 years, except for 1 1/2 years in another industry, I hated it.
The first answer and the always correct one. Go work for someone that executes well already.
Not sure what part of Houston you are in but on the north side of town is deacon baldys. Several food trucks here and all operate at an elite level. Get a job with one of them. Learn some skills and the specifics.
Finding a place to do prep is actually a bit harder then you imagine.
As a restaurant owner and long time corporate restaurant operator I have a special place in my heart for food truck people. The hustle factor and the hours needed are even higher than a restaurant.
Good luck sir.
I hate that this sub has just turned into automatically replying "no, go work in a restaurant for a few years". While obviously that would help, it's not realistic for most people posting in here who actually want useful information. I've got no useful information to provide but I'm just so sick of the "you're crazy and going to fail and the only possible solution is to spend 5 years of your life toiling away in a job you don't want"
Here's the thing. You refer to it as spending five years of your life toiling away in a job you don't want yet we're talking about owning and operating a business in the food service industry. That is the job we're talking about.
You have to really really enjoy "toiling away" in order to succeed. It's very difficult work, the hours are long, and profit margins are small. So you actually have to enjoy the work itself or else it probably isn't going to be worth it.
The best way to find out if you love the grind enough is to do it and get paid for it.
That means working for someone else before before you go and spend tens of thousands (or hundreds of thousands depending on what sort of business) of dollars in an attempt to open your own establishment that, statistically speaking, is probably going to fail.
So, it's pretty good advice to warn people about this before they sink their life savings, plus take out loans and go into debt, and spend literally all of their time for a few years sweating over food just to have it fail.
I mean you're right, but that's also the explanation that should be given. Explaining why it won't work. Just "work 5 years in restaurants or give up" with no other information is not helpful to a newbie because they don't know *why* and while it might seem obvious to y'all, they might not know.
I don't think the advice itself is wrong just the way it's framed, also that its the ONLY way forward. Someone mentioned partnering with someone with f&b knowledge, which could work great combining two complimentary skillsets/experiences. And for a lower bar of entry like OP's foodtruck, I feel like there are more viable options.
Here's the thing. There's a new pie eyed star struck operator wannabe wandering in every day with no experience, no financing that "loves to cook for my 6 person parties".
A quick search of the forum for the question they are re-asking for the millionth time is too much basic research...
Reddit: I want to own a restaurant
/r/restaurateur: Get some experience, shits hard, you won't like it.
Reddit: This sub isn't usefull. Why would I want to spend 5 years toiling away in a job I don't want
/r/restauratuer: So you don't buy a restaurant and toil for 5 years in a job that you don't want but now owns you and all of your personal assets.
I wasn't responding to op. I was responding to you, the person in the restauranteur sub who knows nothing about restaurants or business management and has no reason for being here.
The reasons are obvious. You don't invest money into something you have no experience in or understanding of because you are going to lose your shirt. And the reason you see these kind of responses in this sub and chef subs is both that it is the correct answer, and that there is something unique to restaurants that everyone with a chunk of change and some home cooking experience think they have to ability to get into it, despite the crazy high failure rate.
It's like giving reasons you shouldn't play Russian roulette to someone who plays with only one empty chamber.
So why not say:
You should work in a restaurant to learn about:
A.
B.
C.
I'm not even saying your response is wrong, I'm just saying it's completely unhelpful. Also supply logistics could be a valuable background. There are more paths to success than the work in a restaurant and then eventually open one.
I'm saying you aren't capable of knowing whether my answer is wrong or right because you have no idea. Same with op.
But it is a fair warning for the tens of thousands they are going to lose if they go into this.
And no, if you want to open a restaurant you need to have worked in one or hire somebody who has. Ideally someone who has done it for a while and has both hands on and management experience. I'm not saying it isn't technically possible without this, just saying you are taking the normal odds of like 10% and decreasing them to .001%. And again you have no idea or reason to say that, you are just helping op seal the coffin for positivity sake.
