

The Startup Scene that’s Really Cooking–Food Trucks - semanticseed
http://citizenspace.us/coworking/the-startup-scene-thats-really-cooking-food-trucks/

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michaelpinto
Dumb question: So you're working at one of these trucks for an 8 hour shift
and chances are at some point you'll need to use a bathroom -- as the operator
of the truck what do you do?

~~~
dkrich
I live in DC where these things are abundant because of the very strict
building codes in downtown. Almost without exception they have at least two
people working inside and the lunch rush only lasts for about 2 hours, tops,
so that's really the extent of their work day. Which, by the way, this article
conveniently leaves out- the major disadvantage of the food truck business-
limited hours of service and limited maximum capacity.

~~~
rprasad
Lol. The food truck business work day is _much_ longer than 2 hours. The 2-3
hour lunch period is the primary window, but many trucks also do a dinner
service for 2-3 hours.

In addition to the service window, there's several hours at the start of the
day dedicating to stocking the truck and prepping the food so that it simply
needs to be cooked. At the end of the day, leftovers must be disposed and all
of the equipment must be cleaned. Both prep and cleanup will take several
hours: prep will usually take 3-4 hours, and cleanup will 2-3 hours.

On top of that, there's the transportation time for getting from home base to
the day's location(s). In L.A., most trucks operate out of a San Fernando lot,
which means 1-2 hours transit time to get to their lunch spot.

All told, the employees may get 8 hour shifts, by the truck managers and
owners will be lucky if they work fewer than 12 hours a day.

Sources:

[http://clatl.com/atlanta/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-atlanta-
foo...](http://clatl.com/atlanta/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-atlanta-food-truck-
mixd-up/Content?oid=5484599)

<http://www.findlafoodtrucks.com/blog/tag/nom-nom-truck/>
[http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/6599/Food_trucks_A_d...](http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/6599/Food_trucks_A_day_in_the_life)

[http://mobile-cuisine.com/business/breaking-into-the-food-
tr...](http://mobile-cuisine.com/business/breaking-into-the-food-truck-
industry-%E2%80%93-part-4/)

 _Komodo, one of the grandaddies of the modern food truck industry, used to
have a great post on this but it appears that they have deleted that post._

~~~
dkrich
I'm talking about the hours of service, not the hours of prep and cleanup.
Prep and cleanup hours don't bring you revenue. In fact they cost you money in
fuel and employee expenses. Food trucks may do a dinner service but there is
no comparable continuous volume like there is during the lunch hour when there
are tens of thousands of people with limited food options in search of food at
the same time.

With a restaurant you can prep and serve simultaneously. The ideal setup would
be to have a restaurant sourcing a food truck to soak up revenue from
additional corners of the city from a central kitchen location.

