Templates · Food truck format
Food Truck Business Plan Template
This food truck business plan template is a free Word file with seven sections and a prompt under each one. Download it, write the parts only you can write, then fill the financial section with a live Google Sheet from the FoodTechGuru app or with your own spreadsheet.
Download the template (.docx)Build the numbers in the app- $67,650opening equipment in the starter list
- $1,750monthly costs to start from
- $5,430starter labour a month
Open a real finished plan
See a finished plan from the app
We have not filmed a food truck template plan yet, so this is the Google Sheet the app generated for our taco truck demo, Rio Taco Truck. Your workbook has the same seven tabs with your numbers.
- $74,415to start
- $3,349net profit a month
- 131portions a day to break even
- −$87,342lowest cash point, month 5
A view-only example of a food truck. Its figures are not a forecast for your business.
The seven sections
What goes in a food truck business plan template
You write the sections that need your judgment. The workbook gives you the numbers for the rest.
Executive summary
One page, written last: the truck, your concept, your pitches, the money you need and when you get it back.
Concept and customers
Your cuisine in one line. Lunch crowds, breweries, festivals or private events, and what each of them spends.
Market and competition
Walk your planned pitches at service time. Note the foot traffic, the nearest trucks and restaurants, and their prices.
Menu and pricing
Five to ten dishes the truck can really serve from its line, each with a food cost and a price.
Marketing plan
How people find out where you are today, your opening offer and a month of posts.
Operations and team
Commissary, permits and health inspections for your city, the pitch calendar, the crew and who drives.
Financial plan and funding
One steady month, twelve months of cash, the opening budget and where the money comes from.
Keep this as a template. The Word file has these seven sections with their prompts and a list of the numbers to bring. It is free with your email.
Download the outline (.docx)Food truck format · what the app pre-fills
The numbers the app starts you with
A blank template leaves the financial section to you. Pick Food truck in the app and it opens with this crew, these monthly costs and this equipment list, ready for you to change.
Opening crew
| Role | People | Hours/wk | Pay/h |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | 1 | 45 | $0 |
| Cook | 1 | 40 | $18 |
| Service | 1 | 30 | $14 |
| Labour a month, with 10% employer costs | $5,430 | ||
The app opens owner pay at $0. The workbook warns: “A plan that only works when you work free is not a plan.”
Monthly base
| Rent / pitch | $900 |
| Utilities / fuel | $350 |
| Insurance | $150 |
| Repairs & maintenance | $150 |
| Marketing | $200 |
| Fixed costs a month | $1,750 |
Opening equipment
| Food truck | $50,000 |
| Commercial griddle | $2,500 |
| Countertop fryer | $1,500 |
| Undercounter refrigerator | $1,800 |
| Compact freezer | $1,200 |
| Stainless prep counter | $750 |
| Sink and water system | $1,500 |
| Ventilation and extraction | $3,000 |
| Generator and power setup | $2,200 |
| Point-of-sale terminal | $700 |
| Opening packaging stock | $800 |
| Smallwares starter set | $1,200 |
| Fire and safety equipment | $500 |
| Equipment | $67,650 |
| With the workbook's 10% contingency | $74,415 |
- Our Rio Taco Truck demo kept this exact equipment list, added a 10% contingency and reached $74,415.
- Pitch fees open at $900 a month. Rio raised them to $2,000 and raised its utilities, insurance and marketing too, so fixed costs reached $4,000.
- Rio's real lowest cash point is −$87,342 in month 5, more than the $74,415 investment. Plan your funding against that number.
Free, in your browser
Test your food truck template break-even
Costs below are the Food truck starters from the table above. Prices and sales are our sample menu, so replace them with yours. The math and the verdicts match the workbook's Unit Economics tab.
- Sales a month
- Net profit a month
- Net margin
- Simple payback
- Food cost
- Labour
- Prime cost
- Net margin
- Margin of safety
Labour reads high? The workbook says it is “usually a rota problem, not a wage problem.”
What you get back
Seven tabs. 1,800+ live formulas. Every formula already connected.
Not a PDF that goes stale. The plan is a working spreadsheet model — yellow cells are your inputs, everything else is a formula. Change a price, and break-even, profit and cash flow follow.
- 1
Controls
Every setting in one place: format, currency, venues, trading days, crew, monthly base, delivery channels, targets.
- 2
Unit Economics
One steady month, per venue and for all venues. Profit, prime cost, break-even, payback and a health check with what to fix.
- 3
Cash Flow
Twelve months with a growth multiplier, staged venues, CAPEX and funding — and the lowest cash point you must survive.
- 4
Menu Engineering
The same columns as the app's menu calculation. Every dish classed Star, Plowhorse, Puzzle or Dog by margin and popularity.
