Did you know that buying a food truck is the largest investment you’ll make when you decide to start a food truck business?

That’s why we interviewed successful food truck owners and created this guide explaining how to buy a food truck. With their advice, you’ll know exactly how to buy a food truck without making the most common mistakes.

Most of the experts we spoke to recommend spending under $70K on your first food truck. We’ve also researched additional information to help you lease a food truck or upgrade to a new truck.

Keep reading or click any of the links below to jump to the section that interests you:

How much is a food truck?

A food truck cost can range anywhere from a couple of thousand dollars for a used food truck in poor condition to $200K for a brand-new, fully equipped food truck.

Saied Samaiel, the owner of Aybla Grill, warned people about buying new trucks:

Learn more about food trucks from Saied in our interview below:

How much does it cost to rent a food truck?

Food truck rentals cost between $1,000 and $5,000 per month, depending on the terms of the fully equipped food truck rental. You will want to consider terms like:

• Equipment in the food truck
• Duration of the rental period
• Licensing and health department inspections

Consider renting a food truck so that you can get your business started, earn revenue, and then qualify for food truck financing after you have a proven business model.

How much does a food truck cost to buy?

You can buy a food truck for as little as $6,000, but there are less expensive alternatives such as trailers and carts.

How much is a used food truck?

According to Roaming Hunger, used food trucks will cost at least $6,000 unequipped or $8,000 with equipment. The prices can go up from there depending on the age of the equipment and the truck and whether it includes a business. Saied explained:

How much is a new food truck?

New food trucks start at around $30K without the equipment and around $70K with equipment. You’ll need to make sure that the truck has the right equipment and confirm that the payments are within your budget. Saied said:

How much does a food trailer cost?

According to Trailer Superstore, food trailers cost between $2,299 to $35,999 for used trailers and $7,500 to $119,999 for new trailers without equipment. Equipment can add anywhere from $2,000 to $40,000 dollars.

How to Buy a Food Truck

You’ll want to use the following process while buying a food truck:

1. Find creative food truck ideas.
2. Create a food truck mockup.
3. Find food trucks for sale.
4. Secure food truck financing.
5. Get food truck equipment.
6. Build your food truck.

Step #1. Find Creative Food Truck Ideas

Before you even think about buying a food truck for sale, consider how you intend to make money in the food truck business. That means you’ll need to decide what food and drinks you’ll serve in the food truck. Some food truck ideas include:

• Pizza trucks
• Concession trailers
• Mobile coffee shops
• Ice cream trucks
• Breakfast food trucks
• Seafood trucks
• Taco trucks
• Lunch trucks
• Dinner trucks
• Food truck bars

Once you’ve decided what you’ll serve as a new food truck business owner, you’ll need to figure out how to set up your food truck. If you don’t do it right, it’ll take longer to launch and become profitable.

Step #2. Create a Food Truck Mockup

It will be much easier for your new food truck to succeed if you make a plan before shopping for a food truck. You’ll want to create a concept design for your food truck, which means you’ll need to:

• Measure food truck dimensions.
• Make a list of equipment.
• Draw the food truck layout.

Let’s look at each step to understand what you’ll need when you buy a food truck.

Measure Food Truck Dimensions

You’ll need to know the interior and exterior dimensions of food trucks. The interior dimensions impact what equipment you can fit in the vehicle. Meanwhile, the outside dimensions are useful to know so that you can estimate how much it costs to wrap a food truck.

A food truck can be as small as a postal truck or up to 34 feet long. Most food trucks will be seven feet wide. Your food truck also needs to be at least seven feet tall so that you or your employees can stand up comfortably.

Make a List of Equipment

Your food truck business will need additional equipment to operate effectively. You should know the types of equipment you’ll need and their approximate sizes to make sure you can fit all the cooking equipment in your food truck.

