Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
I was in food a long time ago before getting into commercial rel estate. Watched Marcus Lemonis on the profit and it seem you can invest in food trucks for a cheap price and put the owner and some workers in there and take a cut of the profit as an investor.
The traditional restaurants you have to drive very high sales per sq ft. Lot's of employees and high leases.
We were at the GA fair last night and 2 cheese steaks, 2 onion rings, and 2 drinks were 44 dollars. They were raking it in left and right.
Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2013 · 80 posts · 64 votes
9y
Those are definitely state fair prices! Nobody would pay that on the street tho. We are in the resto biz transitioning into R/E eventually as well. I've mentioned here before that if done right, the cash generated on a daily basis in foodservice can be OBSCENE. (I'm sure you remember from the industry)
The flaw with food trucks here in the Midwest is seasonality but in warmer climates it *could* be worth it. You do have a finite product capacity on the truck and also must deal with overhead of a commissary kitchen but they make money. Operator can be all in for 40k without the overhead you mentioned. Challenges could include:
Having the population to make it a sustainable day-to-day venture.
Finding quality staff is tough these days, don't care what you pay them.
Breakdowns/service
Inclement weather
Pennies on the dollar at exit
If the truck does say, 1000 bucks and after labor/cost of goods the operator's left with 500 - 600, then has commissary expenses and a possible split with a partner(s)
Ehhhhh...burnout.
There were dozens of trucks here 5 years ago and only a handful have really survived the grind.
Financial services executive · Frederick, MD · Member since 2015 · 609 posts · 341 votes
9y
Remember that deal worked for the company because it had unused capacity that would fully service the trucks. It would be a much steeper investment curve with lower returns starting with one truck.
