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Anybody have a Concession Trailer on their site

bigleo48

bigleo48

Active member
All,

A recent acquaintance has a Concession Trailer (aka Chip Truck) in the parking lot of a big retailer. He sell the usual, chips, burgers & dogs. He tells me that on a winter day (10:30am to 2:30pm) he does about $300 and in the summer, especially weekends he can do as much as $2000/ day (10:30am to dusk).

He believes my location is perfect (next to bigbox retailers like Home Depot and Wal-Mart, plus an industrial park in behind) and I have the space.

It seems simple, supplies are delivered, no fry cutting, canned drinks and perhaps ice cream in the summer.

Anyway, there doesn't seem to be much risk in this venture. $30k for a new trailer (very nice, all stainless commercial stuff), carrying charges are less than $1000 year. If it doesn't work you sell it. Staffing might be a pain, but with some local layoffs, might be easier. I'm zoned for it and don't expect too much push back from the city.

Anybody have one...done it...pros and cons?

BigLeo
 
If you do it, I recommend going to criag'slist and looking at the businesses for sale. There are usually a lot of "chip trucks" and "latte huts" for sale there (that might be a sign of a "con" of the idea)... anyway, good luck if you decide to do it.
 
BigHead,

I have a very nice wash and location and so I think I'd like to go new with something like this: http://www.silverstarmetal.com/gallery/mobile_kitchen_trailer.htm

I really want it to be top notch with food I would eat (but not everyday). The big box location across from me has about 1500 parking spaces and on Saturday, I would say 1300 of them were full all day. I just need a tiny fraction of that business to make it work.

BigLeo
 
I think it's a great idea. If I had the room, I would definitely go for it during the summer. Have you contacted the health dept? I am curious to see what they would say.
 
I was thinking of leasing some space on my carwash lot to something just like this. I mean, it sounds like a great little business, but around here those guys are seasonal and operate in warm months only.

Is the unit totally self-contained, with a generator for power? That's what one guy around here has.
 
I currently own a rest. that has been in business for 43 years. At one of our car wash locations we put a trailer like you are tallking about. We closed it after 2 years of operation it did very little business. People in our area don't like eating out of a trailer. You can emil me for more info if you want. Best of luck.
 
I know a few people doing it, but they get paid a small lease to allow someone else to operate. No risk to them, other than some extra cars on the property that in only one case causes a traffic issue.
 
I kicked around the option of such a rig before building my coffee drive-thru. The coffe drive-thru is doing lousy - thankfully I sold it shortly after opening it. I just talked to the owner a few minutes agao, and even though it 18 degrees here, which should be great for that business, he's only doing $17-$25 many days. That's way in the red!

Additionally, there are a lot more health department requirements than I ever dreamed. I'd lean towarc findng a guy already in the business and having him pay you 10% of his gross sales to park on your lot.
 
What's the lease amount? Do they use a generator or the carwash power? Do they go monthly or use a lease?
 
How do you determine 10% of gross? Seems like a stretch to expect the business to be totally up front about their gross. I'd love it if people were all that honest, but it's unfortunately not reality.
 
Waxman said:
How do you determine 10% of gross? Seems like a stretch to expect the business to be totally up front about their gross. I'd love it if people were all that honest, but it's unfortunately not reality.
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I wouldn't let him on my property with his trailer if I didn't think he was reasonably honest. Secondly, it wouldn't be that hard to keep an eye on him - his average sale can't be too hard to estimate, then periodically count the cars using your video cameras at the car wash. That's what I did with my coffee drive-thru, just pointed 1 camera at it...if they know you have a means of accounting for their sales, even though it isn't that precise, I don't think you could get burned very bad.
 
Waxman said:
How do you determine 10% of gross? Seems like a stretch to expect the business to be totally up front about their gross. I'd love it if people were all that honest, but it's unfortunately not reality.
Click to expand...
If you feel you have to worry about that, it's probably best to not do it at all. If I were to do it, it wouldn't be to make money off a small patch of leased property, it would be to get people in to give the wash added exposure.

It might be more practical to operate it yourself and combine the employee with car wash duties. Years ago I was said employee at a wash, running a vehicle inspection station out of what had been an automatic bay. That business was pitiful but it more than covered my wages, and the car wash benefitted greatly from being attended 50 hours a week.
 
RPH

That sounds like the idea I would go with. I would offer a nice, low rent so they could make it work financially and as MEP1 said, give exposure to the wash.

BIGLEO,

Sorry, we seem to have gotten off track of your original question. I think your idea is sound, given your location. I think it's ALL about location and quality/servive. However, I wouldn't underestimate the skill required to successfully cook, take orders and operate such a business. The guy down the street here has 2 others on staff on weekends besides himself to work the concession. FWIW, and I may take some heat for this, I'd find a gorgeous female to operate the 'silver truck'. In my mind, she'd have a bubbly personality, be very affable, able to cook like crazy and and be a real go-getter.
 
Capt. Ken has Espresso at one of his washes, he does very well with it. We had a lot of Espresso stands here, it started here. Most of them do very well. The stands that have girls wearing little more than pasties seem to be the stands that draw the most customers. A lot of them shut down when the health department passed a rule that required them to have hot and cold running water, be connected to the sewer and all the workers had to have food handler permit. This pretty much shut down the roach coaches or the stainless steel trailers/trucks. I?d never eat anything from these trailers or trucks. They don?t seem to be to clean looking.
 
Waxman said:
RPH

FWIW, and I may take some heat for this, I'd find a gorgeous female to operate the 'silver truck'. In my mind, she'd have a bubbly personality, be very affable, able to cook like crazy and and be a real go-getter.
Click to expand...

Waxman...hire her...hell I'd mary her :D
 
Thise trucks can be plenty clean. Heck, you can see the whole thing from the pickup window; no hiding kitchen dirt behind swinging doors!
 
In Texas, mobile food preparation trailers and vehicles have to have the same food permits and surprise health inspections that any restaurant would, so cleanliness is no more of a concern than eating at any other restaurant. I don't know if these apply to beverage-only establishments.
 
I agree with Red Barron, sub it out and take 10%! That's easy, hassle free money and no loss to you if it doesn't work out.

If your sub is doing great, then consider going it on your own. But the additional 10% might not be worth all the hassles.
 
Dean Taylor said:
I agree with Red Barron, sub it out and take 10%! That's easy, hassle free money and no loss to you if it doesn't work out.

If your sub is doing great, then consider going it on your own. But the additional 10% might not be worth all the hassles.
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The 10% thing is hard monitor and so most retailers charge between $500 and $1000 a month rent. While doing myself and hiring staff requires about a $40k outlay for something nice and projected gross of $125K (or 10K/month). I think doing it myself is far more profitable with much better control.

BigLeo
 
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