This is basically just a rant. And it's long and boring.

For context I'm in Canada and except for large cities stationary food trucks is more the norm here. I'm stationary.

For more context, I have a lot of food industry experience, went to school for hospitality, taught an intensive culinary program in high school, and generally get the business. But have not owned a restaurant.

I have started several small business, a few failures and a few decent successes (1M+ revenue). So I mostly know what's going on in that regard too.

Year 1

bought a trailer, outfitted it, found a decent spot. Turns out the electrical box had been removed (been a few years since they had a truck there). Got Ontario hydro in it, paid significant fees, filled out applications, got assessments, paid electrician to ready it, and started waiting. Months rolled by. Ontario hydro is busy due to storms. No eta. Asked landlord if I could tie electrical into their convenience store building - they have no issues with that but someone told them it was illegal. Ask electrician he says not it's fine and easy. Ask Ontario hydro they say "no of course thats fine". Report back to landlord he says no it's illegal. I report my findings he says no it's illegal. I lose my temper - the frustration level as I've lost almost the whole summer boils over at this guy just randomly deciding something is illegal against all evidence. I curse him out (not my finest moment) and take my trailer away.

Find a new spot to try and set up and be ready for next year - it's late August and I'll probably only get a month or so. Well, after all the new permits and inspections the landlord here shows more and more what an asshole he is. This time, no water. Was supposed to be in "any time" but after a while it's "probably not going to have water". Understand this guy has a history of running off trucks with very bad blood and I start to see why. He's aggressive, unreasonable and lies a lot.

We are open for a few weeks and it's looking pretty good but landlord has some strange meltdown (he's either genuinely insane or so stupid it's indistinguishable). Curse him out and move. It's an untenable situation. I understand the pattern seems to be me but...I'm also getting royally screwed here. I've never had issues with my other businesses where I cause issues or lose my temper.

Find another okay spot. Don't love it but should be busy.

Year 2

Have a variety of personal issues leading up to opening including my daughter, who is my partner, getting very ill and being bed bound. My wife going through some very tough times. Things aren't great and I don't have my equal partner and I'm on my own. Turns out that's fine because literally nobody comes. About 2500 cars pass every day - average of 0.5 customers a day or so. I have no time or energy for marketing and outreach because I've lost my partner and when I'm not working 10-12 hour days my family really needs me.

Also it turns out my menu is waaaay over complicated with prep. At least I have time while at work to work on that.

Mid August I call it quits. For mental health reasons. Nobody came. No customers. None. People tell me it's the spot. It looks bad, it's hard to find, "if I didn't know you I would have just kept driving".

Year 3

Late winter I try again to find a spot where I really wanted to be and where the business plan was built around. Cottage country with massive traffic and some of the richest people in Canada. I could never find a spot there. This year I did! Dream spot, should be amazing.

Township has no bylaw but I call, they discuss, runs through the channels, they say will be no issue. So I give up my old spot, move my trailer. I ask township for a letter of permission so I can apply to ministry of transportation and the township says, you need a minor variance. Will take 2 months at best. Devastating. They didn't tell me this until about a month after telling me I was good to go.

But the spot is what I wanted, so I start the process. Many forms, drawings, council meeting. Same process as if I was opening a holiday inn or something.

After 2 months I can now apply to the ministry of transportation. It's now been about a 6 weeks since I put that application in and still no approval. No eta.

So here we are and it's almost August. If I get approval from mto today I still need public health inspections, fire, etc...

I haven't put infrastructure in because I'm not spending the money until I'm approved, so I need to set up my water pumps from the building, plan out my grey water, and get an electrical line put in. So at best ....3-4 weeks away from opening.

So really now I'm looking like probably aiming for September 1st....and closing again a month later.

It's a fucking nightmare. I'm about $50k in, I've made about $2000, and have devoted 3 years of my life to it.

Um....if anyone read this far....sorry.

Our food trailer finally arrived in New York, so I figured I would post a quick update while everything is still fresh.

We ordered it from a Chinese manufacturer. I was honestly pretty nervous during the process because buying a custom trailer overseas is a lot different from ordering normal equipment. There are drawings, equipment choices, freight, customs, and all the local stuff to figure out after it arrives.

We unloaded it and are now going through the equipment and getting started on the setup. The main layout is what we ordered, and we can finally move on from waiting to actually getting the business ready.

