Launch a food truck, start serving

Who this checklist is for

You want the restaurant dream at a fraction of the price and risk: your own food truck. This checklist is for first-timers who can cook but have never dealt with commissary rules, mobile vending permits, or a 200-square-foot kitchen on wheels.

What it takes

A used, outfitted truck commonly runs in the low-to-mid five figures, and a new custom build can run well over $100,000. From decision to first service day is usually 3 to 6 months. The hardest part is permits, mobile food rules vary wildly by city, and the truck you buy must match the code of the city you plan to sell in.

How the checklist flows

The plan comes first: "Write a one-page business plan" and "Choose your concept and menu", a truck rewards a tight menu of 5 to 8 items you can serve in under 4 minutes, and cost and price that menu before you commit to anything with wheels. The paperwork phase now precedes the purchase: business registration, bank account, and "Get food service licenses and permits" (including your commissary agreement), because the truck you buy must match the code of the city you plan to sell in. Then the big spend: "Buy or lease your truck", get it insured, and "Outfit your truck kitchen", in that order. Then go find your customers before opening day: "Scout locations and events" until you have a rotation of 3 to 5 proven spots, set up card payments, claim your Google Business Profile, and post your weekly schedule on social media, for a truck, the schedule post is the storefront.

Mistakes that sink first-timers

• Buying a truck before confirming it meets local health code, retrofits can cost more than the truck
• Skipping the commissary agreement, which most cities require before they will issue your permit
• Parking wherever is empty instead of where lunch crowds already are; location is 70% of daily revenue

Real-world examples

• Kogi BBQ, Roy Choi launched a single Korean-taco truck in Los Angeles in November 2008 and used Twitter to broadcast the truck's daily locations, becoming the first food truck to build a cult following through social media.
• Cousins Maine Lobster, cousins Jim Tselikis and Sabin Lomac started with one LA truck in April 2012, appeared on Shark Tank about two months later, and grew the brand into a national franchise.
• The common thread: successful trucks tend to start with one vehicle, a tight menu, and relentless location-and-event scheduling, proving the concept on wheels long before anyone thinks about a second truck or a storefront.

From a founder's point of view

A food truck is attractive because it's a real kitchen at a fraction of a restaurant's build-out cost, but the trade-off is that location and foot traffic change every single day. The menu has to be short enough to execute fast from a cramped space, and the marketing never stops, customers can't find you if they don't know where you'll be. Founders who treat the truck as a rolling test of a concept, rather than the finished business, tend to learn what actually sells before committing to bricks and mortar.

Your first milestone

One recurring weekly spot where you reliably sell out or clear $1,000+ in a single service, that proves the concept and anchors your whole schedule.