Just exploring all the possibilities. What I want to do most is pig roasts and catering, possibly a small 5 day a week takeout place.

But I'm thinking that a lunch truck, 2 - 3 days a week, might be a decent way to get my name out there without quitting my job and going "whole hog"!

Any thoughts at all about stating out this way would be appreciated.

ironically, we are selling our place, so we can move where you are (west chester). come buy our place. its small, busy, and cheap......

I've priced those "Roach Coaches" and, unless you get a heck of a deal on one, they arent cheap. Especially if you are only gonna use it a couple times a week.

If you are gonna have a take out place, perhaps you could, for a whole lot less than a lunch truck, have some fancy menus printed up and post them at ll the factories, hospitals, & maybe even schools. Then offer delivery.

You'd save on time and fuel, and you would probably have alot less waste of product.

Just my thoughts.

Not looking to buy your place coffee, but I have a 7 day vacation planned in HH for September. And I plan to head over to Savannah, so maybe I'll try and find your place!

Bodacious,
I'm not sure what your state laws are there, but in Florida, you'd have to have a commissary kitchen for preparing the food unless you are completely self-contained. We're licensed as a mobile food vending unit which means we are self contained. In Florida, if you're licensed as catering, your food must be prepared in a state approved commissary kitchen, then transported. If you're licensed as mobile food vending you can do either.
Check out the laws there. It might take a lot more time than the 2-3 hours a day you're thinking. Also, I'd check out the county where you are thinking of operating. Additionally, in St. Augustine, there are parts of the city, (the historic area) where we are not allowed at all. But the streets are so narrow, I doubt we could navigate them anyway.
I'm not trying to discourage you. Please just make sure you know what you're possibly getting into! Check out insurance costs on the vehicle, too.
Best of luck.
Peggy

Ditto what Peggy said. In NC you can have a restaurant, and you can cater and sell take out, but you can't sell to a caterer or to anyone for resale without going to a whole new level of red tape. I think in NC you are required to have a USDA approved kitchen if you produce any food for resale.

Also, lunch trucks that go to businesses have an agreement with the business that is usually exclusive, and it would involve 5 days a week, and usually more than one visit each day unless you set up there for the entire day. Also......if that's not enough, lunch trucks that stop by construction sites and car dealerships and such, run a tab for the regulars so they pay weekly or monthly. Just another thing to consider.

Todd, I have a commisary to go to. I don't know about the USDA thing. I will tell you that there seems to be a whole lot of "freelancing" going on around thses parts.

hh aint too far at all. sept is the absolute hottest time of the year in these parts. we be burning up. come on by, i'll show you the place. maybe get in a round of golf....
btw, first 50 can take it....

bbq,
i know all about the "freelancing" thing. we run into it all the time here lately. one thing i have told people is "go a head and use them but remember if someone gets sick their lawerys are coming for you for knowingly using an illegal supplier."
makes em think
jack

Lots of freelancing around these parts as well. Easily over 100 Pig Pickin' type operators listed in yellow pages, most with no license or health permit. But they "claim" to cook everything on site so they get by until they get caught or give a bunch of people food poisoning and it ends up in the paper. I suspect a lot of the mexican taco trailers I see in parking lots late night are operating on the wrong side of the law as well, but if they tried it during the day they wouldn't last long before the health department got them.

We have a huge problem with unlicensed "freelance" lunch trucks and road-side vending that don't seem to follow any of the rules that are required to be legal. Yet they go mostly un-checked because the local gov't is afraid of stirring up the "un-documented" visitors.

chef tom,
i luv it!!!!!!!!
undocumented visitors!!!!!!!
you sir should go for a state department job lol
thanks had a ruff day at work and needed a good laff
jack
ps. which begs the question why did my fresh off the boat german grandfather machinist have to wait 3 years to get his papers lol?????

Prison Chef, if he spoke spanish it would only take a couple days.

Don't get me started....

The number of undocumented aliens has gone up dramatically around here since they caught the Mexican Consulate forging SS cards and NC driver license's for their constituents. No joke. I live about 2 miles from the Mexican embassy, and back when they were producing fake docs, weekday mornings would see hundreds of people in line waiting to become "legal". Now the place looks deserted since the presses stopped.