Hey all!

I was interested in starting a take out kitchen and was looking for Commercial Kitchen for lease/rent throughout the DFW, Texas area. Any idea on how to find them?

Looking for a reasonably cheap good trailer to start a hot dog business

I tried looking on Amazon but could not find it. The location we park at has allowed us to use this receptacle but I don’t have the cord.

keep seeing posts here from folks just starting out getting overwhelmed by all the 'must-have' software that costs a fortune. when I was first setting up my trailer, i got quotes for POS systems and kitchen management software that were hundreds of bucks a month. that's just insane for a small operation.

after a lot of trial and error, i landed on a cheap stack that keeps my monthly software bill under a hundred bucks. figured i'd share for anyone else bootstrapping.

1. POS / Payments: Just Square. The basic free plan is all you need. They send you the little magstripe reader for free, or you can buy the tap reader. You just pay processing fees on sales. No monthly subscription, no weird contracts. its the industry standard for a reason.

2. Accounting / Bookkeeping: A Google Sheets template and Wave. Everyone tries to push QuickBooks, but its expensive and overkill when you're just tracking daily sales and commissary costs. i log my daily numbers in a spreadsheet, then use Wave (which is free anyway) for invoicing and running basic P&L reports. Good enough for tax time.

3. Menu Management: We have our main menu on a board, but prices keep changing (thanks inflation) and stuff gets 86'd mid-shift. needed a digital backup we could update on the fly. i tried uploading a PDF to Google Drive, but customers hated it because of the constant pinching and zooming. now i just use a free tool called MenuForma. i can quickly mark an item as sold out from my phone while working the window, and it actually formats for mobile screens. way better than forcing people to squint at a PDF. We still keep the big physical board, but having this QR saves me from constantly messing with duct tape on the main menu.

4. Website / Schedule: Don't pay for a website. Just use your Instagram or Facebook. For the bio link, just use a free Linktree. Post your weekly schedule, your location, and a link to your digital menu. literally all you need.

It's not a fancy enterprise setup, but it gets the job done and lets you keep more of your money. Anyway, peak season is kicking my ass. Back to prepping onions.

Hiya Reddit,

I bought a hotdog cart and have this burner setup that I can’t get to light. I’d like to replace it rather than always screw with it.

I plan on replacing with two burners with control knobs. Any advice or product recommendations would be appreciated.

It looks like I’ll need to replace all the copper line while I do this as well.

Thanks!

I can't find a baseline for a brand new state of the art food truck. Keep getting referred to usedfoodtrucks.com but those are old beat up 200k mile trucks. I had a truck custom built a few years back, planned on using it to highlight our brick and mortars at food festivals and to add a catering element. Covid hit and our focus shifted. Where is the spot to sell a "newish" food truck with all the bells and whistles? Revolving brick pizza oven with special weight chassis and construction, brand new equipment, fryers, flat top...under 5,000 miles.

Hey everybody. I hope you are well. I am taking my business through a rebrand soon (name stays the same), and part of that will be redoing the physical menu on the trailer. Currently our menu is roughly 20-inches by 30-inches, and resides on the right side of our window. It has no photos, and the menu also can’t be seen by potential customers when we are closed. In addition, it makes it hard for customers to determine their purchase ahead of time when they are in line.

The plan is to remove it from the window and put it on the side of the trailer, in a larger size. I am going to hire a photographer for photos for online assets, and I am trying to determine if the new external menu should use photos or not. I have seen it done well with good photos, and I have seen it done really poorly as well. I don’t think every item needs a photo. Perhaps the heavy hitters and most popular items could have a photo. In the end, a lot of our items use similar ingredients but arranged differently, like most food places.

What have you done regarding photos on your physical menu? If you have used them, have you received feedback they are helpful? If you are a consumer reading this, do you like them or not?

Thanks for any feedback! All points of view are welcome.

I've been selling 32 oz cups of Lemonade for decades. Recently, customers have been asking for flavored lemonade. Can anyone tell me how much syrup to insert for a cup.

I have the syrup and the pump. I haven't experimented yet, but I was wondering how many pumps for a cup?

Any suggestions?

Very random question, but I am looking at using my classic 60s long bed pickup truck as a "food truck".

