HOW TO START A STREET FOOD CART BUSINESS

If you want to learn how to start a street food cart business, but you’re not sure where to begin, we want to help. Cart-King Intl Carts and Kiosks has been in the mobile vending business a long time, over 20 years. During that time we've helped hundreds of customers either start or grow a food cart business.

Guide table of contents:

• Why start a street food cart business?
• How to get started in the street food business
• Develop a business plan
• Establish your food business budget
• Licenses to vend mobile street food
• Plan a food cart menu
• Best selling items for a street food cart
• Decide what equipment you need
• Choose the right cart
• Market your food cart business
• Best practices for success
• Wrapping it up

Why start a street food cart business?

The street food industry offers unique opportunities for aspiring business owners. Here's why it’s a great choice:

• Low Startup Costs: Compared to brick-and-mortar restaurants, food carts are significantly less expensive to launch. Average startup costs range from $5,000 to $50,000, depending on location and equipment.
• High Mobility: Food carts allow you to adapt to changing customer trends and foot traffic patterns.
• Growing Market: The U.S. street food industry generates over $3 billion annually, and the demand for diverse, convenient food options continues to rise.
• Diverse Cuisine Options: Food carts cater to customers seeking everything from global cuisine to local favorites, making it a highly versatile business model.

So how does an entrepreneur get started in the street food business?

As we can well appreciate as business owners ourselves, starting any business, including a street food business, seems overwhelming at first. There's a seeming multitude of considerations to make, from the legalities and compliance to how to distinguish yourself from similar businesses in a highly competitive industry.

There are a couple of things we would like to suggest at this juncture. The first is to keep it simple and secondly, to break it down into small, logical steps. Really, when you think about it, there are only a few simple steps you need to take:

1. Develop a business plan
2. Establish your food business budget
3. Obtain the appropriate vending licenses
4. Decide what street food you are going to sell
5. Choose what equipment you are going to need
6. Choose the food cart you are going to buy
7. Profit

With that said, we would like to suggest that the best way of sorting everything out and being able to visualize it starts with developing a business plan.

1. Develop a business plan

A food cart business can be very profitable, this is for sure, but it takes careful thought to ensure success. Taking the time to write a good business plan to will help you visualize what it looks like from start to finish.

The best place to start when considering whether or not to start a street food cart business is establishing your budget. What can you afford to spend on not just the food cart itself, but also the related costs of operation. These expenditures can include transportation of the cart to the site, the food ingredients, beverage items you want to offer, maintenance costs and related equipment.

In your business plan you can also establish your business model. To help with that, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What will your business name be?
2. Who are the principal business members?
3. Who are your customers?
4. What are your competitive advantages?
5. What type of street food do you want to sell?
6. How are you going to price your food?
7. Where do you want to vend your food?
8. How are you going to market your business?
9. What will your operating hours be?
10. What is your projected sales revenue for the first three years?

If you need help knowing where to start, we wrote an ebook that includes a business plan template. This ebook is also full of statistics, cash flow projections, pricing guides and other details you need to get started as a mobile vendor.

2. Establish your food business budget

By establishing your budget, you’ll know what you have to spend on the food cart and what you can expect to spend in the first months while you get your sales rolling. If you are not sure where to start, we have you covered. We've written an extensive and comprehensive guide on what to know when buying a food cart that covers everything from the cost of the food cart itself, down to licenses and operating expenses.

We are also pleased to offer a free food cart sales projection spreadsheet in Excel format that you can download. This spreadsheet breaks down the various expenditures you can expect to realize and keeps a running total over a three year period to help you visualize the investment you'll need to make.

3. Obtain licenses to vend mobile street food

Making sure you are in compliance with regulations by obtaining the proper training and licensing is a critical step in starting a street food business. There's a lot to know about licensing, depending on what state you plan on doing business in. We've addressed the licensing requirements in depth in this article. Here is a brief summary of the business licenses you may need to acquire to operate.

• Business registration. Every state in the USA requires a business to register and obtain a license to operate a food cart business. These licenses are specific to the location in which you want to operate in, so you need to go to your local city or county government office to obtain one.
• Health Department permit. State health departments have a food safety program in place to ensure that consumers are protected from the possibility of disease or disability from food-born or waterborne illness. Street vendors need to have this permit issued to serve customers.
• Food Managers Permit. Some states no longer require each employee to have a Food Handler Permit. However, the states that do not typically require that a manager or owner with a Food Manager Permit be physically present during operating hours.
• Street vendor license. In addition to a state business license, a mobile food vendor will be required to get a local business license, or street vendor license, to vend in a specific city or county. This license will allow you to sell food in public venues in that area.
• Fire department permit. Some vendors will offer a food cart for sale with cooking equipment built into it, such as a gas or electric grill, hot plates or other gas and electric appliances. For that food cart to be allowed to operate and serve food in the USA, your cooking equipment and setup needs to be inspected by the local fire department where you want to be vending.
• Federal tax permit (Employer Identification Number, or EIN). To operate a food business in the USA, you will be required to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This permit allows you to conduct your food business and pay federal taxes on the revenue earned.

Visit your local government’s website or the Small Business Administration for specific requirements.

4. Plan a food cart menu

Now that you have a business plan, a cart in mind and what you need to equip it, the next matter of business is to plan a food cart menu. While we already have a guide on planning your menu, we’ll provide a brief summary here.

To plan an effective menu, you’ll first want to assess your cooking skills and what your cuisine specialties are. We have found that to be the most successful in the food business, you want to focus on your strengths. Are there regional foods that you were raised on? How about international cuisine? Perhaps you prefer comfort food, or maybe BBQ with pulled pork, ribs and mac and cheese.

There is also something to be said for keeping it simple, such as tacos, hamburgers or even hot dogs. Here's the thing. One of the biggest road blocks to starting up any venture is noticing how many players are already there. It can be a little intimidating and may cause you to rethink.

It is understandable, however since this guide we wrote a further post outlining our top 10 food cart menu ideas. You might like to take a look at that list and see if it gets your wheels turning. There is one point in there that we'd like to highlight. Take a look at the competition and either bring something different, or find what's popular and do it better.

Whichever fare you decide to serve, prepare a list of ingredients you will need to keep on the cart. Also make a list of what equipment you might need from the list below to prepare and sell your menu items.