Mobile Food Services
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 10,100 mobile food service operators in the US use food trucks and carts to sell prepared meals, snacks and beverages for immediate consumption to walk-up customers. Mobile food services also contract with individuals and businesses to cater food at events, such as parties, corporate gatherings, and festivals.
Economic Sensitivity
Food trucks that catered to construction sites and industrial parks were hit hard during the Great Recession when construction and manufacturing declined and workers were laid off.
Permit Restrictions
Food trucks are typically permitted and inspected by the city in which they operate, with regulations varying significantly from city to city.
Industry size & Structure
A typical mobile food service firm operates out of a single location, employs 2-3 workers, and generates over $350,000 annually.
- The mobile food service industry comprises about 10,100 companies, which employ about 27,000 workers and generate about $3.5 billion annually.
- The industry is highly fragmented with the 50 largest firms accounting for less than 15% of industry revenue.
- Most companies are small, independent operators - about 83% employ less than 5 workers.
- Immigrants own 30% of America’s food truck businesses, which frequently represent the first step toward launching a restaurant, according to the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative.
- Cities with large numbers of food trucks include Los Angeles, Washington DC, San Francisco, Houston, and Miami.
- Customer industries include individual consumers, event organizers, and businesses seeking mobile catering.
Industry Forecast
Mobile Food Services Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Apr 14, 2025 - Acceptable Wait Times
- Mobile Cuisine polled over 500 food truck and concession vendors to ask what they consider an acceptable wait time for their customers. How long is too long to wait for a food truck meal? While acceptable wait times varied, the survey showed patrons are more patient than might be expected. While about a quarter of those surveyed (26%) said nothing less than 5 minutes was acceptable, the sweet spot was 5-8 minutes with 41% of respondents in agreement. Of those polled 13% said 8-10 minutes was acceptable, while 9% agreed on 10-15 minutes. Surprisingly, 11% said more than 15 minutes was an OK time to wait for orders. To make longer waits pass more quickly, Mobile Cuisine suggests using beepers or text messages to notify customers when their orders are ready, allowing them to step away from the line.
- The soaring cost of coffee beans threatens to crimp the margins of coffee-centric mobile food vendors. Coffee futures prices have more than doubled over the past year and are up nearly 25% year to date. Arabica, the most popular bean, soared 70% in 2024 and nearly 20% this year to an all-time high above $4.41 per pound in February. Robusta – the second-most popular bean – surged 72% last year and peaked at $5,847 per metric ton on February 12. Climate change, dwindling stockpiles, and President Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on all goods from Colombia, including coffee, are driving up coffee prices. Although the tariff threat to Columbia was ultimately removed, Trump’s threats of sweeping tariffs and the escalating trade war have upset commodity markets, including the coffee market. Coffee prices are expected to remain volatile this year due to supply-related factors.
- Food carts in New York City are feeling the pain of “egg-flation,” The New York Post reports. Maria Chuqui, a cook at the Mexican Food and Breakfast cart in upper Manhattan, said that a box of roughly 240 eggs that cost $90 two months ago now costs $217. "I have never paid so much for eggs," Chuqui told the Post, adding "People don't want to pay more for eggs, but I will have to raise prices soon. I sell an egg and cheese for $4 and an egg, bacon and cheese for $5. I will have to raise prices by $1." Inflation, labor shortages, and bird flu are to blame. The average price of a dozen grade-A eggs hit $4.95 nationally in January, exceeding the previous record of $4.82 reached in January 2023, and nearly twice what a dozen eggs cost a year earlier, according to BLS data.
- Employment by catering and mobile food services jumped 11.5% in January compared to a year ago while average industry wages rose 4% over the same period to $23.32 per hour, down nearly $1 from their peak in December, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Wages at catering and mobile food services have risen steeply since 2021 along with wages in the broader restaurant industry. Rising consumer expenditures – up 2.7% in February year over year and 0.1% versus January, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis – have been supporting rising industry payrolls.
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