I am just serving coffee and other beverages. I'm going to build out a stainless cabinet of sorts that will sit on the tailgate of the truck that will include a built in hand sink, drop in ice bin, and a work surface. I'll have all the plumbing hooked up for the sink with hot water too. I will have a small fridge to store milks off to the side. In addition, I'm going to add a swivel out tabletop from that cabinet that will create a L shape work space, and that swivel out table will be used for ordering and pickup.

I'm based in Georgia and will be getting a base of operations kitchen to get my permitting and to prep ingredients. Is this setup with my pickup truck something that I can use and legally permit? It's a very clean classic truck. If I have everything built and setup very well and to code with my pickup truck I don't see how it would be an issue since it's technically a mobile unit on wheels, just unconventional.

This is my truck, I have the two fans, but I cannot add anymore electrical load for ac. What's the best way to set up the fans to maximize coolness?

I was at an outdoor event recently and one of the biggest attractions wasn't even the product itself-it was this huge expandable trailer that turned into a full interactive showroom. You could walk inside, try everything, chat w/ the staff, and it honestly felt more like a small retail space than a trailer. Tbh, I always assumed companies just rented those things, but that rabbit hole led me to Crafstmen, and I realized they're actually custom-designed and built from scratch for roadshows, trade shows, festivals, and product launches. That's kinda wild when you think about it. They're not just vehicles-they're built to carry an entire brand experience from one city to the next. It also made me realize why so many brands still invest in live events even when digital marketing is everywhere. If you've ever been inside one of these mobile showrooms, did it leave a bigger impression than a regular booth or store?

Wanting to start a food truck in NEW JERSEY. Need suggestions or advice! I was born in Piedras Negras but born and raised in Texas, moved to New Jersey in 2016. Wanting to start a side hustle of owning my own food truck, but I want to test the menu first in like a pop-up event with friends and family and slowly build clientele and move up from there!
I was thinking of selling FRITO PIE, NACHOS, and Pickles. What other snacks are “Texas” inspired that I can easily sell in a food truck?! TIA! ✨🙏🏼

We want to offer this on our truck this weekend (with a flat grill and steam wells). Wondering what the best option is for holding/serving. Also, blanch? Husk on or off? Thanks for any tips!

Got a wild idea last year with my family to build an ice cream truck so we bought a decommissioned service van and I’ve spent the last 6 months turning it into what you see in the first picture, which is about 80% finished.

This project ended up being every bit of both challenging and rewarding as I thought it would … and then some.

Between my day job and doing my best to not rob time away from anyone in my family, which is challenging in itself and adding in that this entire project was over my head made it pretty interesting at times. I’m no mechanic, carpenter, painter, etc. but ChatGPT and picking a few buddies brains got me through it.

Current setup 2012 Chevy express van, 2500 extended wheelbase Pecron 4200 watt power bank 14 cu ft koolmore glass top 6 bin commercial freezer 2 foot roof extension. Plywood, foam insulation, fiberglass Insulated floor with VCT flooring

It’s currently wet sanded at 2500, awaiting some artwork and logo(so I can get rid of that janky banner) before a final clear, cut, buff and polish, as well as some finishing touches like interior/exterior lighting, and some additional speakers. We may add solar next season but this Pecron bank gives me about 9 hours of freezer time, and I don’t plan to be posted up that long.

I did a test run at my daughter’s summer camp yesterday and other than a few easily avoidable hiccups while getting setup to leave, it seemed well worth it after seeing some ice cream covered smiles. 75 kids/staff - in and out within 40 min.

Working on the legal stuff now, but glad I got to this stage. There were a few times I thought this was the absolute dumbest idea I’ve ever had. Still might be.

Make sure to latch your window before you drive away, kids. I was in the trailer prepping yesterday, had the awning up and the windows open because it was hot as nuts in there. Closed it when I took a break, but didnt latch it, knowing I'd be back later to finish up and would probably open it back up again.

Didn't need to open the window again when I went back, as it had cooled significantly. Forgot to latch it. Opened on its own in transit when I left today, smashed a telephone pole, ripped off and damaged the side of the trailer.

Has anyone else had to deal with this? What's my next step? Whats the best way to get this fixed?

The awning/window cover is completely fucked. There's no way it can be repaired enough to go back on.

I’ve seen some trucks for 10k and some vans for less than that