Break-Even Calculator for Food Trucks
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Food Truck Break-Even: What to Enter
- Fixed costs — truck payment or lease, commissary kitchen fees, permits, insurance.
- Selling price — average order value per customer.
- Variable cost — food cost per order (target 28–35% of price), packaging, POS fee.
If you sell a $12 meal with $4 food cost, your contribution margin is $8. With $5,000/month in fixed costs, you need 625 meals to break even — roughly 21 meals per day on a 30-day schedule.
Last reviewed: July 25, 2026. Benchmarks sourced from Street Food Institute data.
How to use the food truck break-even calculator
- Enter monthly fixed costs — truck payment, commissary kitchen rent, permits and licenses, insurance, propane contract.
- Enter your average order value — total daily sales ÷ number of orders. Combos and drinks pull this up.
- Enter cost per order — ingredients, container, napkins, card processing. Food trucks typically run \$3.50–\$6.
- Set a target profit — your take-home goal after all costs.
- Divide by service days — if you run 20 service days a month, your real daily target is the monthly figure ÷ 20, not 30.
How many orders a day does a food truck need?
A truck carrying $5,500 in monthly fixed costs (payment, commissary, permits, insurance) with a $12 average ticket and $4.50 food cost per order breaks even at about 734 orders a month — 37 orders per service day on a 20-day schedule. That's an achievable lunch rush for a good location, which is why the food truck model works: the fixed-cost base is a fraction of a restaurant's.
Food truck costs that catch owners off guard
Beyond the obvious truck payment: commissary kitchen rent (legally required in most cities, $400–$1,200/mo), permit stacking across multiple municipalities, event pitch fees, generator fuel, and POS fees. Pitch fees deserve care — a flat $150 event fee is effectively a fixed cost for that day, while a 10%-of-sales pitch is variable. Put recurring flat fees in fixed; percentage-of-sales fees belong in cost per order.
Average ticket is your biggest lever
At a $12 ticket the example truck needs 37 orders a day; push the average to $15 with combos, drinks, and a signature side, and break-even falls to 27. Serving 40 customers instead of finding 10 more is usually easier — attach rate beats foot traffic. Model it above: raise the price field and watch the daily target drop.
Seasonal reality
If weather limits you to 8 strong months, your 12 months of fixed costs must be covered by those active months. Enter annual fixed costs ÷ active months in the fixed-cost field for the honest number.
Related tools
Weighing a bricks-and-mortar move? Compare with the restaurant break-even calculator — the fixed-cost jump is eye-opening. Coffee-focused trucks should see the coffee shop version. The main break-even calculator covers the formula in depth.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much profit does a food truck make per order?
Contribution margin is typically 55–70% of the ticket — a $12 order with $4.50 in food and packaging costs contributes $7.50. After fixed costs, successful trucks net 6–15% of revenue.
Is a food truck cheaper to break even than a restaurant?
Dramatically. A truck's fixed base ($4,000–$8,000/mo) breaks even at 30–50 orders a day; a full-service restaurant often needs 10× the revenue. The tradeoff is capacity — a truck caps out at what one window can serve.
Are event pitch fees fixed or variable costs?
Flat fees (e.g., $150 per event) are fixed for planning purposes — average them into monthly fixed costs. Percentage-of-sales fees (e.g., 10% to the event) are variable — add them to cost per order for those events.
What food cost percentage should a truck target?
28–35% of the ticket for ingredients plus ~5% for packaging and card fees. If your cost per order exceeds 40% of average ticket, re-engineer the menu before chasing volume.
How do I count the commissary kitchen?
Monthly commissary rent is a fixed cost. Prep labor is fixed if you (or salaried staff) do it; per-event hired prep is variable.