Do you want to start a food truck in 2025? Here are a few of my top tips as a food truck owner for when you are getting started, creating a menu, and hiring employees to help set your food truck business up for success.
Here are my top three tips for starting a food truck in 2025
1. Research local requirements
Before buying a food truck, make sure that you understand the local requirements from the health department and places like Labor and Industries. Just because you bought the food truck in the area doesn’t mean you’ll legally be able to run it without having to make adjustments. Look into rules and requirements in the following areas: fresh and gray water tanks, electrical, propane, and even window and door size. You don’t want to end up being stuck with a food truck that cannot legally operate in your city.
That being said, it is possible to buy a food truck and retrofit it to meet your local requirements, this may end up being a cheaper way to open up the truck as long as you’re able to actually get it to comply. I have known food truck owners who have had to wait months and spend thousands in order to get their food truck legal. Unless you feel confident that you’ll be able to successfully renovate a food truck, it may be in your best interest to spend more on a food truck or trailer that will be compliant right away. You want to start your food truck in 2025, not months or years later because of renovation delays and redone inspections.
2. Optimize your menu
There are two major mistakes that I notice people making when they open a food truck, and I was guilty of them both when I first opened my food truck. Thankfully, food trucks are super adaptable, so I was able to make adjustments along the way.
The first mistake is that their recipes don’t scale right, so when they go to make larger batches of food they make all the time at home, it doesn’t turn out as expected. For me, part of what caused this was that I switched from buying normal grocery store ingredients to buying bulk at a restaurant supply store. Just the change in brand, or the difference in how long it takes to mix larger batches (bakers I’m looking at you), can result in a different outcome for a tried and true home recipe. Just know that you might have to make adjustments along the way just keep this in mind as you start scaling.
The second major mistake that food truck owners make is having a huge menu. A lot of food truck owners think they need to have all the classics or a huge menu with tons of options to have a successful business, but your customers don’t expect you to have a restaurant-sized menu in a food truck!
Having a menu that is too large may issues (I know, I’ve worked through them myself). Here are the top issues I’ve seen in my food truck and others.
Limited storage space:
In a small truck or trailer, you won’t have a walk-in refrigerator like a normal restaurant. This means that if you have a lot of menu items or ingredients there won’t be room for backups or extra prep. Keep in mind that certain ingredients need to be kept on separate shelves and away from other food items, so just because you have enough cubic feet of refrigeration doesn’t mean you’ll be able to store that much food.
You’ll be spread too thin:
More menu items mean more prep and more work during busy rushes. This also allows more room for mistakes as you’ll have even more menu items to teach employees about and to remember on a daily basis. Limit prep time and potential mistakes by focusing on your core menu items.
Increased waste:
Not only does having a bigger menu mean more time spent prepping food, but it also means you’ll be more likely to have food waste (noooo). No matter how successful you are, there will be times when certain things sell more than others or some things don’t sell at all. The larger your menu is, the more likely it is that you’ll be wasting product, or struggling to use it while it is fresh.
3. Invest in your employees
When you first open your food truck you may be planning on operating it alone or running it with family and friends. Eventually, though, you’ll probably need to hire employees, and I think it is crucial to invest in them by providing them the training they deserve and a fair work environment. If you invest in your employees by giving them proper training and a fair work environment, they will invest in your business and help it succeed.
I worked for years as a manager in fast food, and I always thought it was insane how in an industry with one of the highest employee turnover rates do so little to try to keep employees around. Low pay, minimal training, bad communication, and virtually no benefits, fast-food restaurants are stuck in a constant loop of losing high-quality staff and having to rely on under-trained new hires to get by. Research shows that it actually costs a restaurant less money to give employees consistent raises than it does to lose an employee and have to pay for their replacement.
I think it is important to set your employees up for success by providing them with thorough training, and an open line of communication so that they feel comfortable reaching out when they have questions or concerns. Along with that, help them feel valued by providing regular employee evaluations. I recommend giving raise opportunities every six months, which can be paired with the evaluation. You should let them know their strength and areas that need improvement, and offer more training if necessary.
One of my top tips for helping employees feel valued so they will stay with your business for as long as possible is to be accommodating with time off requests. In the fast food industry, I would often see managers denying time-off requests, and employees would either 1) quit right away to go on their vacation because they know they can just get another fast food job because the barrier to entry is so low, 2) not show up anyways and just get a write-up because they know they can get away with it, and 3) work anyways and miss their event or trip and be mad or frustrated and more often than not start looking into new jobs.
Accommodating time-off requests can mean that you’ll have to run short-staffed every once in a while, but I think it is worth it to help your employees maintain a work-life balance and to feel valued. Remember, if your employees feel like you are taking care of them, they’ll be more willing and excited to help your business succeed.
These are just some of my top pieces of advice for anyone looking to start a food truck in 2025, they are important things to consider when you are starting your business and hiring employees. Starting a food truck in 2025 will come with some challenges, but it can also be exponentially rewarding and more than worth it as long as you start with the right foundation.