- 5
Cost Cards
Every dish's cost card on one tab — ingredients, gross weights, prep and cooking loss, cost per portion.
Rio's carne asada tacos cost $2.63 and sell for $8.
- 6
Purchase List
Your buying list, aggregated across the menu in gross weight and grouped by category — with an integrity check against the menu.
Adds up the whole menu's buying in gross weight.
- 7
Startup Costs
One-off money with estimated, actual and variance columns, plus how it's funded: owner cash, loans, investors.
How it works
Six simple questions to start your plan cooking.
Tap any step to watch it on the phone. Every step feeds a real tab in your Google Sheet.
-
Pick the closest format and how many days a week you'll trade. For this plan that is Food truck. It only shapes the suggestions; you can change every number.
Feeds Controls
-
Build your opening crew by role — owner, cook, prep, service, driver, manager — then tune hours per week, hourly pay and employer costs. Leave pay at zero for an unpaid role.
Feeds ControlsCash Flow
-
Choose the menu this plan will sell. Food costs come straight from its recipe cost cards and stay read-only; you set prices and how many of each dish you expect to sell a month.
Feeds Menu EngineeringCost CardsPurchase List
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The costs that keep the doors open whatever you sell: rent or pitch, utilities or fuel, insurance, marketing, software, repairs and professional fees.
Feeds ControlsUnit Economics
-
Start from an editable equipment and opening-setup list for your format. Adjust quantities and prices, remove what you already own, add anything missing.
Feeds Startup CostsCash Flow
-
Your economics on one screen: break-even portions per day, revenue, profit, food, labour and fixed costs. Slide selling prices and sales volume to stress-test the plan.
Feeds Unit Economics
-
One tap on Generate Business Plan Google Sheet. It costs every dish, works out your monthly numbers and projects twelve months of cash flow — about a minute, and you can leave the screen.
-
A live formula workbook that opens from a link. Change a yellow input and break-even, profit and cash flow follow. Make a copy to keep it in your own Google Drive before you share it.
All 7 tabs
Food truckMobile, lean and full of personality
CaféCoffee, bites and loyal regulars
RestaurantA complete dine-in experience
BakeryFresh batches and counter sales
Ghost kitchenDelivery-first and highly focused
CateringEvents, groups and planned production
Rent / pitch
Utilities / fuel
Insurance
Repairs & maintenance
Marketing
Phone screens are a recreation. Crew, monthly costs and equipment are the app's real Food truck starters. The menu and sales are a sample with owner pay at $0, so they are not a forecast.
Section 5 of your plan
The marketing section needs real posts behind it
People have to find the truck before they can buy from it. FoodPerfect, our sister product, reads your website for the menu and hours, makes photos and offer posters from your phone shots and fills a month of posts for you to approve.
Each product does its own job, and nothing syncs between them yet. You enter your dish names and prices in FoodPerfect yourself.
See FoodPerfect for food trucks: $3 free to start, no card ↗
Food truck business plan template FAQ
What is in the food truck business plan template?
A Word file with seven sections: executive summary, concept and customers, market and competition, menu and pricing, marketing, operations and team, financial plan and funding. Each one has prompts written for a truck, plus a list of the numbers to bring.
Is the template really free?
Yes. Enter your email and the Word file downloads right away. Everything in it is also on this page to read.
Do I need the app to use the template?
No. The Word file works on its own. The app saves you from building the financial section by hand: it turns your recipes and your answers into a seven-tab Google Sheet.
Where can I see a filled-in version?
The food truck business plan example shows Rio Taco Truck with real numbers: $74,415 to start, $3,349 a month in net profit and a 22-month payback.
What does FoodTechGuru write, and what do I write?
The app builds the financial section: costed menu, crew, monthly costs, startup budget, break-even and twelve months of cash. You write the concept, the market research and the operating detail, because those need your town and your judgment.
What does a business plan cost in the app?
The app is a free download, and you can open and edit the finished Sheet on any computer. Generating a business plan uses 50 credits and needs a paid Pro or Guru subscription. The Guru trial does not include business plans. Regenerating the same plan is free. The app runs on iPhone today.
Can I send the Sheet to a bank or a partner?
Yes, once you make your own copy. Your plan opens from a link, and anyone with that link can edit it. Use File, Make a copy to keep it in your own Google Drive, or File, Download to send an Excel file.
See the whole thing
Watch a full plan come together
This two-minute film follows a dark kitchen from cost cards to menu engineering to the finished Google Sheet. A food truck business plan uses the same steps with your own recipes.
Download the template, then build the numbers.
Write your sections in Word and generate the financial workbook from your own recipes.