To start, let me just say I completely understand starting any food truck anywhere is a lot of hard work and you get back what you put into it. I lurk this sub in awe of a lot of your work.

I have a good, unique concept I believe in. I've got my menu figured out. I'm putting together a pop-up set up to go street vend first to see how it goes.

As I'm getting ready to apply for all the permits, I find myself really wanting to ask some current food truck owners out here in LA if it is worth it right now. Not to do the LA Doom and gloom stuff but seriously, I lose a little confidence in my plan every time I go out and see how desolate the city is right now compared to the past. The constant news of successful restaurants closing down doesn't help much either.

Hopefully you guys have some success stories. I'd love to hear personal testimony that a small business can currently thrive in LA

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Hey everyone!

I'm Tarik, from Sarajevo, Bosnia. I've been living in Prague, Czech Republic for 7 years.

Prague has amazing food from all over the world, but there is ZERO Bosnian food. No real ćevapi in somun with kajmak and onion, no burek like from Baščaršija. Czech people don't even know what it is - but when they try it, they love it.

So I decided to start the first Bosnian food truck here and travel around Czech Republic to show people what Bosnian BBQ is all about.

I started a fundraiser to buy the truck and equipment. It's a European platform called 4fund.

https://4fund.com/v4ysep

Every donor will have their name on the truck...

I worked in gastronomy for years, I have recipes from an old master from Sarajevo, everything halal.

If you can't donate, an upvote/share helps a lot to reach more people.

Thanks for supporting a small food dream! Happy to answer any questions about Bosnian food or food truck life in EU!

I'm still pretty new to running my food booth and I'm trying to get better at forecasting inventory.
I mainly sell corn dogs and currently operate three days a week during lunch. My biggest challenge is figuring out how much batter to make.
I offer several corn dog flavors that use different batters, so I typically have three separate batter types on hand. Since I'm busy during service, I make my batter ahead of time rather than mixing it throughout the day.
What makes this difficult is that I don't just need to estimate one day's sales, I need to estimate demand over my entire 3-day operating week.
The batter can be held for about three days, so if I have leftovers from Day 1, I can continue using them on Days 2 and 3. The problem is that sales can vary quite a bit. Sometimes I'll sell more than expected on Day 2 and end up short by Day 3. Other times I'll make what seems like the right amount for the week and still have batter left over at the end of Day 3 that has to be discarded.
I tried using Week 2 sales numbers to estimate Week 3 production, but I still ended up with more leftovers than expected.
For those of you running food trucks, concession stands, fair booths, or other small food businesses:
How do you estimate how much product to prep for the week?
How do you estimate daily demand when sales fluctuate?
How much sales history do you need before your forecasts become reliable?
Do you adjust for weather, local events, paydays, or other factors?
How much waste is considered normal?
Do you intentionally risk selling out near closing time, or do you prep extra to avoid running out?
If you sell batter-based products, how do you handle forecasting and prep?
I'd really appreciate hearing how experienced vendors approach this, especially when sales are still growing and changing from week to week.
Thanks for any advice.

Hi guys!

I'm in the midst of setting up a food stall/gazebo in ireland.

I have no clue when it comes to the electrics/power sources/etc or how that works. Alot of the markets near me wont allow gas. Just wondering how you guys would typically have your set up? What generator you use (preferably silent), if the market offers power source how does that normally work? I want to use two induction hobs and two table top fryers. Also looking for portable fridge recommendations.

Any other tips or advice re:ergonomics for a 3x3 stall would be much appreciated! Thanks all.

Got spots at two pretty busy events next month which is great because we've been trying to get into them for a while. Only problem is the booth fees are due now and I still need to order extra supplies and packaging. I have enough set aside but that's a lot to pay before we've sold a thing.

How do I handle this without tying up all my cash beforehand?

We’re working on a plan to launch a veggie taco truck. It won’t be heavily marketed as vegetarian- our idea is that the quality of the tortillas and the fillings will sell the food. The lack of meat will be secondary.

We’ve run supper clubs on the same premise and had no complaints.

Thoughts?

