Food Truck Business Plan Template (Example With Startup Costs and Route Plan)
A food truck plan lives or dies on the route: where the truck is parked each day, how many covers that spot produces, and what the spot costs. This example for a fictional taco truck shows the weekly route as a table, which is what a lender wants to see.
Example business: Salt & Lime Tacos, a 16-foot truck working office parks, a brewery, and weekend markets in a mid-sized US city. Fictional; the numbers are illustrative and consistent with each other.
Executive summary
Salt & Lime Tacos is a taco truck with a nine-item menu, operating a fixed weekly route of three office parks, one brewery taproom, and two weekend markets. The founder ran the kitchen at a 120-seat Mexican restaurant for six years. The truck (used, 2019, $68,000 with kitchen) and the first three months of operating costs are funded by $45,000 of owner savings and a $60,000 equipment loan. The plan projects $286,000 in year-one sales from an average of 118 covers a day at $11.60, five days a week, with break-even in month five and a 12% net margin in year two.
Key numbers
| Menu | 9 items, 3 proteins, average ticket $11.60 |
| Covers per service day | 118 average (office park 90-130, brewery 140-180, market 200-260) |
| Year 1 revenue | $286,000 |
| Truck and build | $68,000 used truck with kitchen, $9,000 wrap and POS |
| Startup costs | $101,000 including permits, commissary deposit, insurance, opening inventory, $12,000 reserve |
| Commissary | $650/month |
| Permits | Mobile food vendor licence, health permit, fire inspection, four city event permits |
| Funding | $45,000 owner + $60,000 equipment loan, 6 years |
| Break-even | Month 5 at 96 covers/day |
Market
The three office parks host about 5,400 workers with one cafeteria and a 12-minute drive to the nearest restaurants. The brewery averages 400 visitors on a Friday evening and has no kitchen. The two weekend markets draw 3,000 to 6,000 visitors each. Food truck spending in the metro has grown with the return of office attendance; the city issued 31% more mobile vendor permits in 2025 than in 2023.
Competition
Two other trucks rotate through the office parks (a burger truck and a Korean bowl truck); the parks allow three trucks a day, so the slot is shared, not contested. At the brewery, Salt & Lime would be the only truck on Fridays under a season agreement. Supermarket meal deals are the price competitor at $8; the plan answers with a $9 two-taco lunch special.
Marketing and sales
Route posted weekly on Instagram and a Google Business profile with the day's location. Text list for the office parks (goal: 800 subscribers by month six). Brewery co-promotion. Catering menu for office lunches from month three, targeting two bookings a month at $900 each. Marketing budget $4,500 in year one.
Operations
Prep at the commissary 6:30 to 9:30 am, service 11 am to 2 pm at office parks, 4 to 9 pm at the brewery on Fridays, 9 am to 3 pm at markets. Founder plus one line cook on weekdays, two on weekends. Propane, generator, and a 40-gallon water tank; fuel and generator maintenance budgeted at $1,100 a month. Food cost target 31%.
Risks and what the plan does about them
- Weather: markets cancel in heavy rain; the plan assumes 8 lost market days a year.
- Truck breakdown: $3,000 repair reserve and a relationship with a second commissary that has a loaner cart.
- Permit changes: the city is reviewing downtown vending zones in 2027; the route avoids downtown for that reason.
Your food truck plan, from your numbers
Answer twelve questions about your own business and get all ten sections written with the arithmetic shown, plus a one-page summary. Nothing invented; every figure to verify is listed. $29, once. Write my business plan