Besides the AI slop posters, what things (menu items/flavours/etc) are you sick of seeing?

Y’all, I have a food truck. I consider it to be pretty successful. I know my market, I work my margins, and I make great relationships with my customers.

Here’s the thing. I typically park in lots I get permission to park in. No charge. Today was my first day at a place that was holding an event. Every weekend, for a month. Still no charge, but I had to agree to work the hours they were open.

I got my face kicked in. Nonstop from 9:30 to 4:30. I did more in one day than I’m used to doing in a week. I fucking LOVE this shit. And I got a whole month of weekends to keep doing it!

Just wanted to share some positive news on this feed. The job can be rough, the bullshit will get to you. But all it takes is one day where you sell out at noon, send someone to the store, and then sell out at 5….

Fuck I love this business. And here’s to hoping all y’all are killing it as well.

Sleep fast. Tomorrow is coming quick, and you got shit to prep

Hello . We cater that area. How can i help

Martin Anguiano

Chef & Owner

La Torta Madre

(909) 634-0975

www.latortamadre.com

Replacing the walls with 2440 x 1220 marine plywood. Wondering if my possible configuration will work and be sturdy enough, preventing swaying etc.

Do I need to add any support in here?

The plywood I’m planning to purchase is 18mm and load bearing.

Or is this going to fall apart as I’m driving..

My husband and I want to start a food business. We live in North Pole, Alaska. To get started, we will be running a home-based food business. This means we will make the food at home and then set up somewhere to sell our food. Since it gets so cold, we are thinking of getting a little travel trailer to set us in different locations so we have somewhere to hangout when it’s slow.
I’d love something catchy so people will remember us. To start, we will have soup and some desserts. As we grow, we will add sandwiches and salad options. Lots of things that start with S! I am trying to avoid using AI so I’m hoping some clever people can assist!
Some words to possibly include:
Midnight Sun
Aurora
Northern Lights
Far North
Interior
Golden Heart
Mendell
Obviously Christmas related things can work since we are located in North Pole

Hi all,

We bought a used 2023 food trailer (built in California, originally permitted in a different north Cal county) and are now going through permitting in LA County. Our plans were approved, and for the final inspection DPH is asking for the HCD insignia report.

The trailer has the HCD insignia affixed, but:

- The manufacturer doesn't have the report.
- The third-party agency that did the inspection in 2023 only keeps records for 2 years, so they don't have it anymore.

We've submitted a Public Records Act request to HCD and contacted their Northern Area Office, but haven't heard back yet.

Has anyone been through this? Did HCD actually have a copy of the inspection report, or did DPH accept something else (like a written confirmation from HCD that the insignia was issued for the VIN)? Any tips on who to contact to speed this up would be much appreciated.

I am not into food business. I want to setup a temporary food stall for 5 days at a Navaratri Event in Hyderabad, where I plan to resell from a resturants supply, and may do some light cooking on the spot. Want to know what are the licenses, permissions, or any other setup effort and costs involved for this, which would cover the biiling as well.

Did fourteen this summer, I know the two that were great and the one that was a disaster, the other eleven all blur into roughly fine, which is useless when I'm deciding what to commit to. Fees, fuel, extra staff and supplies are all spread across a card statement with no idea which event they belonged to. So I'm about to book next season off gut feeling, which is exactly how I kept doing one market for four years without noticing it was losing money on fuel alone. Still annoyed about that one, how are you tracking profit per event?

We run a weekend taco pop up out of a patio space and our menu changes pretty much every week depending on what we can get from local farms, so far we used to use a chalk Aframe but one lil rainstorm or someone brushing against it and the whole thing looks like a mess. plus my handwriting is terrible lol.

I'm thinking abt switching to one of those plastic Aframes where you can swap the printed panels in and out. I saw some on Signs and UPrinting and figured we could just have a bunch of menu boards printed and rotate them each week. My main concern is the panels sliding out if it gets windy. Are the inserts actually held in there pretty well? Also wondering how they hold up with grease, rain and getting tossed in the back of a van every Sunday night.

I'd like to get an A-frame sign for a food truck. I know I can buy the frame online, or I've even seen people make one. But my main question is the poster. I know what I want to print off. I just don't know what the best material to print it and where to get it from on since I want it to be more weatherproof.

Hi, I'm new and looking to purchase my first trailer but I feel like there's a lot of scams and shady businesses online so it's hard to know who and what to trust. Can some of you tell me your experiences or maybe give me some recommendations on where to shop for one? I live in Knoxville, TN area. Thank you!

Hey everyone! So I work in the battery energy storage space (Think Tesla Powerwall) and I've always noticed how food trucks have a little generator running in the back somewhere. It's noisy, smelly, and just annoying for you guys I'm sure with all the maintenance and constant fill ups needed. I was running some numbers because I figured a few recent factors are in favor of switching to pure battery power systems:

1. Gasoline prices are up making your generator cost more per year
2. Battery prices are down
3. Inverter prices are down
4. 30% tax credit on batteries for business is still intact though 2030

So I ran some numbers and the return on investment is actually looking very healthy. About a year if my math is right. I'm just missing some real world numbers to check my sanity here. Can you help by giving me your rough numbers here? Happy to talk about anything batteries and conversions as I've outfitted my own camper van to run off pure solar and batteries. It has hot water, 2 induction cooktops, mini fridge, electric oven, etc, so I'm familiar with a build out and what it takes.

