Food truck vs Food trailer

[Brosengren]

Hey Guys,

I'm new here to the Brethren but not new to the bbq world. I'm looking to take my passion to the commercial scene, doing some catering and some county fair cooking, just to keep the passion going. I can't decide between a food truck or a food trailer. I would welcome any advice or insight. Also if anyone knows where I could find trucks/trailers for sale near my location in Minnesota I would really appreciate it. I'm not finding too many options up this way.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Thatgrimguy]

Do you already own a HD truck? Because a tow vehicle can make a huge difference in the cost differences of the two.

 

[BigBellyBBQ]

I have trailer, you can set up and leave it. Tow vehicle is used for other things, food truck is another motorized expense, depends on what YOU want to do..

 

[ChefDavid]

I've owned both and both have their advantages and disadvantages.

A Food truck is nice to have when its raining, so that you can stay dry buy rain usually means no customers, so it's a Wash.

Food trucks cost somewhere around $60,000 -$150,000 depending on the type, size & deal that you can get.

A Food truck is good if you have somewhere to park and vend.
Every different county that you go into, means another Health Department inspection.

A Food Truck is basically a Restaurant on Wheels.
So you have to worry about your Refrigerators and Freezers, and all the Cooking Equipment. As well as Steam Tables, Smallwares, then you have the Engine, Transmissions and everything else mechanical.

There are Space Limitations, on the truck, for all the equipment that you want, then you have to get a Commissary Space to Cook everything at. In some counties, you can't wash up your pots, pans and Smallwares, until you get back to the Kitchen.

I have a Trailer, that I am going to put up for sale in the next few weeks. I ran 3 BBQ Restaurants off of my Big Smoker on the Trailer.

A Good Day on the Food Truck, I would sell $2k - $3k a Day (not every day, most days are in the $500-$700). I have Done Tailgate Parties at Eagles Games and pulled $7k-$12, a day from the Trailer. In my opinion, a Trailer is a Better Bang for the Buck.

If you are interested, pm me and I will send you a link when I put it up for sale.

I drove from New Jersey to Alabama to get it originally. not sure how far you want to go to get one?

Chef David

 

[castlepines]

Hey Guys,

I'm new here to the Brethren but not new to the bbq world. I'm looking to take my passion to the commercial scene, doing some catering and some county fair cooking, just to keep the passion going. I can't decide between a food truck or a food trailer. I would welcome any advice or insight. Also if anyone knows where I could find trucks/trailers for sale near my location in Minnesota I would really appreciate it. I'm not finding too many options up this way.

Thank you in advance!

Hey cousin! :wave:

 

[TremendousQue]

Choice is yours

I have a trailer and am working on getting licensed. I have been competing for a little while and now trying my hand at the commercial arena of BBQ. My only tip is that either way you go, check with your HD to determine what meets/does not meet code. My rig has a sink and warmer box on it. Some counties say the sink needed to be removed as well as the warmer box, others say its fine. I use my rig for competing, not just catering and water at some of the comps can just be a real pain to deal with. Either way, I'm clearly not removing a welded sink so I had to always keep my location in mind. Another important factor is whether or not you have a vehicle that can pull your trailer. If you don't consider the food truck, because any trailer you'd buy, you would need to get a new vehicle to pull it. Good luck!

 

[C Rocke]

Agree with the other folks here - We've had both, and they both have advantages. For us the trailer was used for catering 90% of the time. The food truck was on site vending, and to support larger catering events. Really to me depends on where you see your business going.

Most important is the Health Dept issue as to what is legal in your neck of the woods. Feel free to PM if you'd like to talk sometime.

 

[Tut-T-Que]

yup id love to see it.

I've owned both and both have their advantages and disadvantages.

A Food truck is nice to have when its raining, so that you can stay dry buy rain usually means no customers, so it's a Wash.

Food trucks cost somewhere around $60,000 -$150,000 depending on the type, size & deal that you can get.

A Food truck is good if you have somewhere to park and vend.
Every different county that you go into, means another Health Department inspection.

A Food Truck is basically a Restaurant on Wheels.
So you have to worry about your Refrigerators and Freezers, and all the Cooking Equipment. As well as Steam Tables, Smallwares, then you have the Engine, Transmissions and everything else mechanical.

There are Space Limitations, on the truck, for all the equipment that you want, then you have to get a Commissary Space to Cook everything at. In some counties, you can't wash up your pots, pans and Smallwares, until you get back to the Kitchen.

I have a Trailer, that I am going to put up for sale in the next few weeks. I ran 3 BBQ Restaurants off of my Big Smoker on the Trailer.

A Good Day on the Food Truck, I would sell $2k - $3k a Day (not every day, most days are in the $500-$700). I have Done Tailgate Parties at Eagles Games and pulled $7k-$12, a day from the Trailer. In my opinion, a Trailer is a Better Bang for the Buck.

If you are interested, pm me and I will send you a link when I put it up for sale.

I drove from New Jersey to Alabama to get it originally. not sure how far you want to go to get one?

Chef David

could i see that rig, im currently shoppin around jus seein whats out there. if ya dont mind.

 

[BriskQueT]

I'm in Texas, but depending on the rig and the $$, I'm interested as well.

 

[GottaQ]

We have a Very successful BBQ FoodTruck that is going on it's 3rd year and does catering and very large (including KCBS) events all over New England! We do operate from a commercial Kitchen/Commissary which is required but have 4 commercial smokers that we can use.
The Foodtruck has a CookShack FEC 120 pellet smoker which we use for Butts, Briskets, Chicken, Ribs and sausage. The Big meats are cooked overnite the nite before an event, wrapped and put into hot hold early morning and Chicken & Ribs are loaded to cook while we are driving to the events. Onsite we once again wrap, pan and hothold the meats and put in the sausage. During the event we can cook another load (30 racks) of Ribs or more chicken as needed and have fresh product as the earlier batch runs out!
You're welcome to contact me if you want help moving forward!
Mike