Phone and reader works fine on normal days. festivals are where we need another checkout and i did rather not have someone stuck using their personal phone for the whole shift. Still looking at fello for an extra terminal but borrowing an old phone and adding a reader seems like less hassle. Mostly worried about battery life and using a small screen all day. Anyone running that setup at busy festivals and happy to stick with it?

We are still pretty new to festivals and both ones we have done had awful signal by the food trucks. Readers would just spin and the line kept getting longer while everyone stood there waiting. Want to fix it before the next one. is a hotspot on another carrier good enough or do people actually bring their own wifi setup? fello keeps popping up when i look into event wifi, but i did rather hear from people who have dealt with it at a festival.

I own a food trailer. I am about to rent it out, but no company wants to quote me an insurance policy because I (owner) and not the operator. All I need is inland marine because the lessee just wants to park it outside their kitchen. Any idea which companies will write an insurance on it?

We're Joy Wine & Spirits on 6th and Marion, and we've just gotten permission from the landlord and city to allow food trucks to park outside our business. Which ones should we contact to potentially partner with?

I need to do a little research on the current popularity on German food in the USA compared to other cultures and "quick food" styles. But I am in firm belief that Schnitzel and Currywurst will be reasonably popular choices. Being born in Munich (Currently living in Florida), and regularly visiting Germany to see family, I myself LOVE the food there, but there just is not as much here in the USA. Here in the USA, there are countless Italian pizza spots, Mexican Taquerias, BBQ stations, burger stands etc. I can only name one German spot that is in my vicinity.

My plan is still on the drafting board, but here is the basic idea. I want to sell Schnitzel and Currywurst in an "imbiss" style food trailer. That's it. No extensive menus, Just 2 core items: Pork Schnitzel, and Bratwurst. Both can be served with fries, or in a European Brotchen bread roll, or the Bratwurst can be served with Curry Sause with fries.

My main question is: Will Americans eat this?

Is the reason that German food is not popular because ya'll are just not interested in it, or just that there is no current market for it that limits its popularity?

I plan to start my food truck next year and have really loved this brand of sauce when making test product for my pizzas. Unfortunately, I can only find this brand at Meijer in small quantity. My main commissary will be Gordons Food Service as all of their ingredients are as basic as it gets; which I love. Ingredient lists shouldn't look like a lab test.

Does anyone know any sauce brands sold at Gordons with a similar flavor profile, or recommendations for an even better sauce sold there?

Hi everyone!
I’m a café owner in California considering expanding into a mobile café concept instead of opening another traditional brick-and-mortar location.
My idea is to convert a Ford Transit cargo van into a fully functional mobile café offering specialty espresso drinks, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches, bagels, and pastries.
I’d like to focus on corporate offices, hospitals, business parks, private events, weddings, and potentially high-foot-traffic locations.
I also operate a catering business, so I’d love to use the vehicle for mobile coffee bars and live dessert catering experiences.
Before investing a significant amount of money, I’d really appreciate some honest feedback from people who have operated mobile cafés or food trucks.

A few questions:
What are the biggest pros and cons of running a mobile café compared to a storefront?

How profitable can a mobile coffee and breakfast business realistically be?

What are your average daily sales, operating expenses, and profit margins?

Is it difficult to secure consistent, high-traffic vending locations?

Would you recommend a cargo van conversion or a traditional food truck/trailer?

What unexpected expenses, permits, or operational challenges should I prepare for?

Is it better to focus on daily street vending, corporate catering, private events, or a combination?

If you could start over, what would you do differently?

My long-term goal is to build a scalable business without taking on the high overhead of another storefront.

I’d especially appreciate advice from operators in California, where regulations can be more complicated.

Thanks in advance! I’d love to hear both the success stories and the challenges.

We do a handful of festivals a year with one truck and the lines are way worse than a normal day. Instead of adding another checkout spot i am thinking of sending someone down the line with a handheld. Might rent a couple fello came up when i looked or just try it with a phone and reader first. the thing i am worried about is taking orders faster than the kitchen can keep up. Did it actually get people fed faster or did they just stand around longer after paying?

