Pupusa Business Plan: A Truck, Frozen Packs and Catering

A pupusa is masa stuffed and griddled to order, and a revuelta, pork, beans and cheese, costs about 86 cents with curtido, salsa, the plate and the card fee, and sells for $3.50. A truck sells them hot; frozen packs sell in Latino grocers between truck days; and catering feeds a party of 50 at once. The plan turns on hands at the comal, the truck and its commissary, and the meat rule: pork pupusas sold hot from the truck are retail food, but frozen packs sold to a grocer with pork in them bring USDA inspection, so the grocer gets queso and frijol con queso. The plan below works per pupusa. In the example, a Houston pupusa truck starts with $75,400, ends its first year about $16,900 ahead before the owner's pay, and makes about $5,300 a month at full speed. Below is each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the pupusas, the stops, who buys, the goals.
• Cost each pupusa: masa, filling, curtido and salsa, the plate, the card fee.
• Plan sales by product: revueltas, queso con loroco, frozen packs, catering.
• Hands at the comal are the biggest cost after the truck.
• Frozen packs for grocers: meatless, or USDA inspection.
• Commissary, propane and permits are fixed costs.
• TaroStack costs each pupusa from its recipe and what each batch used. More below.

Part 1: the business description

La Ceiba Pupusería, a made-up pupusa truck in Houston, Texas, writes:

La Ceiba Pupusería makes pupusas to order from a truck at two weekday stops and a weekend market, sells frozen six-packs of queso and bean and cheese pupusas to four Latino grocers, and caters parties. In its first year it aims to reach $19,025 of sales a month.

Part 2: what a pupusa costs

Loroco, the flower bud that goes in with the cheese, comes frozen or jarred from Latino distributors. The grocer sells the frozen six-pack for about $13. Catering for 50, 150 pupusas with curtido and salsa, is $525 and costs $135. Bags and labels for frozen food are in how to package frozen food for sale.

Part 3: the truck, the grocers and the meat rule

The truck works two weekday lunch stops and a Saturday market, prepping masa and fillings at its commissary. Frozen six-packs are made on Mondays, frozen fast and delivered every two weeks. Pork stays on the truck: pupusas with meat sold to another business bring USDA's inspection, in usda meat inspection requirements. The truck's permits are in food truck license.

Part 4: what each product earns

At full speed the business sells $19,025 a month and keeps $13,705, 72%; revueltas bring $6,600 of it.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $8,450 every month: commissary ($1,200), wages for two at the comal ($5,500), propane and fuel ($600), permits and market fees ($300), insurance ($300), freezer storage ($200), software ($50), and other costs ($300). Sales start at 35% of full speed:

The year's sales are $164,215, and the business ends it $16,904 ahead, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $11,730 of sales a month, in the fifth month. The lowest cash point, −$8,716 in month 4, is covered by the $15,000 of working cash with about $6,300 to spare. Rain and summer heat thin the market days; the frozen packs keep coming in when the truck doesn't go out.

Part 6: the startup budget

The $60,400 before working cash is earned back in about 11 months at full speed. Another truck is in taco truck business plan, and another Latin American dough sold frozen in empanada business plan.

Get the template

Download the pupusa business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products, each with its price, variable cost and units a month at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales ramping up, profit, cash, the first profitable month, the lowest cash point and whether the working cash covers it; your fixed costs; and the startup budget. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The plan uses one cost per pupusa. Cheese moves by the week, a busy Saturday makes more than the prep planned, and which frozen packs are oldest at a grocer is anyone's guess.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack costs each pupusa from its recipe and from what each batch used.

Recipes by weight. Each pupusa is a recipe, with unit conversion from the case or sack to the gram.

True cost from the batch. Each batch takes ingredients at their real cost, from the deliveries they came from, so a price rise shows up in the next batch.

Price creep. A price-creep report per supplier shows which ingredient is quietly costing more.

Recipes, batches and true cost are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How much does it cost to start a pupusa business?

The example budgets $75,400, including $15,000 of working cash; the used food truck is the biggest item.

Is a pupusa business profitable?

It can be: the example makes about $5,300 a month at full speed before the owner's pay, and ends its first year ahead.

How much does a pupusa cost to make?

In the example, about 86 cents for a revuelta with curtido, salsa, the plate and the card fee.

Can I sell frozen pupusas to grocery stores?

Meatless ones, like queso, from a licensed kitchen; pupusas with meat sold to another business bring USDA inspection.