How much does a food truck permit cost in Louisiana
How much does a food truck permit cost in Louisiana. And how do you get a food truck license in Louisiana? So those are two great questions. If you're looking to start a food truck business in the great state of Louisiana, I'm gonna go where the permits and licenses that you will need. And of course, how much do they roughly cost to get up and running? And so if you're looking to create a food truck business in Louisiana, you definitely wanna watch this video from beginning to end here on food, truck freaks. Youtube's premier food, truck, entrepreneur channel. We're gonna get you that right now.
So welcome back to food truck freaks. This is YouTube's premier food truck entrepreneur channel, and is Damian Roberti founder and CEO of marketing food. Online. We actually are not new to YouTube. We have several food entrepreneur channels here on YouTube, but we just started this channel and it's gonna help you. The food truck entrepreneur either grow your existing food truck business, get your food truck business started, or just create a several variations and lines of income for your food truck. We got some great videos on how to create multiple sources of income as a matter of fact on your food truck. So let's get into this specific about permits and licenses in the state of Louisiana. So number one, E I, so every food truck or actually any food business for that matter needs an E. So what's an EIN, it's an employer identification number for IRS purposes.
How much does a food truck permit cost in Louisiana
You're gonna need to definitely file your EIN and make sure you have one. This is gonna be helpful for your accountant during tax season, of course. But every employer who either has employees, or even if you're self-employed, you need to have an E they're actually free to get you go to the IRS website, you type in EIN, and there's a search box, and it'll bring you to the page where you can literally fill out the form and get one. So it's kind of like a social security number for your business and your food truck will be all set to go with the IRS and you'll be able to fill out your taxes and everything you need for the end of the year. Next up you're starting the food truck business in Louisiana. Number two, you're gonna need to obtain a business license like any other business, even though it is a mobile food business, and it's not a restaurant or a stationary brick and mortar, you still need to make sure that, of course you have a business license.
Now this will vary based on your state and of course, based on where you're going to be and everything else in between. So be sure to definitely get an E I in and you will be all set to go as far as that's concerned and your business license. So the third thing you're gonna need of course, is a valid driver's license. Now you probably think to yourself, well, Damien, that's kind of silly, of course driver's license. I need to have a valid one. Well, believe it or not. You have to think about this too. If you are a food truck owner and you are not able to be either at the food truck the opening in the morning, if you've got an event and you have an employee who doesn't have a valid license and they're driving your food truck, which is your bread and butter, it's your business.
How much does a food truck permit cost in Louisiana
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And there's unfortunately, happens something that they get a car accident, or if they are speeding or they get pulled over, they don't have a valid license. Your food truck is gonna have some serious problems. And if that is your bread and butter, and that's where you're making money from, then you are gonna have some big, big problems to deal with. So make sure that everyone on staff has a valid license, and there's nothing as far as any DUIs or anything negative on their driving record, because you don't want to hire someone who potentially may not have a valid license. And that can cause some serious problems for you. Number four, in Louisiana, you're gonna need a seller's permit. This is actually something that a lot of food truck owners may not even be aware of, but the seller's permit allows you to actually buy your ingredients at wholesale, from a wholesaler or wholesale prices.
And not only that is specifically set up for you not to pay taxes when you buy the ingredients, because when you make the sale, if your state requires food sales tax, you need to make sure that you collect the sales tax at the time of the transaction. And of course remit that sales tax to the state city or county, however your city or county or statement be set up. So normally as far as like we're outta Georgia here, we actually, every year we are on a yearly program where we remit our sales tax to the state. And we do that through their website. But sometimes when we first started, actually, they had actually set us up every three months and then we went to six months and then, then instead of every year, every quarter, they went to a full year. So make sure that you remit your sales tax.
How much does a food truck permit cost in Louisiana
Of course, if you've got it within your state, and you can do that with a seller's permit by not paying taxes on your products, next up food handlers permit. Now these are also new known, by the way, as food safety certifications or food, food safety normally serve safe is, is one that's recognized nationwide. And this is a program that you, and of course your employees can go through and many states require it, or cities and counties require it. It's gonna be a program that allows them to learn how to serve food properly, reheat food, properly store it, serve it, keep everything, sanitized, everything about serving food cooking it properly, making sure the temperatures are correct, et cetera. All of this is gonna come through on these courses and then you get served safe, certified. Now, normally what happens with a lot of brick and mortar restaurants or fast food places, there will be a manager on duty, and there's always got to be a serve safe certified individual who might normally is a supervisor or manager on duty at all times.
