A food truck profit calculator helps operators estimate daily and weekly net profit by combining revenue with food cost percentage, labor percentage, and fixed daily costs. Knowing your profit margin before service helps you set revenue targets and price menu items correctly.
Revenue & Costs
Average gross sales per operating day
Commissary, truck payment, insurance, permits per day
Profit Projections
Daily Cost Breakdown
Enter your revenue and costs,
then click Calculate Profit
How to Use the Food Truck Profit Calculator
Understanding your food truck's daily profit requires accounting for three layers of cost: food cost (ingredients), labor cost (staff wages including your own time), and fixed daily costs (commissary, truck payment, permits, insurance). This calculator combines all three to show real net profit.
Step 1: Enter Your Daily Revenue
Use your average gross sales per service day. If you're just starting, research comparable trucks in your area or calculate from your planned menu: average ticket price × expected customer count. A truck doing 80 customers at $12 average ticket generates $960/day in revenue.
Step 2: Set Food Cost Percentage
Food cost percentage is the ratio of ingredient costs to revenue. Most food trucks target 28-35%. A burger truck with mostly commodity ingredients might hit 28-30%. A premium seafood truck with fresh ingredients may run 33-38%. Price your menu based on your actual ingredient costs divided by your target food cost percentage.
Step 3: Set Labor Cost Percentage
Labor includes wages for all staff plus your own time valued at a fair rate. Solo operator trucks often forget to count their own labor — if you're working 10 hours and not counting your time, you're understating labor cost significantly. Target labor at 25-30% of revenue for a healthy prime cost structure.
Step 4: Enter Daily Fixed Costs
Fixed costs are expenses that don't change day-to-day: commissary kitchen rental ($25-50/day), truck payment or lease ($30-60/day), insurance ($10-25/day), permits ($5-15/day). Add these up and divide by your average operating days per month to get the daily fixed cost allocation.
Reading the Results
The calculator shows daily, weekly, and monthly profit projections plus your net margin percentage. A margin below 5% is a warning sign — the business is structurally thin. 6-9% is industry typical. Above 10% indicates excellent cost management. The prime cost (food + labor combined) should stay below 60% to leave room for overhead and profit.
FAQ
What is a realistic profit margin for a food truck?
A well-run food truck typically achieves 6-9% net profit margin. Excellent operators can reach 12-15% by keeping food cost below 35% and labor below 30%. A truck doing $300,000/year at 8% margin earns $24,000 in net profit.
What should my food cost percentage be for a food truck?
Target 28-35% food cost for most food truck concepts. Below 28% may indicate very simple ingredients or small portions. Above 38% makes it extremely difficult to cover labor and overhead while remaining profitable. Track food cost per menu item monthly.
How much revenue does a successful food truck make?
A successful full-time solo-operator food truck generates $250,000-$500,000 in annual gross revenue. That's roughly $1,000-$2,000/day on a 250-day operating year, or about 80-150 customers at a $12-15 average ticket.
What are typical daily fixed costs for a food truck?
Daily fixed costs vary widely but a typical food truck has $80-150/day in fixed costs allocated from monthly expenses: $30-50/day commissary kitchen, $20-40/day truck payment or lease, $15-25/day insurance, and $5-15/day for permits and licenses.
Is this food truck profit calculator free?
Yes, completely free with no signup required. All calculations run locally in your browser — no data is sent to any server.
What is prime cost for a food truck?
Prime cost is food cost plus labor cost combined. Healthy food trucks keep prime cost below 55-60% of revenue. If prime cost exceeds 65%, there is very little room left for overhead and profit even with a busy truck.