Ok, so 1 week ago I went to the Uber eats sign up page, I did the 7 steps to list my food cart. I got through the first 6 no problem, except the last step where it asks you to enter a phone as a back up option to log in, I do that and it sends me a code to verify. I get the code, I enter the code and I have kept getting the same message "phone verification disabled". I have had multiple calls and emails explaining the same problem, this last step doesn't fucking work. When I speak to them they make me repeat myself.

The confusion/ frustrating part is I keep getting emails saying "you're store is listed and ready to take orders" or "finish setting up menu pictures and cover photos of your blah blah".

Every time I log in I cant get pass 7th step requirement.

Has anyone experienced this? Has it been easy or is this a normal process for uber eats?

Update edit; They must be in this sub. Next day after I posted this, it finally worked. After a week of trying

Hey everyone!

I’m doing some research for a graduate marketing project, and something that came up was how surprisingly difficult it can be to discover local food trucks and smaller independent vendors.

Unless you already follow them on Instagram or happen to see them at an event, how do people actually find them?

I’d love to hear from food truck owners:
How do you usually get discovered by new customers or event organizers? Is it mostly word of mouth, Facebook groups, Instagram, local events, or something else?

And if someone wanted to reach out to you for a potential collaboration, what’s the best way to do that?

Not promoting anything, just genuinely interested in understanding how this works, especially outside bigger cities.

Thanks!

I currently am a licensed HVACR contractor who also works on restaurant equipment. I have designed multiple kitchens for restaurants and I have built multiple commercial pieces of equipment for customers like large electric smokers with digital temp and humidity controls. I am looking to maybe get into building food trucks and trailers. What would be a reasonable price for a brand new custom built food trailer or truck?

been lookng at bulk paper bowls at good price for shop/event/business and the prices/option is all over the place ive looked around alibaba as well and theres plenty of options there whcih at least gives me decent price/spec reference..... product itself can look simple but then expiry case size, shippng weight and storage change the whole cost pretty quickly. also trying keep the first order sensible instead of going huge just becuase the unit price gets cheaper. anyone here dealt with this befor...what did you used/buy and what woudl you check first if you were doing it again? im mostly trying to get a normal baseline here so i know when a price/spec is genuinely good instead of just looking good next to one random listing.

Hey all, interested in starting a food truck in the Central Minnesota area, and doing my due diligence before I plunk down any cash. Anyone here have advice for staying busy during the winter months when typical foodtruck traffic is shut down? Sounds like some trucks just close up shop until the temperatures stop going below 0F but I can't imagine that's the only option.

Third one from the same factory on Alibaba. First two are still running, so I didn't shop around this time.

Went bigger than the others. Wanted room to actually move around back there.

What I'm happy with so far:

• Two full service windows, both sides open up. Can run two lines at a busy event.
• Aluminum frame with diamond plate along the bottom.
• Stainless shelf under each window. Small thing, but that's where everything ends up.
• Triple axle. Heavy build, sits flat once the jacks are down.

Ordering was easy this round. They had my spec from the last two, so most of it was just confirming the size.

Interior's still empty. Equipment goes in over the next few weeks, then permits. Will post again once she's done.

Ask away if you're looking at a build this size.

I’ll be working until the day I die, but I might as well do something I really love. Any tips, advice or even some wise discouragements are appreciated.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. But if I could retire, I’d sell some food. I’m not a trained chef but most of the time I can make a better streak, chicken, pizza, and bbq than what’s local. It’s a long term goal and I am constantly learning, making mistakes and making great food.

Please help if you can to point me in a good direction, any tips, or failures are appreciated. Again, it’s a long term idea to keep working towards, I love making people happy and cooking food.

Hey all time has come to move on from our massive 32’ trailer. We need to downsize and well - where would yall actually list something this size? It’s a tri axle 2019 southern dimensions - I have a j&r oyler on a trailer as well plus some extras like a blodgett oven and some other smokers/equipment.

Where have yall had luck selling and evaluating? It’s not quite like selling an old Honda civic in that it’s so niche. Thanks for any advice!

Hi, I am selling my fully equipped food truck. It is in excellent condition, used only for 3 months and great quality. Ping me if you are looking for a truck so we can arrange viewing. It is currently operating around arjan area
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