How much does it cost to start a food truck?
Published estimates put the cost of starting a food truck at about $30,000 to $250,000 [1] [2]. The vehicle drives most of that spread: a used truck, a new or custom build, a trailer or a rental. Next come the kitchen, which depends on your menu, and the permits, insurance and commissary (a licensed kitchen you rent to prep food and, often, park the truck) where you sell.
Our rough math from the table below: a used truck that comes with its kitchen, plus an inspection, permits for one city, and insurance and a commissary for the first three months, comes to about $32,000–$108,000. That's before opening food, a cushion and money to run on. See the math
Startup costs, line by line
Use these as a starting point, and get real quotes before you buy. Rows marked "Our estimate" are our own, worked out from sellers' list prices.
| Cost | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Used food truck | About $30,000–$100,000 [1] [2] [3] |
| New food truck | About $50,000–$200,000. Custom builds start around $100,000 [1] [2] [3] |
| Food trailer, instead of a truck | About $20,000–$120,000 for a working unit. Used trailers can cost $6,000–$10,000 but usually need upgrades, and you'll need a vehicle that can tow one [4] [1] |
| Renting a truck, instead of buying | About $2,000–$3,000 a month, so budget the deposit and first month [2] |
| Inspection before you buy a used truck | Around $250 in one example [5] |
| Sales tax on the vehicle | Rates differ by state. Ask your state's revenue department. |
| Title, registration and plates | Fees differ by state. Ask your state's motor vehicle office (DMV). |
| Kitchen equipment, if not included | Our estimate for a basic griddle-and-fryer line: about $5,800–$14,000 for the equipment alone, before shipping, installation, the hood and fire suppression [E1]. A bigger menu needs more gear [1] |
| Generator | Our estimate: about $1,800–$5,000 for a 7,000–11,000-watt inverter generator. Size it to your equipment [E2]. Get quotes for propane tanks and lines. |
| Wrap, menu boards and signs | Our estimate: about $2,500–$8,500 for a full wrap, or about $1,200–$4,000 for a partial wrap, depending on the truck's size, how much of it is covered and the design [E3]. Get quotes for menu boards and signs. |
| Permits, licenses and inspections | Under $3,500 per city in 18 of 20 large U.S. cities in a 2018 study. Some cities cost far more, and each city or county you sell in can add its own [6] |
| Insurance | About $300 a month for commercial auto plus a business owner's policy. That's the middle figure: half of Insureon's customers paid more, half paid less. A business owner's policy bundles general liability with property coverage, so you don't buy both [7] [8]. Hiring? Ask your agent about workers' comp. |
| Commissary kitchen | About $200–$750 a month, and up to about $1,250 in Los Angeles or New York. Expect a deposit too, around $500 in one example [9] [10] [11] |
| Card reader and point of sale | $0 if you take cards on your phone, or about $59–$399 for a card reader or terminal. Software costs $0–$149 a month [12] [13] |
| Opening food and packaging stock | Price it from your menu and supplier quotes; it depends too much on the menu to give a range. Once you're open, ingredients run about 28%–35% of sales [1] |
| Cushion for surprises | About 10%–20% of your total budget [14] |
| Money to run on while sales build | The SBA suggests counting at least a year of monthly expenses when you work out how much money you'll need [19]. To see how much of that early sales might cover, build a 12-month cash flow projection [14] |
| Published overall estimates (not a sum of the lines above) | About $30,000–$250,000 [1] [2] |
Where the overall totals come from
The overall range comes from DoorDash and Toast, companies that sell services to food businesses and don't show their math [1] [2]. Use it for scale, and build your own total from the lines above.
We make a spreadsheet for exactly this: the Simple Food Truck Opening Planner lists these lines and adds them up for you, in Excel or Google Sheets. See what's in it
Costs people forget
- Bringing a used truck up to code. Apollo, a Canadian builder that also sells inspections, wrote in 2020 that many used units it inspected needed major work (water, electrical, gas, hoods or fire suppression), and that the upgrades often used up most or all of the savings from buying used [5]. It's a good reason to pay for an inspection.
