By 2021, there will be over 26,200 food truck firms operating in the US, predicts industry research firm IBISWorld. The food truck industry added trucks between 2016 and 2021 at an annualized pace of roughly 7.5 percent, which was four times faster than the whole fast-food industry.

New food entrepreneurs who want to launch successful small companies doing what they love—cooking good food for hungry people—often run food trucks.

The finest food truck owners develop and perfect new recipes, consistently serve out delicious cuisine, and work long hours to outdo competitors.

How to Start a Food Truck Business

A multi-step method has been used with great success by several food truck operations.

However, prospective food truck owners who want to launch as soon as is practical must work on a number of pre-opening initiatives simultaneously. Here is a general summary of those procedures in roughly chronological sequence.

1. Plan your menu around a niche

The first step for a new food truck seller is to decide on their area of expertise. Finding a niche within that comfort zone that no other neighboring food truck seems to fill—or fills as successfully as you think you can—is the real challenge. It seems sensible that you'll feel most at ease using the recipes and methods you are most familiar with.

Contrary to traditional restaurants, food trucks cannot rely on aesthetics or a sense of place to draw customers in and keep them coming back. They mostly rely on the caliber and originality of their food, and to a lesser extent, their branding, to set themselves apart.

Instead of the homogenized neighborhood pub, which is amusing but ultimately forgettable as a place to drink beers and burgers with friends, successful food trucks resemble the neighborhood diner with one truly unique burger style you can only find there.

Create your menu once you've decided on your expertise. It is much easier to satisfy your customers' high standards for quality and make sure that everything on the menu is normally available with a simple menu that features many common products (ideally always).

Advice: Create a logo for your business if you're starting a food truck business. Designers of custom logos can assist with this procedure.

2. Plan your food truck business in detail

Create a business plan outlining your concept and including precise financial projections for the first three years of operation based on your projected startup, ongoing, and revenue costs.

Most of the following topics, if not all, should be covered in your business plan:

• local license fees and regulations for food trucks
• The local health department's specifications for food serving and inspections
• How you run your food truck; picking the best kind of food truck
• Costs of equipment and trucks
• Where will you be cooking?
• Parking trucks overnight
• items' prices and menu planning costs
• For business services, extra overhead expenditures include parking, gas, insurance, and parking.
• Your marketing strategies account for the costs of creating websites and using social media.

If this is your first time writing a business plan, you can use some sample business plans to guide your writing.

3: Line Up Financing

Your completed business plan will give you a clear idea of your food truck's entire startup costs, as well as your short-term business credit (working capital) needs once you're operational and your pre-revenue financing needs.

Even if it's possible that a bank or credit union will fund the full starting phase of your firm in accordance with your business plan, it's more likely that you'll need to juggle money from a variety of sources, especially if this is your first venture into the food industry.

When you know how much money you'll need and how much it will cost in interest and fees annually, update your business plan.

4. Boost your truck's digital presence

Build your web presence as soon as you've chosen a mobile dining concept and a business name. Yes, you should do this before purchasing a truck. As long as you are upfront about the fact that your website is still under construction, it will help generate early buzz for your mobile food business and hold you accountable to see it through.

Start with your Google My Business and Yelp listings, along with your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram sites. Create a website on your own or contact a nearby website design firm when the launch date approaches.

A simple-to-use website or blog with images of the food, a summary of its history, and links to your social media profiles is all you need to start a successful food truck business. You might collaborate with a neighborhood web design business to construct your website.

5. Get your business licenses and permits

If your mobile eatery is not connected to an existing restaurant or food business, you must incorporate it in your home state (usually as an LLC or partnership) and apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) with the Internal Revenue Service. According to Nolo, incorporation fees could be as little as a few hundred dollars depending on the jurisdiction and type of firm.

You must submit a proper license (business license) to the local agency or authorities in charge of food truck regulation (usually the department of public health) before you can begin operating, and you must also pass any necessary health and safety inspections.

Depending on the regulations in your city, county, or state, you might need to obtain a food handler license or a food safety certification. Pre-opening checklists for new food trucks may be provided by your local regulator or another local government entity, such as the Minneapolis mobile food vendor starting guide.

6: Find your truck's territory

Over the course of a day or a week, it can be difficult to distinguish between in-residence trucks that operate in a fixed location, such as a food truck pod or "host" business, and roving (pop-up) mobile eateries.

Roaming trucks normally maintain a steady schedule so their following knows where to find them, but residence trucks occasionally move sites either intentionally or accidentally over time.

However, if you want to park your car in the same location every day, you should start looking for a pleasant area as soon as you can. If there are no permitted mobile food company lots in your city or region, inquire with local businesses and property owners to see if they would be willing to host food trucks or carts.

7: Commissary and overnight parking

This won't be an issue if your food "truck" is a cart or trailer that occupies a minimal room in your driveway or curbside parking area and doesn't keep food overnight. Regardless of whether your mobile restaurant is a full-size truck that keeps food overnight, there is a significant probability that you will need parking both during the day and at night.

Check your area's food truck laws to discover if a commissary is necessary. Commissaries, which are secure, monitored locations that the health department periodically inspects, are where you can prepare and store items. Finding a shared commercial kitchen with specific truck parking or a food truck pod with long-term inhabitants may help you allay your worries about nighttime parking.

8: Find and Buy a Cart or Truck

If your launch capital is limited and you intend to merely supply simple items without an onboard kitchen, like frozen sweets or pastries, think about starting with a food cart or trailer that you can tow behind a light vehicle or SUV. Although they are not inexpensive, full-size trucks cost more than these vehicles. From SLE Equipment in the Nashville region, a brand-new concession trailer measuring 8.5 feet by 17 feet costs about $25,000.

There are three different full-size trucks with attached kitchens, each with a different estimated price range, according to Roaming Hunger:

• For between $50,000 and $100,000, purchase a used truck with a kitchen.
• Get a new truck and put it in a new kitchen for $75-100k.
• $100,000 for a new car with a new kitchen and $175,000 for a new car.

9: Check Your Cart or Truck

A food truck's insurance is substantially more expensive than that of a passenger car. Along with the vehicle itself, business auto coverage must also cover the kitchen and food storage equipment in the vehicle. If you have employees, having workers' compensation insurance is essential.

You'll need full liability coverage in the unlikely but potentially tragic event that your restaurant or its generator catches fire or explodes, resulting in significant property damage, mishaps, or fatalities.

10: Expand into Catering

The food truck industry involves more than just setting up shops in busy areas for lunch. Many companies also prosper by providing their services for semi-public and private occasions like weddings, business gatherings, and children's sporting events. Trucks are compensated at these events to reserve their time or if participants are fed for free, a certain quantity of food.

For your catering business to grow, you must have a strong online presence that includes public, active social media profiles as well as a website that advertises your catering services. Additionally, you ought to build relationships with those working in the local government, event planning, and commercial sectors.

Final Word

A food truck requires a lot of work, just like any other small business. The most prosperous food truck owners are those who outperform and out-market their rivals, particularly in the beginning when they lack the advantages of name recognition.

Whether you wish to run a business in a bustling city known for its food trucks or a sleepier town that's just getting started, be ready to achieve whatever success and fame you can.