Even though it may be at the end of your food truck business plan, your food truck financial expenses are in the financial plan section is the section that determines whether or not your mobile food business idea is viable. It will also help prospective mobile food vendors in determining whether or not your plan is going to be able to attract any outside investment.
In basic terms, the financial plan section of a food truck business plan consists of three separate financial statements:
- income statement
- cash flow projection
- balance sheet
You will also have to provide a brief explanation or analysis of these three statements.
Mobile Cuisine has always prided itself in providing new and existing food truck vendors with all of the information they need to prepare and grow their dream food truck business.
Because of this, starting next week we will provide our readers with a series of articles that will take someone planning a food truck business through the preparation of each of the above mentioned financial statements.
First, however, you need to put together some of the financial data you’ll need by examining your food truck financial expenses.
Food Truck Financial Expenses
You need to look at your food truck financial expenses as broken into two categories; the food truck start-up expenses and the food truck operating expenses.
All the costs of getting your food truck up and running go into the start-up expenses category.
Food Truck Start-Up Expenses:
- business registration fees
- business licensing and permits
- starting inventory
- commissary rent deposits
- down payments on kitchen equipment
- food vendor account set up fees
Unfortunately, these are just a sampling of a food truck’s start-up expenses; your own list will probably expand as soon as you start writing them down.
Related: How Much Does It Cost To Start A Food Truck Business
The second category food truck business expenses are the operating expenses. These are the costs of keeping your food truck business running. Think of these as the things you’re going to have to pay each month.
Food Truck Operating Expenses:
- salaries (yours and staff salaries)
- rent payments
- vehicle lease payments
- telecommunications
- fuel costs (truck and generator)
- propane
- raw ingredients
- storage
- promotion
- loan payments
- office supplies
- vehicle and equipment maintenance
Once again, this is just a partial list to get the prospective food truck owner started. Once you have your operating expenses list complete, the total will show you what it will cost to keep your food truck business on the road and operating each month.
Multiply this number by 6, and you have a six month estimate of your operating expenses. Now add this to the total of your start-up expenses list, and you’ll have a ballpark figure for your complete start-up costs.
RELATED: The Key Sections Of Your Food Truck Business Plan To Focus On
The Bottom Line
In a future article we’ll be taking a look at putting some financial statements for your food truck business plan together, starting with the Income Statement.
Do you have any food truck financial expenses tips for the start-up food truck owner that you may have missed when starting your food truck business? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Twitter | Facebook
