A food truck starts spending the moment it leaves: the pitch or event fee, fuel, the generator, a helper, the truck loan and its upkeep. You pay all of it whether you sell 20 orders or 80. So the daily question is not whether a taco has a margin. It is how many you must sell before you start making money. One slow day with high fixed costs can wipe out a good one.
The costs of a food truck
- Daily fixed costs. Pitch fee or event fee, fuel to get there, gas or generator for the day, a helper.
- The truck. Loan repayments, insurance, servicing, tyres. They arrive monthly or yearly, but they have to be spread over the days you trade.
- Variable cost per order. Ingredients, tortillas, sauces, packaging, napkins. It rises and falls with what you sell.
- Prep you do not sell. Marinated meat, opened sauces, chopped garnish. On a slow day some of it is lost.
- Payment fees. Card payments cost a share of each sale.
Worked example: tacos at a regular pitch
Your fixed costs per trading day:
| Item | Per day |
|---|---|
| Pitch fee | $60 |
| Fuel and generator | $40 |
| Helper | $120 |
| Truck loan and servicing, spread per day | $80 |
| Total fixed per day | $300 |
An order of three tacos costs you $4.20 in ingredients and packaging, and you sell it at $11.00.
- What each order leaves to cover fixed costs: 11.00 − 4.20 = $6.80
- Break-even: 300 ÷ 6.80 = 44.1, so 45 orders a day
- On a 60-order day: 60 × 6.80 = $408, minus 300 fixed = $108 profit
- On a 35-order day: 35 × 6.80 = $238, minus 300 = a $62 loss
Now add card fees. Say your card reader takes 3% of the price: 11.00 × 3% = $0.33, so each order leaves $6.47 and break-even becomes 300 ÷ 6.47 = 46.4, so 47 orders.
The first 45 or so orders each day only pay for the truck. Your profit comes from the ones after that. That is why a better pitch or a busy event is usually worth more than cutting the price by a dollar.
The numbers that matter most
Fixed cost per day. Add up everything you pay to open and divide monthly truck costs by the days you really trade, not by 30. The guide on fixed vs variable costs helps you split them, and the one on equipment costs and depreciation shows how to spread the truck, griddle or fridge.
Contribution per order. Price minus variable cost. It is what each sale puts towards the fixed costs. Read contribution margin and, if you take cards, payment fees in your price.
Daily break-even orders. Fixed cost ÷ contribution per order. Write it on a card inside the truck. The guide on the break-even point has the full method.
Orders per hour at peak. If you can serve 20 orders an hour at lunch and the queue wants 30, you lose sales. A short, fast menu often earns more than a long one.
Prepped versus sold. Record what you take out and what comes back, by day and by pitch. The guide on production planning shows how to adjust prep to the day and the place.
Events. An event can fill your day, but many charge a flat fee or a share of takings. Run the break-even with those numbers before you say yes. The guide on catering and events as a channel helps you compare.
How to keep track
One row per trading day: location, hours open, orders, average order value, fixed costs for the day, leftovers. After a month you can see which pitches always clear break-even and which do not. If you financed the truck, read the guide on loans and financing too: the repayment is one more fixed cost your sales have to cover.
Do it with the calculator
The food cost calculator costs one product at a time and saves nothing, so note the result or copy the link. Use it to get the variable cost and contribution of each item on your menu, with ingredients, packaging and card fee. Then divide your daily fixed cost by what each order leaves you, and you have your number for every morning.