Alibaba electric food truck

Posted by Damian Roberti on May 3, 2022

Alibaba electric food truck

Alibaba electric food truck and Alibaba food truck reviews These are two topics that I'm going to dive into. We had some great feedback from some of our connections in the food truck industry about buying Alibaba food trucks. I've got my laptop open and I'm going to show you a few things that you need to be aware of and some questions that you need to ask, but before you actually buy a food truck on Alibaba, I'm going to get into that right now.

All right. So, welcome back to marketing food. Online Damian Roberti founder and CEO, is marketing food online. So I had a great question from our food truck freaks channel, which is our brand new food truck channel. You can check the link down below. We've already got nearly a thousand subscribers. We just launched it. It's going to have a ton of food, trucks, industry videos, but on food truck freaks, I had an email on marketing food online that actually was asking about Ali Baba food carts. These are kind of all the rage now, but there are a lot of food truck entrepreneurs here in the United States that are actually diving into the food truck business, business, and industry with these types of food trucks. But there are a few things that you really need to be aware of. And you need to know this before you spend your money. Now, as the thumbnail says, I'm going to show you a couple of these that are around $2,000, and they're simple, easy-to-use trailers, but there are a few things you need to know.

Alibaba electric food truck

So let's dive right into it. So I've got my laptop open here. I'm going to take a look over here on my laptop. This is Alibaba's website in regards to their food trailers. Now I've seen a lot of trailers, not necessarily food trucks, and I'm going to dive into that one and two, but the food trailers that you can pull to an event, set up temporarily at your event, and then sell from your food trailer. Okay, Now the great thing about it, of course, is the price point. Don't get me wrong. Many of these are retailers of around 2000 USD. Most of them actually included shipping. Some of them do charge shipping, and I will get into that too in a second. But the first thing you need to know is that, number one, when you have a brand new mobile food or indu food business that you're doing with a food truck or a food trailer, your city or county will have, in some cases, specific details as to how it's laid out, how it is built, and what specifics the county or city is going to require for you to have many of these price points. Sounds good, right?

Alibaba electric food truck

But the problem with these is that when they're brought over to the U.S., many of them are not up to specs for US standards. A lot of cities and counties will literally ask that you have a blueprint. It draws up how the kitchen is laid out, the type of equipment that you have, and all of that needs to actually get a thumbs up or a thumbs down before you actually get a certificate of approval from the inspection from the health department, in order for you to utilize any food truck or mobile food unit now. So what does all that mean? Damien, that sounds like a bunch of great technical terminology. So, for instance, this particular trailer right here, it looks amazing. And at $2,000, that is very inexpensive. And of course, the majority of these, yes, do come from China. Some of them do come from different Asian countries, but not necessarily specifically from China.

Alibaba electric food truck

But the vast majority of them do, and they look fantastic. They look great. The size is very small, very compact, and easily transported from one place to the next. But the thing is, when you begin a dialogue with one of these sets, you need to find out what the specs are because you need to understand that if you're in Los Angeles, California, what does the city or county of LA actually require for that specific food trailer or food truck to be used within the county? That's one of the big drawbacks. Okay, Now the other thing that some of my connections that I have in the food industry and the food truck industry sent me some information about when I was doing a little research about this, is that a lot of these trucks, unfortunately, when they get shipped, they are in large container shipment units. Many of them have defects, scratches, dense, or damage to them in transit from another country, but from China, that's a long haul, so it's a long way away.

So when you order these, some of the things you might encounter are going to be some defects, some scratches, and dents. So, are you willing to take on a low-cost unit with the possibility of having to cosmetically repair some of the scratches, dents, and damage in transit, because this is what happens?It's an actual fact. I met and I spoke with a gentleman, a friend of mine who's been in the food truck industry for a long time. And he told me that quite a few people have looked into Alibaba to get food trucks. And the other thing that's great about them is that a lot of them that are coming here are electric. Yes, they're actually not gas-powered, they're electric. And a lot of that power they need to get from one place to the next is very minimal.

