Food Truck Revenue Calculator

A typical food truck earns between $500 and $2,000 per day, depending on location, menu prices, and foot traffic. High-volume trucks at festivals or busy urban spots can exceed $3,000 on peak days. Using an average order value of $12 and serving 80 customers, you'd generate $960 daily.

A healthy food truck profit margin generally falls between 6% and 15%. Margins below 6% may indicate high overhead or low pricing. Margins above 15% are considered strong and are typically achieved through efficient food cost management and high customer volume.

Most food trucks spend 28% to 35% of their revenue on food ingredients and supplies. Keeping food costs below 30% while maintaining quality is a common benchmark for profitability. Bulk purchasing and menu engineering can help reduce this percentage.

Monthly food truck operating costs typically range from $5,000 to $20,000 depending on size and location. This includes food costs, labor, permits, insurance, commissary kitchen rental, utilities, and loan repayments. Variable costs like food and labor scale directly with your revenue volume.

Coffee trucks can be quite profitable due to low ingredient costs and high margins on beverages. A busy coffee truck typically earns $300 to $1,500 per day, with profit margins ranging from 15% to 25%. Annual net profits commonly fall between $30,000 and $80,000 for well-positioned coffee trucks.

Starting a food truck typically costs between $50,000 and $175,000, covering the vehicle purchase or lease, commercial kitchen equipment, permits and licenses, initial food inventory, branding, and working capital. A used truck with basic equipment can reduce startup costs to $30,000–$50,000.

Most successful food trucks operate 20 to 25 days per month. Fewer operating days reduce revenue without significantly cutting fixed monthly costs like permits, insurance, and kitchen rental, which compresses profit margins. Maximizing event bookings and consistent locations helps maximize monthly revenue.

The largest expenses for most food trucks are food costs (28–35% of revenue) and labor costs (25–35% of revenue). Fixed costs such as permits, insurance, commissary kitchen rental, and loan repayments add several hundred to several thousand dollars monthly. Together, these can consume 75–85% of gross revenue.