Food Truck Expense Calculator
Know exactly what every day on the road costs you — and what you need to sell to make it worth the drive.
| Cost item | Daily | Monthly |
|---|
What is the Food Truck / Mobile Vendor Expense Calculator?
The Food Truck / Mobile Vendor Expense Calculator maps every cost of running a truck — commissary rent, fuel, permits, insurance, food, labor, and platform fees — into a monthly break-even number and profit forecast per service day.
How is it calculated?
Enter fixed costs (commissary, insurance, permits, loan payments), variable costs (food percentage, fuel per event, labor per shift), and your average daily sales. The calculator returns monthly break-even, profit per service day, and how many event days per month you need.
Worked example: what does a $300-profit day actually cost a food truck?
- Spread your fixed monthly costs over operating days
Add the monthly bills: truck loan $800 + insurance $350 + permits $150 + commissary $300 + other $100 = $1,700. Divide by 20 operating days = $85/day in fixed cost you carry before you sell a thing.
- Turn miles into a mileage deduction
40 business miles x the $0.67 IRS standard rate = $26.80/day. That’s a deductible expense the tool tracks on the mileage-deduction card (shown rounded to $27).
- Total your daily variable (non-food) costs
Labor $200 + supplies/propane $30 + mileage $26.80 = $256.80/day. Add the $85 fixed = $341.80 you must cover every day before food and profit.
- Find your break-even revenue with food cost baked in
Food eats 30% of every dollar, so only 70% is left to cover costs. Break-even = $341.80 / (1 – 0.30) = $488/day in sales just to hit zero.
- Add your $300 profit goal
Revenue needed = ($341.80 + $300) / 0.70 = $917/day. That’s the number on the truck window you have to ring up to take home $300.
- Takeaway
At these defaults you need ~$917 in daily sales for a $300 profit day, and $536/month of that spend (mileage alone) is a clean tax deduction if you log the miles.
What does each food-truck cost run per day, per month, and is it deductible?
| Cost item | Per day | Per month | Deductible? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truck loan / lease | $40 | $800 | Interest + depreciation |
| Insurance | $17.50 | $350 | Yes |
| Commissary kitchen fee | $15 | $300 | Yes |
| Permits / licenses | $7.50 | $150 | Yes |
| Mileage (40 mi x $0.67) | $26.80 | $536 | Yes (standard rate) |
| Supplies / propane | $30 | $600 | Yes |
| Labor (you + staff) | $200 | $4,000 | Yes |
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to run a food truck monthly?
Typical operating costs run $3,000–8,000/month before food: commissary kitchen rent ($400–1,200), insurance ($300–800), permits, fuel and propane ($500–1,000), maintenance reserves, and POS/platform fees. Food adds 28–35% of sales, labor another 25–30%.
How many days a month does a food truck need to operate to break even?
Divide monthly fixed costs by average daily contribution (daily sales minus food, labor, and fuel for the day). A truck with $5,000 fixed costs averaging $1,200 in daily sales at a 40% contribution margin breaks even around 11 service days a month — everything after that is profit.
What permits and licenses does a food truck need?
Typically: business license, health-department permit, food-handler certifications, mobile-vendor permit per city, fire inspection for propane, commissary agreement, and often event-specific permits. Budget $1,000–5,000 annually and track renewals — a lapsed permit can kill a booked weekend.
Is a food truck more profitable than a restaurant?
Margins can be higher — 6–9% net vs. 3–5% for restaurants — because rent and staffing are lighter, but revenue ceilings are lower and weather/event dependency is real. Trucks that treat event selection like a sales pipeline (tracked, scored, booked ahead) outperform those parking on hope.
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