re: Anyone here attempt to start up a food truck business?

What area? I know around ATL the food truck scene is begging for something authentically cajun/creole. Alot of that kind of food is scoop and serve too, which lends itself to having everything cooked ahead of time and not having to make everything to order except the po boys.

You will need to look into what your municipality requires. In Tuscaloosa we have to have a commissary kitchen (brock and mortar) attached to our license. I dont understand why this is required but it is. My charity uses a local church kitchen as ours but we never use it for anything. You will also need insurance incase someone gets hurt or ill.

Our mobile kitchen is completely self-sufficient. The only thing we need is running water because we only have 40 gallons of fresh water in the truck.

Not sure what food you want to do in it but we are able to provide a wide range of menu items. Boston Butts, smoked chicken, hamburger steaks, spaghetti, wraps and hoagies, soups, red beans and rice, jambalaya etc.

But to have the ability to do a wide range of menus requires a lot of equipment. Ours has refrigerators, freezers, warming cabinets, 3 compartment sink, double convection ovens, 6 burner range, 4' griddle, double fryers and a 40 gallon tilt skillet. We can push out 1000 lunches at a time without any real effort.

The most expensive equipment was the tilt skillet. It is awesome and can cook vast amounts quickly but it also cost about $30,000.

We are having a second mobile kitchen built so we can respond to two different locations, the second trailer is 30' long and cost $110,000.00.

If you are doing a smaller deal you can get something for probably $30-40K.

We used Russell Concessions in south MS to build ours. It is similar to this one. This one has a built in walk in freezer which we dont have, since we have a trailer that is a freezer.




Good luck with your new business.

Big Worm updating?

Food trucks are so 2014…

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Nice man, I can imagine the inside, hopefully lots of diamondplate and flat steel walls.

Have you wrapped the outside or you keep it white for multiple brands/purposes?

We had a 24' rig similar design from a builder in Miami. I drove there to pick it up, they were working on a hot pink lowrider ice cream truck with neon lighting, Daytons, flat screen TV at the window, and audio with a subwoofer

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We dont wrap the outside, just leave it white but add our logo to the outside.

That picture is from the builders website. Our new one doesnt have the windows, just a man door and the back ramp.
Here are some pictures from the original (first) mobile kitchen



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How often do used ones come on the market after the owner gave up?

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You will need to look into what your municipality requires.

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I have a friend that has 2 trucks in town so was planning on consulting with him if I decide to start one.

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I don't know what type I would want it to be just yet but the market is probably cornered on anything burger or Mexican related in that area

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I’d consider looking at this differently. There are so many burger and Mexican trucks because that’s what sells.

Innovation can be overrated. It’s mostly about the execution.

The market is telling you what it wants. Figure out a way to make your offerings more attractive than the other guy.

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We have one local to my area that does lobster rolls, various Bisque's and chowder. The guy flies seafood in from Maine every week. I thought that would be impossible to sustain that business but he kills it everywhere He sets up. I would have never thought people would pay a food truck $27 for a lobster roll but he's been doing it sucessfully for several years now. Sucessfully enough that he has now opened a brick and mortar spot as well.

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I would love that. It's foods you don't get locally for the most part. I think there's a lobster roll truck in New Orleans that I've read about. Haven't seen anything lately, so I wonder if it's still around.

I have no intention of going to a grilled cheese truck or even a bbq truck. The ones I've tried in my area aren't as good as the local bbq joint as far as meats and they have canned sides just like the bbq joint. I'd love one that had really good baked beans, for example. The only trucks I've been to in the past year have been for good birria tacos and that hasn't been much. I would consider homemade corn dogs using seared hot dogs, smoked sausage or shrimp or even lobster.

I agree with the pizza in Grand Isle. I always wondered why nobody did that. You would kill it. Only need to be open seasonally.