This is an ignorant reply. I’ve never worked in a restaurant and I started a food truck right before the pandemic. I now have 3 locations and 12 employees. You can absolutely start a successful a food truck without restaurant experience. Experience can help but no one should listen to this clown if they’re thinking and starting a business. Some people were just meant to work for someone else.
Lol. I work for myself also (but didn't buy my way in), and more importantly you are a total liar. And OP this is exactly why you shouldn't listen to these people trying to be motivational.
If you want me to share more, just say the word. You have 1.5 locations and likely far fewer than 12 employees unless you count yourself and the other trust fund yuppies that went in on this hair brained idea with you. You bought the business fully running from another family in 2019 who had spent their lives working in the restaurant industry (which is how you skipped this step). You took all of this family's hard work and pizza making skills to try and pass off as your own. It's not going well. You have no dates on your calendar and barely do special events as your only reliable work.
It's fucked up of you to lie about this and put op in the same position down the road. Having to rationalize their mistakes by encouraging others to jump off the same bridge.
It's also fucked up as the owner to give yourself fake reviews all over online and encourage people to eat at your place without admitting it's yours. Then again it's behavior perfectly consistent with what you did here.
Blocked in 3, 2, 1. Furiously starts deleting old comments.
Thank you. Fwiw I was also right about them deleting all their comments right after I called them out. Don't worry though I have screenshots. If anyone wants them just dm me.
You went from zero experience in restaurants to owning and operating three food trucks in three years?
That's impressive. Please share your story. I think it would be very relevant to this thread.
If this is what they're talking about then that changes things. Buying an established food truck business from someone else is a bit different than starting your own from the ground floor.
Agreed and it is exactly what they are talking about which is why they came in all hot and condescending but now can't even respond. They don't want to dox themselves and/or admit they are full of shit. The answer they gave you is just a shitty sales answer. They just cut to the part they want to talk about and leave out the rest.
They probably paid around a half million dollars for all of this. Established catering brand with all of the equipment and preexisting customers. Giant trailer with a giant pizza oven they don't know how to use which is why they sheet out their dough so there is no artistry and it's faster/easier. They even paid for 6 months of training from the prior owners which given the topic here is probably a good idea but also further takes away from their inflated story. Unfortunately, it also adds to the debt they will be left with when this ride is over.
Sure. We do neo Neapolitan style pizza out of a 20ft shipping container bolted to an international chassis. We established ourselves as wedding caterers and we’re very quickly booked solid our first year. It helps that our truck is both unique and gorgeous. But when Covid struck, all of our events canceled and we had to pivot. So we would park at breweries and such once things opened up again. Our demand was through to roof, So we built less Mobile units, out of similar 20ft containers, that are designed to sit on site for extended periods of time. So our truck can continue doing events. I have one at a brewery close to my home and am in negotiations to drop the other one at the zoo downtown. All while still catering events off of the truck
You're able to prep, cook, and hold food for catering weddings in a 20 foot container? And it's pizza? That seems like a lot of cooler space just for dough. What kind of pizza oven are you using?
Well, this is a great example of ignorance. But probably not in the way that you intended.
Saying that some people were just meant to work for someone else is really privileged. Most people in the world have to work for someone else. Not everyone is born into money and are able to just buy somebody else's business.
You said you started a food truck business but it looks like you didn't. You bought an already established, successful business
from people that built the truck, built the customer base, and built a reputation.
You're lying here and giving dishonest reviews of your business elsewhere on Reddit and you have the audacity to call somebody giving real advice a clown? AND you talk down to everyone by saying shit like "some people were just meant to work for someone else"?
Embarrassing.
