About Mobile Food Math

What we do

Starting a mobile food business is mostly a numbers problem before it is a cooking problem. How much does it really cost to launch? What should each menu item be priced at? How many servings a day do you need to break even? Mobile Food Math turns those questions into free, no-signup calculators and plain-English guides.

What you'll find here

• Calculators — startup cost, menu pricing, break-even, and profit tools you can run in your browser, with vehicle-specific versions for coffee, taco, BBQ, pizza, and ice cream operations.
• Guides — 98 researched articles on equipment, insurance, commissary costs, permits, and city-by-city licensing for the U.S. mobile food industry.
• Comparisons — truck vs. trailer vs. cart, and city vs. city, so you can weigh the trade-offs with real cost ranges instead of guesses.

How we build our numbers

Our estimates are planning models built from the line items shown on each page, public agency requirements, published fee schedules, and periodic vendor price checks. We express them as ranges rather than a single "magic" figure, and cite city or state authorities where local rules affect the result. Every calculator result is an estimate, not a quote. Verify prices, regulations, and taxes with your city, suppliers, and licensed professionals before committing money.

Editorial standards

Guides are reviewed by the Mobile Food Math Editorial Team before publication. For local permits and regulations, we prioritize city, county, state, and federal sources. For cost and profit examples, we show the line items and assumptions behind the calculation instead of presenting an estimate as a guaranteed result.

• Each guide displays its publication date and, when revised, its latest review date.
• Official requirements and published fees are linked in the source box where available.
• Corrections are applied when an agency changes a rule or a reader identifies a verifiable error.

Independence

Mobile Food Math is an independent publisher. We are not a broker, lender, insurer, or equipment vendor, and the tools are free to use. The site is supported by advertising and may, in the future, include affiliate links — these never change the cost ranges or recommendations we publish.

Get in touch

Spotted a number that looks off, or want to suggest a tool or city we should cover? We read every message — see the contact page. You can also review how we handle data in our privacy policy.