- Sales tax, title and registration on the truck or trailer. These are easy to leave out of a budget. Your state's DMV or revenue department publishes the rates and fees.
- Commissary rent, every month. A Philadelphia owner told Food Network her commissary cost "can easily be over $1,000 per month" [17]. Some commissaries want proof of insurance before you sign, so line up insurance first [9].
- Permits in every place you sell, every year. The same owner said her truck spends "well over $1,000 in licensing each season" [17]. A Los Angeles owner in the 2018 Food Truck Nation survey said "Paying $100-$600 per permit for each county and city gets incredibly expensive" [6].
- Rule changes. New fire suppression and propane rules in Denver cost one owner "over $4,000 in repairs and updates" (2018) [6].
- Repairs to the truck itself. Another owner named "Breakdowns, tire blowouts, generator issues" [17].
- Card fees. Square charges 2.4% to 2.6% plus 15¢ per in-person card sale, depending on the plan [12].
- Event and market fees. For large events, the Washington State Food Truck Association asks organizers to keep flat fees at or under $300 a day, and percentage fees ideally at 10% or lower [18]. Ask each event what it charges before you book.
- A tow vehicle and hitch, if you choose a trailer [1].
Replace guesses with quotes
Before you buy, get two or three written quotes for each big cost, like the truck, the kitchen work, the wrap and insurance. The SBA suggests talking directly to vendors and service providers, and notes that permits and licenses tend to have published costs [19]. Then keep a cushion for what you still can't price [14].
Call your health department before you buy a truck. Sonoma County in California, for example, tells buyers to contact its environmental health office first "to ensure it meets current food code requirements" [20]. Yours may want something different, so ask.
If you plan to borrow
NerdWallet, a loan comparison site, describes food truck loans this way [3]:
- They're usually equipment loans, with the truck as collateral (the lender can take the truck if you stop paying).
- Terms run from one to 10 years, at 5% to 36% APR.
- Some lenders want 10% to 20% down.
- Lenders typically want a credit score of 600 or more, six months or more in business and $100,000 or more in yearly sales. A business that hasn't opened may not qualify.
For smaller amounts, the SBA's microloan program lends up to $50,000 (about $13,000 on average), generally at 8% to 13%, for up to seven years [15].
Taxes
The IRS has separate rules for business costs you pay before you open [16]. Ask a tax professional how they apply to you before you start spending, so you keep the right records from the first receipt.
How this guide is made. Researched and drafted with AI tools. A separate AI review checked the figures against the sources listed, on the dates shown, before we published it. This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Editorial policy
Show how we worked out our estimates
How we estimated these
These are list prices from a sample of sellers and regions, checked in October 2026. They are not quotes. Your price will depend on the seller, where you are and when you buy.
The rough budget near the top: about $32,000–$108,000. We added up lines from the table, using the low end of each for the low total and the high end for the high total. "First three months" means three months of insurance and commissary rent.
| Line (from the table) | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Used food truck, kitchen included [1] [3] | $30,000 | $100,000 |
| Inspection before you buy [5] | $250 | $250 |
| Permits for one city, 2018 study (cheapest city was $590; 18 of 20 under $3,500) [6] | $590 | $3,500 |
| Insurance, 3 months at about $300 [7] | $900 | $900 |
| Commissary rent, 3 months at $200–$750 [9] [11] | $600 | $2,250 |
| Commissary deposit [9] | $500 | $500 |
| Total | $32,840 | $107,400 |
- Rounded outward: about $32,000–$108,000.
- Not included: opening food and packaging, a cushion, money to run on, sales tax, title and registration, repairs, a card reader, a wrap, and a generator if the truck doesn't have one. A truck in a costlier city, or one that sells in several cities, will cost more.
How we formed each estimate range. For equipment, we priced the same model at three or more national restaurant-supply or equipment sellers, using the price shown on each product page. We took the lowest and highest price for each item and added them up. For wraps, a local service, we used prices that shops publish on their own sites, from five U.S. regions (one shop prices only by the square foot) plus one national company. The ranges below are rounded and don't include shipping or freight, which vary by location, or sales tax.