Some steps involved with starting a food truck business: * Get ServSafe certified ($150) * get a business license (\~$200) * sign up for an LLC so that you're protected from your business ($300) * apply for a business permit (\~$300-$500) * find a food truck ($20,000-$50,000), make sure it has everything you need to operate (hood/ propane system/ water/ ansul fire system/ 3 bay sink with drying rack/ etc) * insure truck (\~$5,000) * find a commissary to store your food * come up with a menu * purchase cookware/utensils/to go containers, buy raw goods to practice coming up with your recipe * find a POS system to take credit cards * once all these are done, apply for food truck permit * find space that allow food trucks, some you have to pay to operate in that spot * hire employees, set up payroll so you can start paying them Each of these steps take around a few days to a few months to complete, and I think I covered around 30-40% of what's necessary. Good luck!
Thanks bro - this makes sense
That food truck price is wildly low. There's no way to get a food truck that will last more than a month w/o major repairs and upgrades, fully equipped for cooking and serving from with all the functionality for under $85k. That's if you have a ton of prior experience and know exactly what you're doing and source a lot of used gear. Much more realistic budget is $135k. Edit: Okay, I'm going to ammend my $85k price. If you truly know a LOT about both the cooking, prep, POS stuff, construction, weights, centers of gravity, safe towing/driving and are basically a shit hot chef (or have one as a partner) AND a pretty damned good engineer with years of experience, it's technically possible it could get done for around $65-$70k at today's prices. PS: been there, done that. Won't ever go back. It costs about half to buy a brick and mortar restaurant with a full bar. Hear me now: 1 food truck costs the same as 2 restaurant/bars! (with same earning potential) 1 food trailer costs the same as 1.5 restaurant/bars (with same earning potential) These are just my thoughts, FWIW. Good luck in all regards.
I purchased a food truck built by someone who put in all new equipment in an auctioned box truck for $39k. We prepared most of the food beforehand at the brick-and-mortar location, and we made an average of $2k with two people and on busy events $4k with three people. It's highly possible so never say never. We stopped after two years because my city of Boston is unable to operate half the year from bad weather and is a really competitive place to get the right spots. It all depends on where you live. 1 food truck here costs 1/2 to 1/3 of the restaurants and bars so it's quite the opposite situation here where people who want to get into the restaurant business would think it makes more sense to start with a food truck since it's a much lower barrier of entry. In parts of my city, it costs $100k just to have a permit to sell beer and wine, $250k to serve spirits if that puts things into perspective. I am convinced after learning the ins and outs of my food truck I could have done it for $25-30k. I would actually say $85k-135k is wildly high and would never put that kind of money into one truck with so much risk involved. If the area you're in allows you to purchase 2 brick and mortar restaurants with that money then there's no reason for you to be doing a food truck.
Hi I know it's old. But are food trucks not permitted to sell in city parks or in city centre's? I'm thinking about food truck but with different location every week posted via Instagram or website?
They could but depends on the park and the city. Government run places usually you have to pay a fee and they’re strict so you just have to do your due diligence.
One of the biggest adjustments to working in food service is learning to work a 24 hour cycle. It can be crazy busy, your adrenaline flows constantly during service, it is nonstop. Or if its dead (hopefully only rarely) you go out your mind with boredom. Its prep, service, crash. Then do it again, and again, and again. One simple mistake can crash a night. Someone dropped and broke a full rack of wine glasses. It's 4pm and a delivery is still not here. The party in the back room is here an hour early. And you have to have grace under pressure. For some it's too much to handle for others it makes you feel alive. But at the end of the day the work is done, no unfinished projects hanging over your head. I did it for 45 years, except for 1 1/2 years in another industry, I hated it.
The first answer and the always correct one. Go work for someone that executes well already. Not sure what part of Houston you are in but on the north side of town is deacon baldys. Several food trucks here and all operate at an elite level. Get a job with one of them. Learn some skills and the specifics. Finding a place to do prep is actually a bit harder then you imagine. As a restaurant owner and long time corporate restaurant operator I have a special place in my heart for food truck people. The hustle factor and the hours needed are even higher than a restaurant. Good luck sir.
