Both food trailers and food trucks are becoming more and more popular. Especially during a pandemic, enclosed restaurants and crowds will increase the risk. But food trailers do not need to consider this. Customers will take the food and leave after buying the food, so there will be no crowd gathering, which reduces the risk.
When you decide to buy a mobile kitchen, you will face this question: should you buy a food trailer or a food truck?
Food truck
The food truck does not require a tractor, which is easier to move and can reduce the setup time. Its kitchen space is 10’ to 26’, but the most common size is 16’ to 18’.
Advantages:
- No need for a tractor: Each food truck has its own engine, which can set off at any time, saving time.
- Creative appearance: Usually food trucks will have an interesting appearance to attract customers. But in recent years, food trailers can also add an eye-catching appearance to the trailer body.
- Maintain value: Generally speaking, food trucks retain their value than food trailers.
Disadvantages:
- Expensive: The price of food trucks is much higher than that of food trailers.
- Mechanical failure: Since the food truck has its own engine, once the engine fails, the entire truck has to be towed for repairs. This will delay business hours.
- Maintenance cost: The maintenance cost of a food truck is much higher than that of a food trailer because it needs to maintain not only the cooking equipment but also the engine.
- Limited space: Since food trucks need to leave space for the cab, there is less space for cooking.
- Not conducive to storage: When you decide to drive home, it is difficult to find enough space to store the truck.
Food trailer
Although a food trailer requires a tractor, it is more flexible. A pickup truck is enough, even when your trailer is small enough, you can tow it with only a motorcycle. When you don’t want to go to work, you can also go for a drive in your own car instead of driving a food truck to various places.
Advantages:
- Even cheaper: The cost of food trailers is much lower than that of food trucks.
- Larger space: There is no need to leave room for the cab, all the space can be used for cooking.
- Customization: Food trailers are usually tailor-made, which means you can customize the layout and dimensions.
- Low maintenance cost: You only need to maintain your cooking equipment. Even if your tractor engine fails, you can change to another tractor and operate normally.
Disadvantages:
- Longer set-up time: When you start, you need to connect the trailer to your car. When you reach the destination, you need to drive the car away, which requires a longer set-up time.
- Towing: Moving a trailer in a small space can become difficult.
Thank you for explaining how maintenance costs tend to be higher for food trucks. My sister is looking to start a food truck business and has been wondering what to expect for her new truck. I’ll have to pass this on to her, but I think she’ll be happy with her business regardless.