E1. Kitchen equipment: about $5,800–$14,000. Five items for a basic griddle-and-fryer line: a 36-inch gas countertop griddle, a 40 lb gas floor fryer, a 48-inch refrigerated sandwich prep table, a three-compartment sink and a wall-mounted hand sink. The budget set uses Atosa equipment; the higher-end set uses Wolf, Pitco and True. Both sets use the same Advance Tabco sinks.
| Item (model) | Low | High | Sellers checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget griddle (Atosa ATMG-36, 36", 90,000 BTU) | $1,112 | $1,112 | Burkett, Central Restaurant Products, Texas Restaurant Equipment, East Bay Restaurant Supply, Restaurant City |
| Budget fryer (Atosa ATFS-40, 40 lb) | $1,068 | $1,068 | Restaurant Equippers, ARC Restaurant Supply, Chefs' Deal |
| Budget prep table (Atosa MSF8302GR, 48") | $2,326 | $2,326 | GoFoodservice, RHQ, Charbroilers |
| Higher-end griddle (Wolf AGM36, 36", propane) | $4,150 | $4,745 | WebKitchenStore, WebstaurantStore, Burkett |
| Higher-end fryer (Pitco SG14-S, 40–50 lb) | $3,072 | $3,072 | KaTom, Burkett, WebstaurantStore |
| Higher-end prep table (True TSSU-48-12-HC, 48") | $4,468.93 | $4,468.93 | KaTom, Burkett, WebstaurantStore |
| Three-compartment sink (Advance Tabco FE-3-1014-15RL, 60", 10" x 14" bowls) | $754.93 | $882 | KaTom, GoFoodservice, Burkett |
| Hand sink with faucet (Advance Tabco 7-PS-66) | $572.06 | $708.30 | KaTom, GoFoodservice, KitchenRestock |
- Budget set: $5,833–$6,096. Higher-end set: $13,018–$13,876. Rounded outward: about $5,800–$14,000.
- Not included: shipping or freight, sales tax, the exhaust hood, fire suppression, water tanks, pump and water heater, the propane system, wiring and installation. Other menus need different gear.
- Seller links for every price are listed under Price sources.
E2. Generator: about $1,800–$5,000. Three inverter generators rated 7,000 to 11,000 watts at peak. The size you need depends on your equipment.
| Model | Price shown | Sellers checked |
|---|---|---|
| DuroMax XP7000iH (7,000 W, dual fuel) | $1,799 at all three | DuroMax, MaxTool, WebstaurantStore |
| DuroMax XP11000iH (11,000 W, dual fuel) | $2,499 at all three | DuroMax, MaxTool, WebstaurantStore |
| Honda EU7000iS (7,000 W) | $4,899 at both | Honda (MSRP), Electric Generator Depot |
- Range: $1,799–$4,899, rounded to about $1,800–$5,000.
- Not included: mounting, wiring, a transfer switch, propane tanks and lines, fuel and shipping.
E3. Wrap: about $2,500–$8,500 full, $1,200–$4,000 partial. Prices published by wrap shops on their own sites, for food trucks unless noted.
| Shop (city) | Full wrap | Partial wrap | Region | What the page says it covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawk Wraps (Linden, NJ) | Trucks from $2,500; large trucks $2,500–$7,000+ | From $1,200 | Northeast | Custom design, printing, laminate and installation described as services; itemized quote per vehicle |
| Wrap4Cars (Boston, MA) | Step van $3,500–$7,500; box truck $4,000–$8,500; trailer $3,000–$7,000 | Step van $1,500–$4,000 | Northeast | Printed vinyl graphics |
| Smart Food Truck (Oakland Park, FL) | $2,803.74 | — | Southeast | "Full Wrap and Design" |
| Graphics AtoZ (Houston, TX) | $5,000 | — | Southwest / Texas | "Full Vehicle Graphics"; trailer wrap $1,500 |
| Chicago Fleet Wraps (Chicago, IL) | $4,200–$8,000 | $1,500–$3,000 | Midwest | Cast vinyl with overlaminate; the same page also gives $3,500–$8,500 and $5,400–$8,200 |
| Art Printing Shop (Sacramento, CA) | $13–$17 per sq ft, $550 minimum | — | West Coast | Priced by area, so no truck total |
| Wrapmate | From $5,000 | From $1,249 (about 25% coverage) | National | Price based on coverage |
Swipe the table sideways to see more.