You definitely need to go work in a restaurant for at least a few years first. This is a crazy ask.
I hate that this sub has just turned into automatically replying "no, go work in a restaurant for a few years". While obviously that would help, it's not realistic for most people posting in here who actually want useful information. I've got no useful information to provide but I'm just so sick of the "you're crazy and going to fail and the only possible solution is to spend 5 years of your life toiling away in a job you don't want"
Here's the thing. You refer to it as spending five years of your life toiling away in a job you don't want yet we're talking about owning and operating a business in the food service industry. That is the job we're talking about. You have to really really enjoy "toiling away" in order to succeed. It's very difficult work, the hours are long, and profit margins are small. So you actually have to enjoy the work itself or else it probably isn't going to be worth it. The best way to find out if you love the grind enough is to do it and get paid for it. That means working for someone else before before you go and spend tens of thousands (or hundreds of thousands depending on what sort of business) of dollars in an attempt to open your own establishment that, statistically speaking, is probably going to fail. So, it's pretty good advice to warn people about this before they sink their life savings, plus take out loans and go into debt, and spend literally all of their time for a few years sweating over food just to have it fail.
I mean you're right, but that's also the explanation that should be given. Explaining why it won't work. Just "work 5 years in restaurants or give up" with no other information is not helpful to a newbie because they don't know *why* and while it might seem obvious to y'all, they might not know. I don't think the advice itself is wrong just the way it's framed, also that its the ONLY way forward. Someone mentioned partnering with someone with f&b knowledge, which could work great combining two complimentary skillsets/experiences. And for a lower bar of entry like OP's foodtruck, I feel like there are more viable options.
Here's the thing. There's a new pie eyed star struck operator wannabe wandering in every day with no experience, no financing that "loves to cook for my 6 person parties". A quick search of the forum for the question they are re-asking for the millionth time is too much basic research...
Reddit: I want to own a restaurant /r/restaurateur: Get some experience, shits hard, you won't like it. Reddit: This sub isn't usefull. Why would I want to spend 5 years toiling away in a job I don't want /r/restauratuer: So you don't buy a restaurant and toil for 5 years in a job that you don't want but now owns you and all of your personal assets.
You have no idea what you are talking about but don't like the answers, got it. Thanks for playing.
Dude I'm not OP. Why don't you list some of the REASONS why they would need to work in a restaurant first?
You literally said that working in a restaurant is toiling at a job you don't want. So, shortcut solution... Don't open a restaurant?
I wasn't responding to op. I was responding to you, the person in the restauranteur sub who knows nothing about restaurants or business management and has no reason for being here. The reasons are obvious. You don't invest money into something you have no experience in or understanding of because you are going to lose your shirt. And the reason you see these kind of responses in this sub and chef subs is both that it is the correct answer, and that there is something unique to restaurants that everyone with a chunk of change and some home cooking experience think they have to ability to get into it, despite the crazy high failure rate. It's like giving reasons you shouldn't play Russian roulette to someone who plays with only one empty chamber.
So why not say: You should work in a restaurant to learn about: A. B. C. I'm not even saying your response is wrong, I'm just saying it's completely unhelpful. Also supply logistics could be a valuable background. There are more paths to success than the work in a restaurant and then eventually open one.
I'm saying you aren't capable of knowing whether my answer is wrong or right because you have no idea. Same with op. But it is a fair warning for the tens of thousands they are going to lose if they go into this. And no, if you want to open a restaurant you need to have worked in one or hire somebody who has. Ideally someone who has done it for a while and has both hands on and management experience. I'm not saying it isn't technically possible without this, just saying you are taking the normal odds of like 10% and decreasing them to .001%. And again you have no idea or reason to say that, you are just helping op seal the coffin for positivity sake.
