STARTING A FOOD TRUCK SERIES

Must Haves Inside Your Food Truck

Want to know what you'll need when you start your food truck? Maybe you'd be interested in knowing the things that most people look over when buying a food truck. Well that is what I am going to tell you today. I am going to give you all some insight on what you'll need before buying your food truck..... that you might have been told or maybe didn't think about!

​There's so many things to say and instead of putting it into a paragraph, I'll just list everything and touch up on some important ones after.

1. Tool Box
2. Jump Cables
3. Tire Iron Bar
4. Coolant
5. Oil (for generator & truck)
6. Water hose (Don't forget the nozzle)
7. Bucket for Fryer Oil
8. Extra Generator Parts
9. Spare Tires
10. Gas tank
11. Extra Card Reader
12. Common Sense & Patience

1. Tool Box- If you have all the money in the world to hire somebody for every broken part or to change something on your truck right when you call, you don't need this. But, if you are like all of us in the food truck scene, you'll need to be a little handy! Any 50+ piece tool set will do, get a drill, and an impact drill (not necessary but will help). A few drill bits, screw drivers, wire cutters, and screws will take you far. If you are trying to be very handy like I am, then you'll add more as time goes on.

2. Jumper Cables- Everybody knows what these are for but you might not know that you just might (hopefully not) need them for your generator. So, make sure your cables are small enough for your generator! Make sure you figure out how to jump your food truck also. Some of these things have multiple batteries! So, make sure you have the correct set up for your rig. PRO TIP- Get a Jumper cable battery pack. Nothing is worst then sitting on the road with your jumper cables but no battery to jump it.

3. Oil- Can not stress how much having an extra bottle of generator oil has helped me and engine oil. Imagine going to your shift, pulling up, ready to serve, you go to turn on your generator and you get that infuriating 'OIL' message on your generator. The generator will not turn back on until you change it BUT, you read Damion's "Starting a Food Truck series" blog so, you are prepared with a nice bottle of clean oil to change it in 20mins. So, you change it in 20mins and BAM, you saved yourself from added stress, finding out how to get to the nearest gas station, and getting back; just to spend another 20mins changing the oil. PRO TIP: Get a Funnel that is small enough for your oil refill hole and keep the old bottles from you last oil change to drain the bad oil into. p

4. Bucket For Fryer Oil- Unless you like your oil all over your truck floor, get yourself a bucket to drain it a little after every shift. 

5. Extra Generator Parts- If you are trying to be as handy as I am, you do everything (crying slowly). So, I service my own generator. I use to not know how easy it was it was to work on my Honda Eu7000is but it's honestly the easiest generator to service--and I found out the hard way. I use to drop my generator off and wait two weeks for them to service the fuel pump and I stressed a lot about spending money to rent a generator every time. So now, I'm a "PRO" and I know how valuable having my generator is for my business. So, specifically to my Honda, there's only about four things that make it turn off for no reason, the oil, fuel pump, fuel pump filter, and this dumb fuse I always forget to check. Again, this is specific to my generator, so figure out yours and how to service it. It'll save you a lot of money and time.

6. Water Hose- Not going to spend much time on this one but I will just say, the retractable, non-kink, whatever hose, is the best for storage and life span. Don't cheap out and get the 50 ft one, just get that 75 or 100!

7. Gas Tank- Again, not going to spend a lot of time on this one but definitely get the gas tank that releases gas from the bottom of the tank. Not the traditional ones, they always break and leak--so annoying!

8. Common Sense & Patience- This may seem like a joke but honestly it isn't. I've seen so many people add unnecessary stress to their day because, one, they aren't being patient and two, they aren't allowing themselves to have some common sense because they are trying to rush everything. Remember, from my last article, food trucks are not fun, they are stressful (always), but everything can be fixed, you just have to have the desire to move forward. Like everything, you get better with common sense, in-relation to being a food truck owner, through time. It is going to take time to figure out all the best strategies and ways to handle different situations but try to think and always plan ahead. 

I hope these tips help you when you have decided to venture on this new grueling chapter of your life. Most of these things may seem obvious but remember, not everybody has common sense (joking). On a serious note, I honestly hope these things will help you, it is really a goal of mine to help new business owners, food truck or not, grow and be successful. Being your own boss is the best thing you can do in life and I want to be here to help you all through it!

Damion Loera
Owner/Author
The Food Truck Blog