With their clever dishes and savvy social media

food trucks have emerged as important vehicles for economic opportunity and growth

jump-starting a $2 billion-plus industry in cities across America

Explore Americas
Food Trucks

learn more about what it’s like to start and operate a food truck in your city

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Food Truck Nation
20
cities

founding a food truck nation

founding a food truck nation

America’s modern founding as a food truck nation began in 2008 with the late-night cravings of a couple of Los Angeles-based entrepreneurs for Korean-style meat in Mexican tacos. Kogi Korean BBQ would soon gross $2 million in sales in its first year.

Mobile vending has been a part of the American culinary landscape for well over a century—"lunch wagons," or "taco trucks," took off after World War II as they followed the growth of suburbs to places where restaurants were rare.

But Kogi’s early successes spawned gourmet imitators of an altogether different breed.

The rise of a food truck nation
The life and time of a food truck owner

regulatory roadblocks to food truck success

regulatory roadblocks to food truck success

Food trucks have thrived, in part, due to low barriers to entry and high consumer demand. Yet these barriers vary greatly from city to city. In many communities, regulatory burdens and inconsistent rules that govern how, when, and where food trucks can operate are threatening to stall the growth of this emerging industry.

food trucks: bellwethers for entrepreneurship and economic vitality

founding a food truck nation
The wide-ranging regulatory regimes governing food trucks can be understood as important bellwethers that indicate a city’s openness to entrepreneurship, competition, and its support for community-driven development tools that are critical to the overall health of a local economy and its workers.
Openness to food trucks means openness to entrepreneurship

explore the data

Get acquainted with the findings from all twenty cities

  Procedures Trips Fees Paid  
Number Score Number Score Costs Score Overall Score
Denver 10 100 8 100 $811 99 100
Indianapolis 19 59 10 87 $590 100 82
Philadelphia 18 64 11 80 $1,778 93 79
Minneapolis 20 55 10 87 $1,674 93 78
Orlando 20 55 11 80 $629 100 78
Austin 20 55 14 60 $1,139 97 70
Phoenix 19 59 15 53 $1,540 94 69
Portland 22 45 15 53 $1,877 92 64
St. Louis 22 45 17 40 $1,204 96 61
Houston 21 50 17 40 $1,788 93 61
Raleigh 24 36 16 47 $848 98 60
Nashville 25 32 15 53 $1,343 95 60
Los Angeles 23 41 16 47 $2,439 89 59
New York City 26 27 18 33 $1,075 97 53
Chicago 23 41 19 27 $2,713 87 52
Columbus 29 14 17 40 $1,560 94 49
San Francisco 32 0 15 53 $3,481 82 45
Washington 28 18 23 0 $2,720 87 35
Seattle 29 14 20 20 $6,211 66 33
Boston 32 0 22 7 $17,066 0 2
  Number of Restrictions Restriction Values  
Number Score Feet Score Overall Score
Philadelphia 4 90 30 99 94
Denver 2 100 320 86 93
Portland 5 85 0 100 93
Orlando 5 85 45 98 91
New York City 7 75 31 99 87
Houston 6 80 160 93 86
Boston 8 70 124 94 82
Los Angeles 5 85 700 68 77
Chicago 10 60 250 89 74
Austin 12 50 105 95 73
St. Louis 9 65 504 77 71
Nashville 10 60 546 75 68
Indianapolis 6 80 1,000 55 67
Raleigh 14 40 325 85 63
Seattle 11 55 1,120 49 52
Columbus 8 70 2,045 8 39
Washington 22 0 512 77 38
San Francisco 14 40 1,627 27 33
Phoenix 15 35 2,215 0 18
Minneapolis 22 0 1,636 26 13
  Procedures Trips Fees Paid  
Number Score Number Score Costs Score Overall Score
Portland 7 100 7 100 $5,410 100 100
Phoenix 8 93 18 56 $25,187 39 63
Indianapolis 9 86 20 48 $20,435 54 63
Columbus 10 80 20 49 $20,820 53 61
Orlando 10 79 20 48 $19,621 56 61
Denver 10 79 21 44 $22,751 47 57
Houston 11 75 21 46 $22,746 47 56
Raleigh 11 72 22 40 $22,827 46 53
Seattle 13 59 13 77 $32,076 18 51
Los Angeles 10 79 21 47 $29,096 27 51
Austin 14 52 22 43 $22,168 48 48
Nashville 10 79 22 40 $29,579 26 48
Philadelphia 13 63 24 34 $25,292 39 45
Minneapolis 12 68 20 48 $31,694 19 45
New York City 12 66 25 31 $28,085 30 43
St. Louis 12 66 29 13 $26,191 36 38
Chicago 14 53 26 26 $32,461 17 32
San Francisco 17 33 27 22 $28,642 29 28
Washington 16 39 32 0 $29,382 26 11
Boston 21 0 32 0 $37,907 0 0

the food truck nation report

Food Truck Nation is the most comprehensive study ever conducted on local food truck regulations, providing useful information and national benchmarking for public and private sector leaders to understand and improve their local business environments for this dynamic sector of the economy.

Our report combines data published by cities and counties with survey responses from 288 food truck owners and operators to create an index that compares regulatory requirements, restrictions, and associated financial obligations for opening and operating a food truck in 20 American cities.

Food trucks continue to be vehicles for entrepreneurial opportunity and economic growth. But without a greater awareness of the regulatory speed bumps to mobile vending, this industry may be needlessly slowed, limiting entrepreneurial opportunity and consumer choice for millions of Americans.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT PDF FORMAT 9.1 MB