Taco Truck Business Plan, With a First-Year Projection

A taco truck sells volume: a carne asada taco costs about 95 cents and sells for $3.50, and a busy lunch moves hundreds. Burritos and quesadillas raise the ticket, aguas frescas cost almost nothing, and catering a party brings a big order in one booking. The plan turns on the truck, its payment, fuel and upkeep, a cook and a cashier on every shift, the commissary, and the spots and events that bring the crowds. In the example, a San Antonio taco truck starts with $65,400, ends its first year about $17,200 behind before the owner's pay while sales build, and makes about $3,500 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 truck in a paragraph: the spots, the hours, who buys, the goals.
• Cost each item: tortillas, meat, toppings, foil and the card fee.
• Plan sales by product: tacos, burritos, quesadillas, drinks and catering.
• The truck payment and two people's wages decide the month.
• Budget working cash for the slow first months, and check it against the lowest cash point.
• Catering steadies the calendar.
• TaroStack makes each taco a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of what's in it. More below.

Part 1: the business description

La Esquina Taco Truck, a made-up taco truck in San Antonio, Texas, writes:

La Esquina Taco Truck serves street tacos, burritos, quesadillas and aguas frescas at an office park at lunch, a brewery at night and weekend events, and caters parties with a taco bar. It works from a licensed commissary. In its first year it aims to reach $23,750 of sales a month.

Part 2: what a taco costs

Meat is most of the cost; when beef goes up 50 cents a pound, a taco costs about 7 cents more. What a truck counts each week is in food truck inventory spreadsheet.

Part 3: customers and schedule

The truck works about 24 days a month: weekday lunch at an office park, three brewery nights and weekend events. A catering booking is a taco bar for 50 at $750, costing $260 in food, supplies and an extra helper.

Part 4: what each product earns

At full speed the business sells $23,750 a month and keeps $17,550, 73.9%; tacos bring $7,650 of it.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $14,030 every month: commissary kitchen ($900), wages for a cook and a cashier ($9,000), propane and generator fuel ($700), insurance ($350), truck payment ($1,200), truck upkeep ($500), event and spot fees ($600), register and software ($80), ads ($300), and other costs ($400). Sales start at 35% of full speed:

The year's sales are $204,615, and the business ends it $17,171 behind, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $18,990 of sales a month, in the eighth month. The lowest cash point, −$29,786 in month 7, is covered by the $30,000 of working cash with about $200 to spare. Two people's wages are almost two-thirds of the fixed costs; a slow spot that doesn't cover them is the first thing to move.

Part 6: the startup budget

The $35,400 before working cash is earned back in about 10 months at full speed. The permits a truck needs are in food truck license, and the wider picture in food truck business plan.

Get the template

Download the taco truck 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 a taco. The truck uses a different one each week: beef prices move, tortillas run out at a festival, and marinated meat that didn't sell is thrown out.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack makes each taco a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of beef, tortillas and limes.

Tacos as recipes. Each taco is a recipe by weight, so its cost moves when the supplier's price does.

Counts with no signal. The cooler and dry storage can be counted on a phone with no signal, and the reorder list shows what runs out first in days of cover.

Waste with a reason. Marinated meat that didn't sell is recorded as waste with a reason, reported by item.

Recipes, counts and the reorder list 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 taco truck?

The example budgets $65,400, including $30,000 of working cash, with the truck bought on a $1,200 monthly payment after a $25,000 down payment.

Is a taco truck profitable?

It can be: the example makes about $3,500 a month at full speed before the owner's pay, after a first year that ends behind.

How much does a taco cost to make?

In the example, about 95 cents for a carne asada taco with tortillas, toppings, paper and the card fee.

What is the biggest cost for a taco truck?

Wages for a cook and a cashier, in the example $9,000 of $14,030 in fixed costs each month.