You’ll need most of this mobile cooking equipment for your mobile commercial kitchen:

• Fire suppression system
• Food truck menu board
• Cash register/payment processor
• Outdoor furniture for guests (optional)
• Cooking equipment
• Food truck exhaust fan (or a food truck vent hood)
• Refrigerator and freezer
• Food truck sink
• Storage for dry food
• Food truck awning
• Space for food truck supplies
• Drink machine
• Food truck oven
• Ice machine
• Trash can
• Food truck window
• Cooking utensils
• Air conditioning and heater
• Food truck water tank

As you can see, there are quite a few food truck appliances that need to fit into a fairly small cooking space. Fortunately, you have the option of buying food trucks fully equipped, which makes starting a food truck business much easier than designing your own storage setup and prep space from scratch.

Draw the Food Truck Layout

Once you know the sizes of food trucks and the commercial equipment you’ll need, it’s time to map out the best way to fit it all in the vehicle.

A new business owner can choose three methods of planning an equipment layout:

1. Design the layout yourself.
2. Look for fully equipped food trucks for sale.
3. Hire a mobile commercial kitchen design company.

There are pros and cons to taking each approach when buying a food truck for sale. Keep reading to find out more.

Step #3. Find Food Trucks to Buy

Now that you know what will go in your future food truck, you need to look for food trucks that will accommodate your needs. This process will involve three parts:

• Choosing the right type of food truck
• Establishing how much the food truck will cost
• Deciding where to buy the food truck

You can choose from a variety of food trucks. In addition to traditional trucks, you may also want to consider concession trailers, food carts, and step vans.

Let’s look at the benefits of each of these options when you decide to become a mobile food vendor.

Where to Buy a Food Truck

You can find a food truck for sale through:

• Outlets like Roaming Hunger
• Local food truck dealers
• Online marketplaces
• Food truck auction sites
• Business brokers
• Local food truck associations

Food Truck Manufacturers

If you’re buying new, you also have the option to go directly to a manufacturer.

On the West Coast, Mobile Cuisine ranks Prime Design Food Trucks as their top manufacturer. The company builds, remodels, and repairs food trailers and trucks, so you can go to them to get all your equipment and your truck in one place.

For those of you on the East Coast, Mr. Trailers provides food trucks and mobile medical units.

Check out the Mobile Cuisine blog for a list of manufacturers by state. Most food truck manufacturers are located in California, Texas, and Florida, but there are some in other states.

Now that you know where to buy a food truck, let’s discuss food truck financing.

Step #4. Negotiate Your Purchase Price

Pricing is about more than just asking, “How much for a food truck?” When you think you’ve found the right food truck, you’ll want to look it over closely.

With a new truck, there may not be kitchen equipment, electrical outlets, or a propane tank already in it. You’ll want to negotiate the customization options, price, and lease term.

Hopefully, you created financial projections before going out and shopping. You need to know how much you can afford to pay monthly.

When you buy a used truck, remember that older vehicles will likely have more maintenance. However, if a used truck has low mileage, it can be a better deal than buying a new truck. Just make sure to inspect the vehicle and the food service equipment, and ask about equipment maintenance.

Consider bringing a mechanic and someone who knows about cooking equipment with you if you don’t know much about making a food truck purchase.

Step #5. Secure Food Truck Financing

In general, you can get food truck financing using seven different loan strategies:

• Business line of credit
• Business term loan
• Equipment financing
• Merchant cash advance
• Small Business Administration loan
• Vendor leasing programs
• Working capital loan

Interest rates can lead to a higher price while you’re looking for food truck financing. Check out our blog about food truck financing, then head over to National Business Capital to apply for food truck loans from the number one provider of online business loans.

Step #6. Get Food Truck Equipment

This step will vary depending on whether you buy a fully equipped food truck or an empty step van, trailer, or box truck. If you bought a fully equipped vehicle, skip to the section about starting a food truck business. If you didn’t, make sure to read this and the next section.

Essential Food Truck Equipment

When you enter the food truck industry, you’ll need:

• An enticing menu
• A refrigerator and freezer
• Prep area
• Cooking equipment
• Exhaust fans
• Huge exterior light boxes
• Fire suppression system
• Storage space
• Cash register or point-of-sale machine

Don’t forget to get any specialized equipment based on your food truck needs.

Where to Buy Food Truck Equipment

Next, you’ll need to buy the equipment for your food truck, step van, or trailer. You can purchase these products from places like restaurant supply houses or customization shops.

