When planning to buy a food truck, you are likely to face one tough challenge — choosing between a custom and a pre-owned truck. A custom-made truck is an excellent fit as it is designed for your specific business needs, whereas a pre-owned truck can help save you money. Read on to see how the two compare and which is best for you.
What Is a Custom Food Truck?
A custom food truck is designed for your specific business and brand requirements. The truck’s cooking stations, storage, cashier, and serving areas are designed to maximize efficiency. When designing your new food truck, you can pay special attention to choosing layouts to support your operations and color schemes to match your brand. Custom food trucks are one-of-a-kind, designed to help you stand out and run your business successfully.
For example, if you sell seafood, you will need a freezer and a large refrigeration unit. If you serve up fried foods and burgers, you will need friers and a large enough griddle. Trying to outfit an ice cream truck with a deep frier will likely interfere with usable square footage and require some modifications. Investing in a custom food truck designed specifically to accommodate your needs just makes more sense.
What Are the Benefits of Building a Food Truck?
During food truck customization, manufacturers design the interior layout to streamline navigation and maximize the use of space. This design saves time and improves operational efficiency. Other top benefits of custom-building a food truck include:
- Enhanced brand identity
- Increased competitiveness
- Improved flexibility
- More chances of passing health inspection
- Higher cost savings
What Is a Pre-owned Food Truck?
A pre-owned food truck is one that has been previously operated by another business. These trucks come equipped with almost all essential features, such as cooking equipment, storage compartments, and serving areas.
Given their used state, many pre-owned food trucks’ prices are below the $50,000 – $200,000 you’d spend on a new truck.
Pitfalls To Avoid When Buying a Pre-owned Food Truck
While buying a pre-owned food truck can save you some bucks, it does come with one major downside: wear and tear. At times, you can end up buying a truck that has worn out to the point that it would be expensive to fix.
For this reason, before purchasing, inspect the cooking equipment, refrigeration units, plumbing system, electrical wiring, paint, and overall structure for signs of wear and tear. Avoid trucks with glaring signs of degradation. Other things to avoid when buying a pre-owned food truck include:
- Outdated equipment
- Incomplete documentation
- Expired warranties
- Unresolved legal liabilities
- Faulty generators
- Ill-designed interior layout
Get a Custom Food Truck From Legion Food Truck
While both custom-made and pre-owned food trucks have advantages, personalized trucks tend to be a better investment. When custom-building a food truck, your provider will tailor the design, layout, and equipment to your specific business needs.
When looking to custom-build your food truck or trailer, look no further than Legion Food Trucks. We’ll make you a food truck that meets your exact operational needs so you can optimize sales, brand recognition, and productivity. Contact us for more information on how we can help your food truck business succeed.