- Full wrap: low points run from $2,500 to $5,000 and published high ends from $7,000 to $8,500. Rounded range: about $2,500–$8,500. Partial: about $1,200–$4,000.
- The West Coast shop prices by the square foot, so the range has no West Coast truck total.
- Not included: removing an old wrap, body repair, menu boards and signs.
Price sources for E1–E3 (all checked Oct 2026)
- Atosa ATMG-36 griddle, $1,112: Burkett · Central Restaurant Products (LP model) · Texas Restaurant Equipment · East Bay Restaurant Supply · Restaurant City
- Atosa ATFS-40 fryer, $1,068: Restaurant Equippers · ARC Restaurant Supply · Chefs' Deal
- Atosa MSF8302GR prep table, $2,326: GoFoodservice · RHQ · Charbroilers
- Wolf AGM36 griddle (propane): WebKitchenStore $4,150 · WebstaurantStore $4,745 · Burkett $4,745 (AGM36 Quick Ship listing)
- Pitco SG14-S fryer, $3,072: KaTom · Burkett · WebstaurantStore
- True TSSU-48-12-HC prep table, $4,468.93: KaTom · Burkett · WebstaurantStore
- Advance Tabco FE-3-1014-15RL sink: KaTom $754.93 · GoFoodservice $786 · Burkett $882
- Advance Tabco 7-PS-66 hand sink: KaTom $572.06 · GoFoodservice $708 · KitchenRestock $708.30
- DuroMax XP7000iH, $1,799: DuroMax · MaxTool · WebstaurantStore
- DuroMax XP11000iH, $2,499: DuroMax · MaxTool · WebstaurantStore
- Honda EU7000iS, $4,899: Honda · Electric Generator Depot
- Wraps: Hawk Wraps (Linden, NJ) · Wrap4Cars (Boston, MA) · Smart Food Truck (Oakland Park, FL) · Graphics AtoZ (Houston, TX) · Chicago Fleet Wraps (Chicago, IL) · Art Printing Shop (Sacramento, CA) · Wrapmate (national)
Sources
- DoorDash for Merchants. How Much Does a Food Truck Cost in 2026? Full Breakdown (checked Oct 2026)
- Toast. How to Open a Food Truck With No Money (checked Oct 2026)
- NerdWallet. Food Truck Financing: Compare the Best Loan Options (checked Oct 2026)
- Toast. How Much Does a Food Trailer Cost? Key Factors & Budget Tips in 2025 (checked Oct 2026)
- Apollo Custom Manufacturing. What To Buy: New or Used Food Truck? (checked Oct 2026)
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Food Truck Nation (2018 report, PDF) (checked Oct 2026)
- Insureon. Food Truck Business Insurance Costs (checked Oct 2026)
- Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center. Starting a Food Truck (2024 guide, PDF) (checked Oct 2026)
- Commissary 5280. Membership Requirements (checked Oct 2026)
- Grégoire Culinary Hub. Commissary Kitchen & Food Truck Facility for Small Businesses (checked Oct 2026)
- Roaming Hunger. Food Truck Commissaries: What You Need To Know (first published 2017; same figures in a 2019 archived copy) (checked Oct 2026)
- Square. Square Processing Fees, Plans, and Software Pricing (checked Oct 2026)
- Square. POS Hardware and Equipment (checked Oct 2026)
- SCORE. Startup Expenses (template) (checked Oct 2026)
- U.S. Small Business Administration. Microloans (checked Oct 2026)
- Internal Revenue Service. Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records (checked Oct 2026)
- Food Network. 13 Things Food Truck Owners Wish You Knew (checked Oct 2026)
- Washington State Food Truck Association. Event Information (Large Event Guidelines) (checked Oct 2026)
- U.S. Small Business Administration. Plan your business: Calculate your startup costs (checked Oct 2026)
- Sonoma County Department of Health Services. Mobile Food Facilities (checked Oct 2026)
