The Rise of Food Trucks
🚚 A Booming Industry on Wheels
Food trucks are a growing segment in the food industry. The food truck industry is booming and is listed as one of the most profitable businesses of 2024 by Forbes. The industry has a compound annual growth rate of 13.3% over the past five years.
Starting a food truck can be beneficial for people who don’t have the funding for a standalone restaurant but want to start their own business. Typically, they cost less than restaurants to launch and require fewer employees to operate. With over 35,000 food trucks generating $1.5 billion in revenue in the U.S., it's no surprise when entrepreneurs want to join the industry with a food truck business of their own.
More than 2.5 billion people eat street food from a food truck every day.
According to Axios, there was a 10% jump in new restaurants opening in 2023 compared to 2022 and in New York alone, more than 4300 restaurants were added to Yelp.
The average start-up cost for a restaurant is $275,000, while the average cost to start a food truck business is between $28,000 and $144,000.
Food trucks tend to market to working professionals and people under the age of 50.
Many food trucks offer unique food options that can’t be found in many restaurants.
Social media is the primary way food trucks connect to their customers
Food trucks are held to the same regulations as restaurants which means owners need the same licensing and inspections as restaurants.
While working with the health department may feel daunting to new food truck owners, the process is in place to ensure that food trucks maintain the same standards of serving healthy, delicious food even while on the road.
Food trucks were once only found at fairs and outside office buildings but you can now find them outside of airports, schools, markets, and even clubs. The rise of the food truck has seen them working at special events such as weddings, school dances, birthday parties and public gatherings. The possibilities for market share and cuisine are endless along with the potential of the growing food truck industry.