What does one food-truck order contribute?

What counts as one unit?

One unit is a completed bowl transaction with an expected sealed-drink attachment. Chicken mix 70.0% and drink attachment 40.0% are hypotheses. Bowl receipt $14.40 plus expected drink revenue $1.20 equals $15.60. This is not observed till data.

Do not count a drink as another bowl order or multiply receipt by both entree and drink units. Cash/card mix changes cost rather than adding revenue. No tips, alcohol, refunds, platform commission or catering receivable are included.

How does the receipt become contribution?

Recipe includes $0.55 grain, $0.65 vegetables and $0.25 sauce, plus $2.00 chicken or $1.25 vegetable protein. Allowances already assume raw-to-cooked yield. $0.13 prepared-loss cost is separate unsold/handling waste. Weighed supplier/yield trials are needed.

Square Free in-person fee is 2.6% plus $0.15. Fees apply to payments including sales tax. Frozen Q4 Seattle tax adds $10.55 per $100 of net food sales; check the live service-address rate at launch. State retailing rate and prepared-food treatment establish the B&O basis.

The container-only comparison is $0.242 each with lid separate. Cold-only PLA lids are not inferred suitable for hot meals. Local acceptance/utensil rules need a complete procured set.

Which station limits sales?

Assembly limits output to 100 orders. Actual engine portions are floored. Payment occurs in parallel through the assistant, so its time is not added serially. Resupply/water/waste and approved food flow still constrain service. County guidance does not approve this hypothetical load.

Five two-hour prep sessions fit the referenced twenty-clock-hour membership; overlapping workers are both paid. Peak helper supports handoff/restocking without adding assembly capacity. If trials show slower production, reduce capacity before raising demand.

Why is contribution not order profit?

Regular burdened roster costs $489.06 per scheduled window. Site fee plus expected completed-window fuel bring the neutral schedule commitment to $564. Monthly overhead plus permits is $2,581 and loan payment $1,494. These are outside unit deductions.

Canceled windows retain regular pay/site charges. Measure sales per completed window, but commit pay against the scheduled calendar. Treating every shift as a percent of sold orders would falsely make its cost vanish when weather closes service. Nine owner hours cover two prep, two travel/setup, three service, one cleanup and one administration. Seven assistant hours cover 1.5 prep, 0.5 loading/setup, one paid travel between work locations, three service and one cleanup. Actual travel needs a timed route trial.

Which volume threshold helps this decision?

In a neutral 22-scheduled-window Year 1 month, divide overhead plus 22 schedule commitments by exact unit contribution and round up. Before debt that is 1,414 orders; after adding payment 1,555. At assumed availability, debt threshold averages about 74.4 per completed window. It excludes peak-helper steps, April permit cash, stock change, collection lag and income taxes.

Full monthly forecast is the liquidity test. The same annual average can hide winter weakness and capacity-capped summer, with differing paid hours per order. Track labor, waste, queue abandonment, completed orders and settlement. This threshold is a case result, not a universal healthy volume.

The profit and cash model uses this same receipt/recipe basis with helper, calendar, permits and funding. An attractive unit contribution needs executable demand to cover the route.