A restaurant supply house is a place that sells food items to serve customers as well as equipment. Most can help you establish what you need to prep, cook, and serve food.

You can go to a local store or shop online. Some popular restaurant supply houses include:

• Restaurant Supply: They carry equipment such as Manitowoc refrigeration machines, cooking equipment, and other products but not food. They are a supplier for employee-owned WinCo grocery stores.
• Web Restaurant Store: Check out Web Restaurant Store for food truck tabletop equipment. They advertise having more than 400,000 products for sale.
• Amazon: Like every industry, you can get your storage and food prep products from Amazon Business.

A food truck business owner can also go to auto repair shops that focus on upgrading work vehicles. These companies should be located near you and offer services like:

• Food truck wraps: Wraps help people see what you’re serving in your food truck van.
• Exterior light boxes: At night, these will help people see your food truck name, menu, and price.
• Logos: Nothing builds food truck brand awareness like a logo.
• Equipment mounting: A mobile kitchen must have the equipment mounted to the food truck interior so it doesn’t fly around.

You might look for people who specialize in car wraps, mobile HVAC, and other features. Check out some food truck wrap ideas below.

Step #7. Build a Food Truck

Building a food truck requires the following steps:

1. Create a drawing of your proposed food truck layout.
2. Strip the food truck of anything you don’t need.
3. Gather all the equipment you want to add.
4. Build a concession window.
5. Add new flooring, if needed.
6. Install electric, gas lines, and plumbing.
7. Insert a three-compartment sink.
8. Add cooking equipment.
9. Install a fire suppression system

Check out the Mobile Cuisine blog to learn how to build your own food truck.

Learn More About the Food Truck Industry

While you’re looking for the right food truck to buy or building one of your own, don’t forget to research the larger food truck industry.

How to start a food truck business

Buying a food truck for sale is only one part of starting a food truck business. There are 11 steps to follow when you start and expand your food truck business:

1. Learn about the food truck industry.
2. Come up with food truck ideas.
3. Calculate how much it costs to start a food truck business.
4. Figure out your business operating costs.
5. Write a food truck business plan.
6. Determine financing options.
7. Obtain licenses and permits.
8. Buy your truck.
9. Secure your suppliers.
10. Streamline production processes.
11. Build your food truck business and brand.

Read our blog about starting a food truck for more details on the full process.

Why should I buy a food truck?

When you look for a food truck for sale, you’ll get a vehicle that has the kitchen and the driving equipment all in one piece. This makes the vehicle safer and easier to drive because there’s no trailer attached to the food truck.

A new owner can buy a food truck that’s fully equipped for a specific type of food sales. You can also purchase a multipurpose food truck or buy an empty food truck that’s fully customizable.

Why should I consider concession trailers?

If you own a truck, you might save money buying a concession trailer. There’s also more space in a food trailer than in a food truck because there’s no engine, transmission, or passenger space in the trailer.

A food trailer has the benefit of separating the food truck trailer from the engine and transmission. That means you can buy or sell the food truck trailer and the truck together or separately.

You can also leave the food trailer at a location if you’ll be working there for multiple days. This saves you money because you don’t have to tow the concession trailer back and forth.

What are the benefits of a food cart?

A food cart is less beneficial than a food truck because most aren’t motorized. These are a budget way of starting a mobile food business.

Food carts can make a great entry-level food business that’s a stepping stone to eventually buying a food truck for sale. Some common food cart business ideas include:

• Ice cream carts
• Hot dog stands
• Drink stands
• Coffee shops

These carts and machines will roll, but the owner must pull or push them to where they want to serve customers.

What are the benefits of a step van?

A step van is a type of food truck that allows you to access the cooking area from the cab. This is advantageous because you can stop the truck and get to the cooking section without going outside, which is why many food truck business owners use them instead of box trucks.

Are you ready to find a food truck to buy?

We’ve helped you understand how much a food truck costs to buy and how to purchase a food truck. We also explained the differences between buying new or used.

Then we shared how food truck buyers can finance a food truck and provided information to learn more about food service vehicle operations.

What else would you like to know about buying a food truck?