Do Smart Spenders Save In The End When Purchasing A Food Truck?

Editor’s Note: Today, we interrupt our regular blog schedule to bring you a guest post from Christopher Adams, the Director of Business and Development at Prestige Food Trucks. In this new article, Christopher explains the importance of having a reliable vehicle for your food truck business and outlines some of the struggles FoodTruckrs may face if their trucks break down unexpectedly. If you’re debating whether or not you should choose a new food truck over a used food truck, you’ll definitely want to hear his take on it!

How to Run a Food Truck” will be back next Wednesday with part two of our lesson on advanced marketing tactics for food truck owners. Until then, be sure to visit Prestige Food Trucks and see what they can do for you. Let’s hear what Christopher has to say!

When entering the food truck market, a potential buyer might think that looking for the cheapest option is the right choice for their business. The buyer might go on Craigslist, eBay, or any number of sites where they can find used food trucks at a low price. While going the used route for a food truck sounds good in theory, since you’ll be saving money initially, the cheapest option will typically be your most expensive choice in the long term.

Many customers who choose to go with a used food truck will soon run into many issues with their vehicle. The owner of a used food truck will experience an increase in the amount of maintenance repairs conducted on their truck. Not only will these maintenance repairs cost money, but most importantly you have to factor in the revenues and exposure that you’ll be missing out on if the vehicle is being serviced for multiple days or even weeks. The food truck business will be missing out on lost revenue from the various caterings and events that it could’ve served. The food truck will not be traveling on the road, parked at a busy intersection, or appearing at events with hundreds or even thousands of new customers to advertise their already existing or even growing brand, with the mobile billboard that is a food truck.

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One of the most important things that a food truck business will miss out on if they find themselves stuck in a mechanic’s shop for maintenance, is their inability to provide their product to someone in the market for a new caterer. Landing new catering connections is key to staying in business for a food truck, since catering events offer guaranteed revenue that you won’t find at food truck events when a single customer has to choose between twenty different food trucks.

Here at Prestige Food Trucks, we highly recommend that our clients go with a brand new truck. New trucks have the benefit of minimal mileage on the engine and their respective factory warranties. All of the cooking equipment, generators, and materials that are used in our custom food truck build outs at Prestige Food Trucks are always going to be brand new. The equipment and generator will be factory warrantied and all of the work done by Prestige Food Trucks includes a one year warranty. This is a nice route to go because it gives our clients peace of mind. Going with an all new food truck helps to ensure that there is minimal repairs to be had on the client’s food truck and that they will have a mobile business that will last them years to come with a reliable vehicle and commercial kitchen.

Not every potential food truck owner has the budget for a 2015 step van, so we have to start looking for ways to cut the total cost. One of the quickest ways to do so is to go with a pre-owned step van, but to still stick with the all brand new materials and equipment that are standard at Prestige Food Trucks. Going this route is extremely common in the food truck industry. In this case, we always recommend going with a newer and/or lower mileage vehicle, which can sometimes be extremely tricky given that the step van market is becoming extremely scarce around the country. Prestige does everything possible to source the highest quality vehicles at the lowest price to our clients. Buyers do have to keep in mind though, that even though most of these pre-owned trucks are in great shape, at the end of the day, they are still pre-owned. Prestige Food Trucks does everything possible to prevent major mechanical issues before the truck is delivered to the client, but it’s a given that anything secondhand is much more likely to have issues than something brand new.

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You have to keep in mind that there are many components that go into manufacturing a food truck. Each truck contains electrical, plumbing, mechanical, walls, ceilings, metal fabrication, cooking equipment, refrigeration equipment, Propane gas lines, a generator, and more! Since there are so many components that go into creating a fully operational food truck, it’s best to make sure a professional like Prestige Food Trucks is handling each one of them.

image by Prestige Food Trucks


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About the Author

Christopher Adams is the Director of Business Development at Prestige Food Trucks. To learn more about how a custom food truck or custom food trailer can help your business, contact Chris at Chris@prestigefoodtrucks.com or visit the Prestige Food Trucks website at www.prestigefoodtrucks.com.

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  • Doug Murray April 10, 2015, 11:44 am

    Nice article…. Though buying a preowned truck and new equipment is the way to go (financially speaking), many “ordinary people” still do not have 70,000-100,000 laying around to have one built out. And since many would agree that a newer and aesthetically pleasing truck will be more likely to get return customers, a 70,000+ truck is needed. Financing a food truck should be the next blog.

    • foodtruckr June 8, 2015, 9:06 am

      Thanks for the insight, Doug! That can be true, for sure. Happy Monday!

    • Michael Johnston September 17, 2016, 4:26 am

      The prettier trucks don’t sell more food in the area I live (150,000 residents). Tasty food, an appealing menu, and general cleanliness, that’s the ticket.

  • tahershinde April 11, 2015, 9:29 am

    Nice Tips. Thanks for providing valuable information. – Jobs EYE

    • foodtruckr June 8, 2015, 9:04 am

      Thanks for reading! 😀

  • Michael Johnston September 17, 2016, 4:23 am

    Yea, in my area there are well used trucks for sale that are equipped at least with the minimum appliances, and have passed inspection, are legal, selling for under $15,0000. Someone with a budget of $30,000 is far better off buying this truck and improving it. Yes, $70,000 gets you a beautiful fully loaded kitchen, but starting off $40,000 in debt, plus startup costs no thanks. The loan payments alone are $1,000 a month. Besides that, you may have to wait a year to sell if you choose to, and that truck won’t sell at $70,000 price tag.

  • Sheen January 26, 2017, 7:22 am

    Cool article! Usually when one wants to save money, one chooses used
    truck, but you convinced me. Was wondering is that cheaper and possible
    to rebuild a van like one of these: http://www.truck1.eu/delivery-vans
    into a mini food truck?