Like the chuckwagons of the old west, today's ultra
modern custom built mobile industrial catering trucks,
or lunch trucks as many are called, continue to carry
fresh foods such as sandwiches, snacks, fruit, and
beverages to their customers, They have become a
common sight on highways and in urban areas. For
those independent spirits who take to the road to
serve construction sites, offices, recreational facilities,
or other locations, solid profits can be attained.
Mobile industrial catering is a multi-billion dollar
industry.
The operation of a mobile catering business is
frequently structured the following ways:
1. As an independent operator who owns his or her
own truck and route, or
2. As an independent contractor who leases the
vehicle and/or route from a commissary company or
fleet owner.
Operators should purchase their food and
supplies from only licensed commissaries or catering
house. Commissaries may cook entire or partial meals
on their premises, buy prepared foods from suppliers
and as a distributor, or both cook food and buy
prepared products for resale.
The two most common vehicles used in the operation
of a catering business today are" cold" trucks and
"hot" trucks.
On the more traditional cold trucks, sandwiches,
salads, and other food items are prepared in a
commissary kitchen and later sold from the catering
truck. on the increasingly popular hot trucks, the
operator usually purchases the ingredients for
sandwiches, salads and other products and then
cooks or prepares them on the vehicle which is
equipped with grills and other cooking devices A"cold"
truck can be operated by one person while "hot"
truck usually requires 2, an operator and a cook. |
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A new cold catering truck (box and chassis) cost
$20,000 - $30,000, while a new hot truck cost
$40,000 - $60,000. Most vehicles can be financed,
but newcomers should consider leasing a truck and/or
route from an established company until certain that
he or she likes the business well enough to make
such an investment.
In a typical eight to ten hour day, a cold truck
operator may make up to 20 stops along a 10-20 mile
route; a hot truck would make fewer stops and may
stay in a higher volume location for a long time. In
most cases, routes do not extent more than 20 to 30
miles from the commissary.
An average cold truck will have daily sales of $400
- $600, while a hot truck will average $500 - $800 in
sales per day
A route producing $400 per day would most likely
sell for $16,000 to $20,000, and a route producing
$600 per day would sell for $24,000 to $30,000.
Usually, a good rule to calculate the price of a route is
a ratio of 40: 1 to 50: 1 of the route's daily sales.
OPERATION RATIONS
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Total Sales |
100% |
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Cost of Sales |
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Food & Profit
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55%-65% |
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Gross Profit |
35% - 45% |
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Expenses |
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Gas, Oil, & Propane |
3% - 5% |
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Maintenance, Repairs, Insurance |
1% - 12% |
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Depreciation, Taxes, Interest, Licenses |
14% - 21% |
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TOTAL EXPNSES |
14% - 21% |
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NET PROFIT |
14% - 31% |
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For further infomation call
(512)-251-6544
Snappy Snacks Catering 15630 Vision Drive Pflugerville TX. 78660
Ask for Tom Ramsey |
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