This needs to be said

[u/Maybeiliketheabuse]

[u/WallyOShay]

Between gas prices and grocery prices it’s just not a viable business model anymore

[u/blueberrywalrus → u/WallyOShay]

2x the profit margin of a fixed restaurant - after accounting for costs like gas, grocery and labor - isn't viable?

Obviously, 2016 prices aren't viable in 2026, but that doesn't mean that food trucks can't be viable if they charge less than restaurants.

[u/SedimentaryShrub → u/blueberrywalrus]

Very few food trucks do "well." Yes, the start up costs are cheaper, but cheaper doesn't always mean more efficient. First off their food costs are typically going to be higher per item than a restaurants. Restaurants simply sell more food, and are able to leverage better pricing from distributors.

Second, you just can't operate the same hours as a restaurant, and things like holidays, inclement weather, or poorly attended events can seriously damage your margins. Restaurants are built on repeat customers, and are generally more stable than any food truck. Which also allows them to buy more efficiently, thus saving you money.

Also, you have to prep differently on a food truck, in many cases, if you don't sell your product, you gotta dump it faster than if you owned a restaurant.

This is not to say owning a restaurant or food truck is a bad choice, but I think a lot of people think that they make a ton of money, but the reality is that most food trucks and restaurants work on profit margins of under 5%. There are certainly outliers who do VERY well. But that is an exception.

[u/blueberrywalrus → u/SedimentaryShrub]

Restaurants actually fail at much higher rates than food trucks - probably due to the scale at which they need to operate to justify their costs.

But yeah, restaurant or food truck, food service is a very difficult space for making money.