Alibaba electric food truck

So on long hauls or long trips, these electric food cars or food trucks are stalling out. They're not effective. They're not efficient. So the price point sounds good. This one, in particular, I'm showing you right here is $8,000. Where in the United States could you buy a food truck that looks like this? It is this big for 8,000, actually $8,800. And the processing time is two weeks. So it's really interesting to see that a lot of these are electric-run. They really look good cosmetically. They look amazing. That looks like it looks like a ready-to-go food truck, right? You can start selling burgers, but many of them have that issue with the electricity keeping them going or the amount of electricity that these electric trucks are using in order to get around. If you're in a very small space, as far as traveling just a few miles to your destination, then these types of trucks might be good for you.

But again, the other thing that you need to think about is that the larger the unit, the greater the chances of damage in transit. So as we started to talk about some of the trailers, the trailers are smaller. There might be a smaller unit that it would need to bring it directly to you. These larger units, which are like food trucks, have a tendency to handle even more damage or potential issues with the actual engine or the unit itself. Now I'm not downplaying or degrading these listings or these companies. I'm sure that their products are fantastic, but from some of the people that I have connections with in the food truck industry, they told me some of this information before I started this video. So I wanted to really weigh the pros and cons of actually trying to get onto Alibaba and buy a food truck.

Alibaba electric food truck

It does sound enticing. I mean, look at this unit. I believe this one here is between two and six. So it's probably around three to four grand for this branding unit. And this is such a cute little, you know, unit. And the great thing about it is that it's very small. It could do all kinds of things. You could do ice cream, you could do coffee, you could do drinks, you could do anything and any type of thing. That's very small in this, for that much of an investment. That's not really a big deal. You know, we hear that a lot about food trucks being 30, 40, 50,000 on the low end, up to a hundred, 125,000. But keep in mind also that these types of units have a tendency not to fall within the guidelines of what the city's and counties require for mobile food units. So, the other thing that you need to be aware of is the time in transit.

If you're looking to get one of these, here's another cute one. This is great for things like ice cream, little carts, and such. This too is electric, but here's the thing. The building out of this part, this is what I'm talking about. This inside part has to be in line with the specifications of the city and county that you're going to deal with. So what is my recommendation? Food truck review: Alibaba So, after reviewing these and giving you a rundown, I would advise you to be very leery, very cautious.The price point for these sounds enticing, but you really need to look at the big picture and make sure that it's a legitimate type of unit that can literally function where you are in the city or county that you're going to be doing it in. You don't want to be dumped, even if it's two or three thousand. And it appears to be atticy, as this one is enormous.

Alibaba electric food truck

It's big. This could be an ice cream truck. This could turn into a sandwich truck. This is $5,000. That's a big difference compared to a 50, 60, or a hundred thousand dollar unit. But can you drive that on the streets here? Okay, are you allowed to? So if your city or county requires you to turn in designs and turn in information, the actual diagnostics, the information about the unit itself, many of them do, so make sure that you're checking with them first, because if you dump $8,000, you get it here. And LA County says, "Hey, look, you can't use this because it's not even specs." Then what do you do? You're going to end up having to build out or retrofit the inside to make sure that it falls within guidelines with certain counties' requirements for mobile food units. So, thumbs up or thumbs down.

If you're going to be buying a food truck on, on, on Alibaba for these price points, I would definitely give it a big thumbs up. I would say it's a great idea. Thumbs down. I would say, just be very, very, very cautious about what is required because you don't want to have to get an $8,000 unit and spit out another 10 or 15,000, just redoing it as it didn't fall within the guidelines of what is expected. So getting food trucks that are made outside the US, there's another one right there. This one is beautiful too. This could be tacos. This could be barbecue. I mean, you could do a whole bunch of things, but again, what is the inside light? Of course, it has a lot of units, a lot of storage, and water lights. It's got it, it's beautiful. But we, again, this has to be in line with what's expected here in the US and the guidelines as far as that's concerned.

So definitely take the leap. I would say, check out Alibaba. I'll actually have some links down below in the description section. That'll take you to what I'm showing you here. So you can even browse around and take a look at some of these food trucks as well. So it sounds like a great idea, guys. I would say, go for it if it falls in line with what you have. Definitely great. The timeframe for getting it here is only a couple of weeks to a couple of months. So that's not bad if you had a custom food truck built here in the US. Sometimes you're actually going to have a waiting list because they're so busy building other units. It could take you months and months just to get your unit. So if you have any questions about Alibaba, please let me know, and I'll get to your comments as soon as possible. On our next marketing campaign, we'd like to include you.