Can a food truck support a paid owner and a loan?
Illustrative case · One owner-operated bowl-menu food truck; five three-hour private-site service windows per week · Seattle, Washington; King County regulatory case
Explore this business · Overview
A food truck needs repeatable service windows that earn enough contribution to pay preparation, travel, cleanup and the working owner. This Seattle case requires $153,010 of opening funding, including available cash. Its base first year earns $6,806 before depreciation and interest but has net income of −$16,397 after them. Read the opening ramp and location evidence before treating the truck price as the whole business.
Observed SBA industry evidence
Lending activity in the broader category
NAICS 722330 covers food trucks and mobile food across formats and sizes. It does not isolate this case: One owner-operated bowl-menu food truck; five three-hour private-site service windows per week. Loan records do not establish local demand, costs or operating performance.
These are positive-amount loan records selected by approval fiscal year and PIF, CHGOFF or EXEMPT status at the stated snapshot. They are not unique firms, search volumes, approval probabilities or loans disbursed during that year.
Read this industry’s amounts, terms, lenders and outcomes.
Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA files, snapshot 30 June 2026. Recomputed from original records on 1 October 2026. FY2025 is the most recent complete fiscal year in these files. Definitions and exclusions.
What operation does this case describe?
One enclosed, used-chassis truck with a new commercial kitchen sells a chicken bowl, a vegetable bowl and sealed nonalcoholic drinks. The planning jurisdiction is Seattle, Washington, under King County health oversight. Proposed hours are Tuesday–Friday, 11 a.m.–2 p.m., and Saturday, noon–3 p.m., on private commercial lots. There is no chosen address, booked site, observed customer count or signed commissary agreement.
January 2027 is the modeled opening date. Five service windows a week create 261 scheduled windows in the first calendar year. The base case completes 95.0% of them. Fractional completed windows represent expected availability risk; they are not an appointment calendar.
| Included | Outside this case |
|---|---|
| One truck, two bowl recipes and one order stream | Fleet, catering, alcohol and delivery-platform sales |
| Two-hour commissary session before each window | Restaurant kitchen built from an empty site |
| Paid owner, employed assistant and separate peak helper | Unpaid family labor or operator-supplied customer seating |
| Private commercial vending sites; separate overnight commissary parking | Automatic permission to trade on the public right-of-way |
Shared components and parallel assembly/payment stations limit modeled output to 100 orders per completed window. Demand starts below mature levels and changes by season. This assumed operating limit needs a timed trial; it is not licensed attendance capacity.
What must be established before buying the truck?
Start with a menu, a credible location schedule and approved food flow. An equipped vehicle can still need Washington plans/inspection, county health approval and fire inspection. Washington L&I and the April 2026 King County guide describe these separate paths. Supplier built-to-code wording does not confirm jurisdictional acceptance.
Seattle’s stated private-site no-construction/use-permit conditions include nonresidential zoning, owner permission, no overnight stay at the vending site, a parking area and separation from residentially zoned property. Check the official conditions against the actual lot. Overnight plug-in commissary parking is a different use from remaining at a vending lot.
Three-hour stops need approved employee restrooms readily accessible within 500 feet under the state rule. Confirm access during the actual operating hours. State mobile-food requirements cover commissary agreements, water, wastewater and restrooms.
Obtain a complete quote tied to the kitchen equipment schedule, inspect chassis condition and verify lead time. If the menu needs more cooling, power or tank capacity, revise both CAPEX and output before seeking financing.
What does the SBA evidence establish?
The independently checked national NAICS 722330 pool has 725 qualifying records across approval FY2023–FY2025, including 233 in FY2025. These have positive approved amounts and PIF, CHGOFF or EXEMPT status in the June 30 2026 extracts. Approval year differs from the date money was disbursed. SBA aggregate definitions.
The Census definition covers trucks and nonmotorized carts supplying meals/snacks for immediate consumption. It includes formats beyond this bowl truck and refers to the central business, not each vehicle. Historical activity does not establish Seattle demand, a viable route, startup costs or approval probability.
FY2025 7(a) has 231 records with a $50,000 median full approved loan. The 504 subset has 2 records and its medians are suppressed. The case’s $90,000 debt is an authored assumption evaluated on this project’s evidence.
What changes the decision most?
Base mature demand is 80 orders per completed window before seasonality. The weaker case uses 60, more lost windows, higher site fees, slower settlement and more waste. Tax-reserved operational liquidity runs out in model month 4. More cash delays that event without making negative operating economics profitable.
Read the opening uses to identify quote needs, the order calculation to assess output, and the monthly cash and profit case before the funding structure. Projections describe this illustrative case, not US industry averages.
Explore this business
This edition contains five planning guides. A full business-plan example for this format is not yet published.
Sources and scope
- Food-truck illustrative case and planning method · Checked 2026-10-05 · Authored Seattle/King County January 2027 case; inputs.json, executed 60-month model and FINANCIAL_ASSUMPTIONS.md. Declared assumptions rather than observed averages.
- US Census: 2022 NAICS manual, 722330 · Checked 2026-10-04 · Inspected Mobile Food Services definition.
- Washington WAC 246-215: retail food code · Checked 2026-10-04 · Inspected text, especially 03515, 03525, 09126, 09127, 09135 and 09150.
- King County: mobile food service plan guide, April 2026 · Checked 2026-10-04 · Inspected seven-page guide: menu, floor plan, food flow, commissary and operating schedule.
- Washington L&I: food trucks and trailers · Checked 2026-10-04 · Official mobile-unit plans, inspection and insignia requirements.
- Seattle SDCI: street food carts or trucks · Checked 2026-10-04 · Official private-site construction/use-permit conditions; no address approval.
- US SBA: 7(a) loans · Checked 2026-10-04 · Current program overview for eligible business purposes.
- SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA: June 30 2026 official extracts · Checked 2026-10-04 · Hash-bound cached official data, independently reproduced for broad 722330; approval FY/status/program definitions and small-median suppression apply.