Guides
Street food, stalls and food trucks
The full method for a stall, cart or food truck: daily costs, contribution per item, how fast you serve at the rush, waste and weather, with a worked example.
Read the guide: Street food stall profit: making the numbers work
- Street food stall profit: making the numbers workThe full method for a stall, cart or food truck: daily costs, contribution per item, how fast you serve at the rush, waste and weather, with a worked example.→
- Daily break-even for a food stall or cartHow many items you need to sell each day to cover the pitch, fuel, propane and help, and how many more to pay yourself. Worked example with a hot dog cart.→
- Food truck running costs: your cost per service dayFuel, generator, propane, pitch, maintenance, depreciation, insurance and permits turned into one number: what each day you open the food truck really costs.→
- Pricing street food: round prices, speed and volumeHow to go from the price your costs give you to a round price that is quick to pay, adjusting the portion, and how to check it pays more per hour of trading.→
- Festival and event pitch fees: is it worth itHow to decide before you sign whether a food festival or event pitch pays: full event costs, items to cover them, the worst case and what you give up.→
- Cash, card payments and change at a food stallHow much float to bring, what each way of getting paid costs you per sale, and how to count up at close, with a coffee cart example worked step by step.→
- Prep at home or cook on site: cost and time for a stallHow to decide, item by item, what to prep at home and what to do at the stall: time, transport, holding, quality and lost sales, with a taco stand example.→
- How much to make for your stall: weather and demandUse your own sales log, the weather and the day of the week to decide how much to prep, weighing what running out costs you against what leftovers cost.→
- Combos and add-ons at a food stall: do they payHow to work out what a drink combo and an add-on really leave you at a food stall, and how many new buyers you need before the combo discount costs you.→
- Is a helper at your food stall worth itWhether a helper at your stall pays for themselves: extra sales, customers who give up on the queue and the break-even for their wage, with a coffee cart.→
What does it really cost you?
Put your recipe into the free calculator: ingredients, packaging, your time and the gas. You get the cost per unit and your margin in two minutes, no account needed.