Food Truck Business Plan Template

Smoke & Masa is a birria and barbacoa taco truck launching in San Antonio, TX in Q1 2027. We serve slow-braised meats on handmade corn tortillas at a $4-$13 price point, targeting downtown lunch crowds, brewery patrons, and the city's year-round event circuit. We are seeking $95,000 in startup funding: a $45,000 SBA microloan, $30,000 in equipment financing secured by the truck, and $20,000 in owner savings. We project $312,000 in Year 1 revenue at a 28-30% food cost, reaching break-even in month 10. Owner Luis Herrera brings 9 years of kitchen experience, including 3 years as sous chef at a high-volume Tex-Mex restaurant.

The menu is deliberately tight: 8 items, one protein program, every item served in under 4 minutes. - Birria tacos, 3 per order with consomme ($13) - Barbacoa tacos, 3 per order ($12) - Quesabirria grilled cheese taco ($5.50) - Bean & cheese taco ($4) - Loaded birria fries ($11) - Esquites cup ($5) - Agua fresca, rotating flavor ($4) - Mexican Coke / Topo Chico ($3) Target food cost: 28-30%. One braise (12 hours, done overnight at the commissary) feeds every protein item, which keeps prep labor low and waste near zero. Average ticket target: $16 per customer. Nothing on the menu requires a fryer except the fries, which limits hood and fire-suppression complexity.

TRUCK: We are purchasing a 2019 16-ft step van, fully equipped (flat-top, 2 burners, refrigeration, 3-compartment sink, fresh/gray water tanks) for $52,000. A comparable new custom build quotes at $110,000-$140,000. We budgeted $8,000 for upgrades: new gray water pump, updated fire extinguishers, and a serving-window awning. Buying used cuts our loan size nearly in half; the tradeoff is a repair reserve, which we hold in working capital. We rejected leasing ($2,500-$3,500/mo locally) because 24 months of lease payments exceed the purchase price with no asset at the end. COMMISSARY: San Antonio Metro Health requires mobile vendors to operate from a licensed commissary. We have a signed agreement with a commissary at $350/month including overnight parking, potable water fill, gray water dump, and dry storage. Prep happens there daily from 6-10 AM.

First-year permit and license budget: $2,800 (San Antonio only). - Mobile food establishment permit (Metro Health): annual, includes plan review and truck inspection - Certified Food Manager certificate (owner): 5-year cert - Texas food handler cards: all crew, renewed every 2 years - Fire marshal inspection: annual, required for propane systems - Texas sales and use tax permit: free, filed before first sale - Vehicle registration + commercial auto policy on file - Commissary agreement letter: submitted with the health permit application Expansion note: permits do not transfer between cities. Each new jurisdiction (Austin, New Braunfels) adds its own health permit and inspection fees, so we enter one city at a time and only when a recurring route justifies the cost.

Revenue splits across four location channels: 1. WEEKDAY LUNCH (40% of revenue): Tue-Fri, 11 AM-2 PM at two rotating business-park pods on the north side. Pod fees run $25-$50/day. Predictable volume: 60-90 tickets per stop. 2. BREWERY EVENINGS (25%): Thu-Sat, 5-9 PM. Signed rotation agreements with two craft breweries that have no kitchen. No lot fee; the brewery keeps beverage sales, we keep 100% of food. 3. EVENTS & MARKETS (15%): Weekend farmers market (Sat AM) plus 15-20 ticketed events per year booked through the city event calendar. Event fees $75-$500; we only book events with 1,000+ expected attendance. 4. CATERING (20%): Corporate lunches and weddings, $22-$28/head, 50-person minimum, deposit up front. Catering is the highest-margin channel and the growth lever for Year 2.

