It’s a great time to be a food truck operator! The American mobile dining industry is booming, and there’s plenty of revenue to be made. A career in food trucks isn’t a cakewalk, though – without the right items, your portable restaurant’s bottom line might end up stalling. To bring your business past the finish line, we’ve brought together the top 10 most profitable food truck items for 2024. Start serving dishes like these on your truck’s menu, and you’ll find profit and success no matter where the road takes you!
Before we get started, don’t forget: today’s top food trucks need strong tech to keep their service fast. Like any kind of restaurant, a powerful POS system is the heart – or, in food truck terms, the engine – of your business. Features like all-in-one order management, multi-truck menu updates, and 24/7 reliability make your business run smoother and more lucrative. Sleek hardware like Otter POS is specially-designed to grant compact kitchens the time and efficiency they need to make every dish matter, too. Now, rev up your engines for food truck profit!
Most Profitable Food Truck Item #10: Fish & Chips
From the glimmering shores of the British Isles to proud American soil comes the U.K.’s most iconic street food. Over the past decade, fish & chip trucks have become mainstays of street food festivals in key cities like Austin and Venice Beach. Even Queen Elizabeth’s former personal chef is getting in on the action with crisp, flavorful seafood sourced directly from the West Coast! If you have a frying station in your food truck, you’ve got the perfect medium to serve up delicious fish & chips across the country.
Most Profitable Food Truck Item #9: Breakfasts
Food trucks are a great business any time of day, and the popularity of mobile breakfasts proves it! In 2023, major restaurant chains like Taco Bell started investing heavily in breakfast-first food trucks, helping them compete with fast-coffee chains. Breakfast trucks help businesses experiment with new concepts in high-revenue states like California and Texas, making them a safe bet for operators. As most breakfast foods can be cooked and served within a matter of minutes, trucks like these achieve profitability before noon!
Most Profitable Food Truck Item #8: Fried Chicken
Fried chicken has been the highest-growing segment of the American fast food industry since the mid-2010s. It’s no wonder, then, why so many fried chicken joints are taking their business to the streets! Industry leaders like Wings N’ Things have become commonplace at local food truck festivals, as have a variety of new startup brands. Similar to fish & chips mentioned above, fried chicken can be prepared quickly and easily in any kind of food truck. This makes serving large crowds of eaters at festivals and outdoor events easy, maximizing operator profit.
Most Profitable Food Truck Item #7: Ice Cream
Few kinds of food trucks are more beloved than those that serve ice cream. Recent eater nostalgia surrounding retro ice cream trucks has brought this segment of the industry into a renaissance! It’s not tough to see why ice cream trucks have been a hit with customers for decades. The most profitable items come prepackaged, and serve-to-order desserts can be portioned and sold without the need for cooking. With revenue expected to hit over $2.6 billion by 2030, there’s never been a better time to start scooping!
Most Profitable Food Truck Item #6: Mexican Food
As of 2024, nearly 1 in 10 food trucks have Mexican cuisine on their menus. Dishes like tacos, burritos and Mexican bowls have been food truck staples for decades, and have only grown more popular in recent years. These items share most of their ingredients, keeping the businesses that serve them fast and flexible without high overhead costs. Also contributing to the success of Mexican food truck cuisine? The tastes of Millennials and Gen Z, who like spicy flavors more than anyone else. These audiences make Mexican food valuable for all operators.
Item #5: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
If you’re looking for one of the highest profit-to-cost ratios in the food truck business, grilled cheese sandwiches are your perfect dish. A basic grilled cheese uses some of the cost-effective ingredients available, and can be made fresh almost instantly from a compact kitchen. The real value of this item, though, is in its customizability. Using a digital menu management tool, it’s easy to experiment with different types of sandwich ingredients – or let customers choose their own! This year, grilled cheese trucks are ready to become one of the industry’s profit leaders.
Item #4: Cupcakes
Speaking of profit leaders, Forbes recently predicted that cupcake retailers would become the most profitable kind of business in 2024! Cupcake trucks are already making tracks across the U.S., and are some of the country’s most successful dessert enterprises. Food truck operators from all backgrounds are putting their unique spin on this sweet treat, giving each business its own identity. Like most successful food truck items, cupcakes are easy to prep before service, quick to dish out, and heavily personalizable.
Item #3: Indian Food
Indian restaurants – commonly from the Punjabi culture – have been making their mark on the American culinary landscape throughout the 2020s. Now, dishes like tandoori chicken and papri chaat are becoming one of the food truck world’s greatest success stories. In 2023, Indian food trucks were the most profitable mobile dining businesses in the country, and industry leaders expect demand to grow. Food truck landmarks like Portland and Austin host an ever-growing amount of Indian street dishes, bringing these flavors to new audiences.
Item #2: BBQ
Longtime Otter blog readers might remember that BBQ took the #1 spot on our list of 2023’s most profitable food truck items. While these dishes may have fallen short of first place this year, they’re still extremely lucrative for owners. In fact, most of the food truck world’s top businesses serve BBQ, keeping its popularity with eaters nationwide high. This is especially true in BBQ-loving states like South Carolina and Texas, where these trucks continue to surpass their competitors.
Most Profitable Food Truck Item #1: Burgers
It’s true! This year’s most profitable food truck dish is the world’s favorite handheld: hamburgers! Burgers have been a key item on food truck menus since the industry began, and are now the mobile dining space’s top seller. No matter what kind of food truck you operate, there’s always room for a burger with your own twist. A delicious burger recipe will bring your food truck the most orders and profit of any cuisine in 2024. It also gives your truck the footing it needs to compete in this growing industry – and come out on top!
This year, put more profit on your food truck’s menu
Now you know what today’s eaters on-the-go crave – and what they’re ready to pay for! The food truck world is bigger than ever, and with the right dishes, your opportunity for success is limitless. Competition might be fierce this year, but an effective strategy helps secure your mobile dining business under any conditions. Choose the right items from the list above to suit your truck’s concept and cuisine, and make these menus your own! Excellent cooking, strong tech, and high eater engagement are your best tools for food truck profit in 2024.