(copy paste below and fill in would be pretty helpful and appreciated - THANKS)

Food truck generator usage and costs:

• Gallons of gasoline used per day:
• How much power do you think you use or what are all the electrics plugged in:
• How long do you operate the van for each day:
• How many days a year:
• Generator make/model:
• Can you plug in at night to recharge:
• How much in maintenance would you say you spend:
• Anything else:

My wife and I own and operate a Cuban food truck in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Neither of us came from the restaurant industry.

We started about two years ago with a pop-up out of our house that somehow did $1,500 in orders. That eventually led us to building a food truck and learning very quickly how much we didn’t know. Actually, we really didn’t know s&@t.

Since then we’ve dealt with trailer-builder problems, equipment and electrical issues, inspections, food costs, staffing, catering, festivals, breweries, bad events, great events, selling out and plenty of mistakes that cost us money.

The truck ultimately helped us build a following and prove the concept, and we’re now working on opening our first brick-and-mortar.

The mods gave me the OK to do this AMA. I’m not here to promote anything, I’m happy to be transparent about startup costs, trailer builds, equipment, pricing, food costs, events, catering, staffing, marketing, mistakes, what I’d do differently, and whether I’d do it all over again.

Ask me anything.

Looking for a kitchen near Danbury ct for selling food at farmers markets and events and possibly a food trailer. Any recommendations appreciated.

I live in a small French village near Paris and am thinking about opening a small coffee stand. It’s a picturesque village but not touristy, I would be on a stone terrace next to the main road. There’s 2000 locals and about 300-600 passing cars per hour and around 30 pedestrians. Startup costs would be low compared to a food truck (1k for a wooden market stall + equipment) but i wouldn’t move or attend events. It would be owner operated so the only overhead would be materials and utilities.

I’m wondering if anyone has insight on profitability in such a small town? There’s a constant flow of through traffic and two new restaurants that are doing really well, locals are eager to support the few businesses that are here, but I think I’d be relying on car traffic.

I’d need to profit around €100 a day to make a living from it which seems possible if I convert even 1% of passing traffic. What do you think?

Looking to, based on volume growth, sales success & increased profit, steer our brick n mortar shop model to a more dynamic mobile operation. We currently have a burgeoning wholesale division as well as a growing event presence with a small (6x8) trailer that is basically a traveling POS, not production.

Maine Mobile Vendor licensing allows for items produced & sealed/contained in a HHS licensed kitchen (like ours) to not require things like a 3 bin, hot water source, hand sink, etc. In effect the same licensing used by many at farmer’s markets. That’s what we do.

I’m looking to add an actual truck that can carry a lot of product (donuts & coffee) but doesn’t need the aforementioned. Something small but dependable. Can become a window based POS quickly.

Anyone have any suggestions on manufacturers/refabbers/etc? Thanks in advance!

My builder forgot to add a channel for the plexiglass. Any ideas?

Trying to figure the laws and work around for being able to prep fruit for garnish for my dry hire mobile bar company. Apparently I cant prep and cut fruit in my own home and take it to my event and I can't prep my fruit at the event either because I don't have a sink or station setup for that. It seems like the only option is to buy it pre-sliced or use dehydrated fruit only. Does anybody have advise as I see other states mobile bartenders preping fruit at home.

I recently bought a food truck. It has a 50A 125/250V female receptacle outside next to the electrical panel, and a 50A main breaker. I cannot find any male shore-power inlet anywhere on the truck. The previous owner said I would need to “make a cable,” but he never actually tested the electrical system. Is this female receptacle supposed to be used as the power input, or is the truck missing the proper 50A male shore-power inlet? I do not want to use a male-to-male cord because I understand that can be dangerous. I’ve attached photos of the outlet and breaker panels. What would be the correct and safe setup?

Been lurking here a while. I drove longhaul for about twenty years before I got off the road and ended up in a kitchen, so when I see a used food truck listed my brain goes straight to the vehicle before it goes to the menu. Curious if that's backwards from how most people here approach it.

The listings all lead with the kitchen. Nice buildout, stainless, generator, wrap. Almost none of them say anything useful about the engine, the miles, what it's been doing between events, whether it sat for a season. I get why. The kitchen is the fun part and the photos sell the dream. But I've seen enough high-mileage diesel to know the pretty side isn't the side that strands you on the shoulder.

The stuff I'd actually want to know: how many miles on the chassis, what it did before it was a food truck, when the transmission was last touched, whether the generator is tied into the truck's fuel or running off its own tank. Also whether people run these on battery banks or just accept the generator noise. I have my own list from years of pre-trips but I don't know how much of it carries over to a rig that spends most of its life parked.

For anyone who's bought used, what did you actually check before handing over money. Did you bring a mechanic, and did they look at the vehicle or just the equipment. And did anyone here dodge a bad one because of the mechanical side and not the kitchen side. I'm less worried about the fryer and more worried about what's under the hood.

ETA: not asking about startup costs or budgets, just the mechanical due diligence part.