The truck wrap is the primary ad: a $4,500 full vinyl wrap seen by thousands of drivers daily, designed to be readable at 40 mph. FIND-THE-TRUCK SYSTEM: Weekly schedule posted every Sunday to Instagram, Google Business Profile, and the website. Location pin goes live each morning. Trucks lose regulars when the schedule is unreliable, so the posted schedule is a commitment, not a suggestion. CHANNELS: - Instagram + TikTok: 4 posts/week (cheese-pull birria video is the format that travels) - Google Business Profile: optimized for "birria San Antonio" and "food truck near me"; review requests via QR code at the window - Brewery cross-promotion: each brewery posts our schedule to their followers - Catering outreach: direct pitch to 50 office managers within 5 miles of our lunch pods Launch budget: $1,500. Ongoing: $250/month, mostly boosted location posts.

DAILY CYCLE: Braise loaded into commissary ovens the night before. 6-10 AM: prep, tortilla press, truck load-out, water fill. 10:30 AM: drive to lunch pod. 11 AM-2 PM: service. 2-4 PM: restock or reposition. 5-9 PM: evening service (Thu-Sat). 9:30 PM: return to commissary, gray water dump, cleaning, secure parking. STAFFING: 2 people per service window (owner on the line + 1 crew), 3 on event days. Two part-time crew members total, cross-trained on window and grill. Labor target: 25-28% of revenue including owner draw. SYSTEMS: Square POS with offline mode (card signal drops at events), QR-code menu at the window, inventory counted twice weekly against POS sales. Par levels sized to 2 service days so a dead generator never spoils a full week of product. MAINTENANCE: Oil and generator service every 100 engine hours. $400/month reserved for repairs; a truck that will not start earns nothing.

Owner/Operator - Luis Herrera: 9 years in San Antonio kitchens, most recently 3 years as sous chef at a Tex-Mex restaurant doing $2.8M annually, where he managed ordering, inventory, and a 12-person line. Certified Food Manager. Handles menu, sourcing, service, and daily operations. Crew - two part-time employees: hired 30 days before launch, food handler certified, cross-trained on window and grill so any two people can run a service. Outside support: - Bookkeeper (4 hrs/month): monthly P&L, sales tax filings - CPA: annual return, entity setup review (single-member LLC) - Mentor: former operator of a 3-truck fleet, advising on route selection and event contracts The plan is honest about the gap: Luis has deep kitchen experience but has not run a business. The bookkeeper, CPA, and mentor are named in the plan because lenders look for exactly that self-awareness.

REVENUE RAMP: Month 1: $14,000 (soft launch, lunch only). Months 2-3: $19,000-$22,000 as brewery nights start. Months 4-9: $26,000-$30,000 at full route. Months 10-12: $28,000-$32,000 with catering layered in. Year 1 total: $312,000. Seasonality: January-February dip 20% (cold, fewer events); a catering push and two indoor market bookings offset part of it. MONTHLY OPERATING COSTS AT FULL RUN-RATE (~$26,500 revenue): - Food & packaging (29%): $7,700 - Labor incl. owner draw (27%): $7,100 - Commissary: $350 - Fuel + propane: $900 - Insurance: $400 - Repairs & maintenance reserve: $400 - Pod/event fees: $600 - POS, phone, software: $250 - Marketing: $250 - Loan payments: $1,450 - Total: ~$19,400, leaving ~$7,100 pre-tax at full run-rate Prime cost (food + labor) target: 56%. Break-even: month 10 on a cumulative-cash basis.

TOTAL REQUIRED: $95,000, allocated exactly as itemized in the startup cost worksheet above. FUNDING MIX: - $45,000 SBA microloan (7-year term) - covers build-out, permits, wrap, generator, and working capital - $30,000 equipment financing secured by the truck itself - trucks and kitchen equipment qualify as collateral, which keeps the rate down - $20,000 owner cash injection (21% of total) - above the 10-20% equity injection lenders typically want to see from a startup REPAYMENT: Combined debt service of roughly $1,450/month is 5.5% of full run-rate revenue, well inside lender comfort. The truck (appraised $52,000) secures the equipment note; no real estate collateral exists, which is why we sized the SBA request under the microloan cap instead of a larger 7(a). USE-OF-FUNDS DISCIPLINE: No dollar is unassigned. Lenders reject plans with round-number asks; this one is built line-by-line from the worksheet.