Where can my sibling find a food truck without a kitchen?
January 31, 2010 12:27 AM Subscribe
My sibling is a baker who works all the local farmer's markets, and is interested in a food truck- but with the only utility being display and storage, not cooking.
I found this site with used food trucks, but all of them have kitchens- we're only looking for something that might flip out/down to provide great and easy display space for baked goods (which will be baked at a commercial kitchen due to local health regs). A lot of the high counters seem to preclude customers from perusing the wares, which is something important to bakeries, I think. Any suggestions? Extra points for east coast, or storage space for a cafe table or two for customers.
I found this site with used food trucks, but all of them have kitchens- we're only looking for something that might flip out/down to provide great and easy display space for baked goods (which will be baked at a commercial kitchen due to local health regs). A lot of the high counters seem to preclude customers from perusing the wares, which is something important to bakeries, I think. Any suggestions? Extra points for east coast, or storage space for a cafe table or two for customers.
This is just for inspiration, but Sprinkles Cupcakes did exactly this model with a van. See the link for their example.
posted by disillusioned at 1:09 AM on January 31, 2010
posted by disillusioned at 1:09 AM on January 31, 2010
There's a cupcake truck in Philadelphia made from an old mail truck.
posted by cmgonzalez at 1:25 AM on January 31, 2010
posted by cmgonzalez at 1:25 AM on January 31, 2010
Hub Bub Coffee also converted a mail truck. Which makes me think: maybe your sibling could sell some good coffee as a lucrative side product, especially if (s)he is already making breakfast breads and pastries.
posted by The Michael The at 5:34 AM on January 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by The Michael The at 5:34 AM on January 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
The New Haven cupcake truck (sales from window, no baking) is a converted bread truck. We have a lot of local Italian and some Central American bakeries, so I'm guessing it's from someone's old fleet.
posted by cobaltnine at 8:41 AM on January 31, 2010
posted by cobaltnine at 8:41 AM on January 31, 2010
Here's a link to a VW forum thread of people selling things out of their buses. The advantages are that you can buy a VW bay window bus fairly cheap, they have a large side door that combined with a canopy and table is a good display, and people generally like old VW buses.
posted by calumet43 at 10:29 AM on January 31, 2010
posted by calumet43 at 10:29 AM on January 31, 2010
I think you're looking at this the wrong way. You're starting from the point of view of "how can I find a decommissioned food truck?" when really you should be asking "how do I do a pretty straight forward vehicle conversion?" In other words, since you do not need cooking or refrigeration, you have a world of conversion options across all price points, none of which carry the "complete working food truck" premium.
Having said that, you can get a functioning ice cream truck for under 10K. These tend to be cheaper as refrigeration is the least expensive part of the food truck conversion. But you can also get non-refrigerated ones like this fantastic old converted mail truck for peanuts. Sure it needs work, but dude - it's great and the vintage thing would work so well with baked goods.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:40 AM on January 31, 2010
Having said that, you can get a functioning ice cream truck for under 10K. These tend to be cheaper as refrigeration is the least expensive part of the food truck conversion. But you can also get non-refrigerated ones like this fantastic old converted mail truck for peanuts. Sure it needs work, but dude - it's great and the vintage thing would work so well with baked goods.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:40 AM on January 31, 2010
PS: There are many specialist retailers for 2nd hand food and ice cream trucks. It is worth putting the word out that you are in the market for a decommissioned one for under $X, since they normally don't take those but could point the sellers to you.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:42 AM on January 31, 2010
posted by DarlingBri at 10:42 AM on January 31, 2010
If you are not cooking in it why do you need a food truck? Get an old mail truck, passenger van, vw camper, whatever is comfortable... take out all the junk you dont need, cut a window in it, paint it all fancy like and good to go!
posted by outsider at 8:42 PM on January 31, 2010
posted by outsider at 8:42 PM on January 31, 2010
What about those silver trucks that visit job sites, often called a "roach coach"? They have shelves of packaged or shelf-stable stuff up the center, and beds of ice on either side -- and sometimes a carafe for coffee in the back.
It should be possible to buy one, or just rip off the idea and fix up something to go on a pickup's frame.
I used to drive pizzas, and our company had a pickup truck with a custom, insulated box on the back for big deliveries, or selling 8" pizzas during lunch rush. It even had a tank of propane for heat (and extra drama when you noticed the brake go out again hurtling down the Mississippi River bluffs toward downtown St. Paul).
posted by wenestvedt at 8:05 AM on February 1, 2010
It should be possible to buy one, or just rip off the idea and fix up something to go on a pickup's frame.
I used to drive pizzas, and our company had a pickup truck with a custom, insulated box on the back for big deliveries, or selling 8" pizzas during lunch rush. It even had a tank of propane for heat (and extra drama when you noticed the brake go out again hurtling down the Mississippi River bluffs toward downtown St. Paul).
posted by wenestvedt at 8:05 AM on February 1, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by youcancallmeal at 12:43 AM on January 31, 2010