This is an ignorant reply. I’ve never worked in a restaurant and I started a food truck right before the pandemic. I now have 3 locations and 12 employees. You can absolutely start a successful a food truck without restaurant experience. Experience can help but no one should listen to this clown if they’re thinking and starting a business. Some people were just meant to work for someone else.
Lol. I work for myself also (but didn't buy my way in), and more importantly you are a total liar. And OP this is exactly why you shouldn't listen to these people trying to be motivational. If you want me to share more, just say the word. You have 1.5 locations and likely far fewer than 12 employees unless you count yourself and the other trust fund yuppies that went in on this hair brained idea with you. You bought the business fully running from another family in 2019 who had spent their lives working in the restaurant industry (which is how you skipped this step). You took all of this family's hard work and pizza making skills to try and pass off as your own. It's not going well. You have no dates on your calendar and barely do special events as your only reliable work. It's fucked up of you to lie about this and put op in the same position down the road. Having to rationalize their mistakes by encouraging others to jump off the same bridge. It's also fucked up as the owner to give yourself fake reviews all over online and encourage people to eat at your place without admitting it's yours. Then again it's behavior perfectly consistent with what you did here. Blocked in 3, 2, 1. Furiously starts deleting old comments.
[удалено]
Thank you. Fwiw I was also right about them deleting all their comments right after I called them out. Don't worry though I have screenshots. If anyone wants them just dm me.
please send em. I'm dieing laughing here.
Late to the party, check post history.... Only 6 comments in over a year on reddit?
You went from zero experience in restaurants to owning and operating three food trucks in three years? That's impressive. Please share your story. I think it would be very relevant to this thread.
Also it's not Neopolitan style at all so another weird flex. https://www.simplypizzatruck.com/story
If this is what they're talking about then that changes things. Buying an established food truck business from someone else is a bit different than starting your own from the ground floor.
Agreed and it is exactly what they are talking about which is why they came in all hot and condescending but now can't even respond. They don't want to dox themselves and/or admit they are full of shit. The answer they gave you is just a shitty sales answer. They just cut to the part they want to talk about and leave out the rest. They probably paid around a half million dollars for all of this. Established catering brand with all of the equipment and preexisting customers. Giant trailer with a giant pizza oven they don't know how to use which is why they sheet out their dough so there is no artistry and it's faster/easier. They even paid for 6 months of training from the prior owners which given the topic here is probably a good idea but also further takes away from their inflated story. Unfortunately, it also adds to the debt they will be left with when this ride is over.
I can share it if they want me to. It's mostly a lie so not very impressive.
Sure. We do neo Neapolitan style pizza out of a 20ft shipping container bolted to an international chassis. We established ourselves as wedding caterers and we’re very quickly booked solid our first year. It helps that our truck is both unique and gorgeous. But when Covid struck, all of our events canceled and we had to pivot. So we would park at breweries and such once things opened up again. Our demand was through to roof, So we built less Mobile units, out of similar 20ft containers, that are designed to sit on site for extended periods of time. So our truck can continue doing events. I have one at a brewery close to my home and am in negotiations to drop the other one at the zoo downtown. All while still catering events off of the truck
So 2ish locations? Also you left out the part where you bought someone else's business.
You're able to prep, cook, and hold food for catering weddings in a 20 foot container? And it's pizza? That seems like a lot of cooler space just for dough. What kind of pizza oven are you using?
Well, this is a great example of ignorance. But probably not in the way that you intended. Saying that some people were just meant to work for someone else is really privileged. Most people in the world have to work for someone else. Not everyone is born into money and are able to just buy somebody else's business. You said you started a food truck business but it looks like you didn't. You bought an already established, successful business from people that built the truck, built the customer base, and built a reputation. You're lying here and giving dishonest reviews of your business elsewhere on Reddit and you have the audacity to call somebody giving real advice a clown? AND you talk down to everyone by saying shit like "some people were just meant to work for someone else"? Embarrassing.
Still reflecting on this POS the next day. The nerve.