Food Truck Lot Experiences??

Question

This might be a bit off topic from the typical Commercial Real Estate forums, however I could not find the exact place to ask this.

Does anybody have any experience in running a Food Truck Lot?  I have a lot of land in a downtown location that different Gas Stations & Stores have offered to purchase.  None of the offers really blew me away.  I had an idea of "renting" spots to food trucks for the day/weekend.

I haven't seen much online about specifics about numbers or what all it would take, so I am coming here for any past experiences or advice.

Thanks!!

Maryanne Scales · Answer

I had a nice grassy lot that I used for this purpose during the pandemic.  Like you, I looked around to try to find some information on whether or not this could be a successful use of the space.

Our town didn't have any laws yet, and the Planning/Zoning director was leery of food trucks.  I was only able to get a permit from the city to open on Saturdays. We had to have a bathroom (port-a-potty) and parking I had a great turnout at the start of the pandemic when things were shut down (people wanted an outdoor place to go hang out).  As things started opening up, though, the attraction for the food truck park wasn't as great. (I live fairly close to the beach, and when the beach bars opened back up, everyone wanted to get back out to them.)

If I were to get my park back up and running, I would be adding the ability for the trucks to plug in (cut down on generator noise and exhaust - I would charge for access or build it into the rental fee, and most food truck operators would love this option), add real bathrooms, and add other features as an additional draw to get customers for the trucks.  I had a garage building on the lot, and I wanted to build a commercial kitchen inside - that way I could charge rent for "commissary" access. That would have been a good use of space and a fairly easy way to make some additional money.  Food trucks here are required to have a commissary (and show a lease) - many will never show up to the commissary, though.  Your space may not allow for this.

Food trucks have a lot of overhead right now (fuel costs, food costs, labor, etc.), and are going to want to know that they will have customers who will make it worth their while to show up.  If you are able to get enough customers AND your zoning laws allow it, longer term leases may be a good option.  Many of the trucks I hosted would have been super happy if I could have allowed them to park for longer than a day - it cuts down on a lot of the costs. I had a couple tell me that if I could do month-long leases and be open more, they would have been interested in paying $1000 or more per month.

I would google food truck parks to find the ones that have been operating successfully.  Most of them have invested money into making the venue look nice, provide good seating options, good parking, entertainment options, and ideally, a place that serves beer/wine/etc. (You want to make money from more than their leases.)  As far as what trucks are willing to pay - most of the ones I talked to wanted to keep their cost for parking at a lot down to less than or equal to 10% of what they made.

If your location is convenient and you are willing to make some investments, this may not be a bad idea.  However, I would try to meet some of the area's food truck operators and get their feedback on the location.  Most of the operators are really great people and will  be honest with you.

Ronald Rohde · Answer

I've worked a few for clients. Zoning and use is obviously the first biggest concern, second is demand, they dont want to sign long leases, maybe month to month.

Power and restrooms. Do you have electric service? Light poles? Porta potties? Dumpsters? There's real costs as a LL to host these guys, if you have a nice facility with picnic tables, etc.

Eliott Elias · Answer

You need electricity, a sewer disposal tank, and 24/7 lighting, and portapotties

Michael Blasco · Answer

This is my hometown, curious if it ever got legs. Always found that operators there didn't want to pay rent / fees and much like their customers who wanted things extremely cheap they didn't want to take on the over head.

MichaelTampa Bay Food Trucks

Food Truck Lot Experiences??

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