Now food trucks are no different in many states. So make sure you check into either have any food handlers permit or a safety certification course next up the health department. Of course your food truck will be inspected. And you wanna make sure that you're getting your checked off with the health department. They're going to inspect you by the way, before you even open. And then though either going to do it every quarter, every six months or every year actually the department of agriculture with our commercial kitchen, they come in every year on an annual basis and check out our commercial kitchen, the department of agriculture, but normally through food trucks in your state, you'll be going, you'll go through the health department, the local city or county. Normally the county health department has offices everywhere and they'll come in and they'll double check and make sure that you're good to go.
How much does a food truck permit cost in Louisiana
Now, sometimes if they receive any complaints about your food truck or people are getting sick, or someone has gotten sick, if they call the health department on it, they're going to come out and you don't want that to happen because that's not a good thing. That's kind of a negative thing. And they're gonna go through a process and recheck everything and make sure that temperatures are correct. And food is being stored properly sanitation practices and such now really quick side note before you get into all of these inspections, create a manual of what you expect and how your business will be operating. You're operating procedures. There's like a, there's a thing called a so P it's actually this standard operating procedures. It's a guy that you need to create. And if you don't know how to create one, you can actually Google this and check it out, give something you can download, but it's gonna give you a good outline.
So you can let every employee, they know that's working with you. Or if you have an assistant or if you've got a family member who's ever helping you, that they know what's expected as far as cleaning sanitizing also keeping food properly, labeled exploration, dates, any of that stuff, making sure that it's all done on a specific set of regimen. If you will process that's what a standard operating procedures manual is, and you can create one yourself. I highly highly recommend you have one. We actually have one here in our commercial kitchen for everything that we do. So basically everyone, if we have a new employee, if you hire someone part-time, everyone knows what's expected. You know, when you start a food truck business, or any business for that matter, that has food. Everyone needs to be on the same page, next up fire inspections and fire certificates.
How much does a food truck permit cost in Louisiana
So the fire department, why would they be interested in inspecting a food truck? Okay, well, you have to understand that if you have a generator that's operating off of propane or gas, or you've got other electrical, obviously you will, but electrical currents. And you've got things coming out of different outlets, making sure that it's done and wired properly, making sure that everything is functioning correctly, making sure that there's nothing that could be overlooked that could potentially be hazardous to the safety of your vehicle, especially with your generators. Now, most generators obviously are mounted on the external part of the food truck. Many of them actually mounted on the back end of the food truck with specific braces. And you've got some securely locked down for the day, but they operate with some type of Propan or gas, right? So you wanna make sure that on all times they're functioning correctly.
So there's no potential for any fire hazards. So fire certificate and inspections are the next one to expect. Now, with that being said, you wanna make sure also that you have the right parking permits, many cities and counties will require you to have a parking permit and making sure that you abide by the area in which you could park your food truck, because you actually can't necessarily park anywhere that you wish that you want to, but you have to have specific parking permits. And the times of the day, not only where you could park, but how long you could be there, because if you exceed those parking permits and somebody cites you or get citations again, your food truck is your business and that's your bread and butter. And that could cause a serious problem for you. So, all right now in Louisiana too, there's a few things I wanna run over with you really quick.
How much does a food truck permit cost in Louisiana
You need to make sure that you have a copy of the mobile food trucks, valid registration with the department of motor vehicles. So all trucks must of course be registered for the state of Louisiana. Be sure that you register. This has nothing to do with your driver's license. It's specifically registering your vehicle. Okay. also a copy of the automobile insurance for the mobile food truck. So you need to be providing also insurance coverage for your food truck at any point in time. And they also have specific standards as to what needs to be on the commercial general reliability insurance policy. Every state kind of dictates that too. So you wanna make sure that you follow up with them before you actually these are kinda like what's known as prerequisites before you apply for this. Of course, as I met you before your valid driver's license as well, and there's two other things that you need to be aware of the cost of all of these. So let's go over some of the cost of these. So, number one, when you do the application with the
How much does a food truck permit cost in Louisiana
Over $400 annually, keep that in mind too, and be, make sure that you stay on top of that renewal because it's an annual license that needs to be renewed. It's about 400 plus dollars for that as well. An occupational license fee of 150 is also required. That's gonna be an annual fee in the state of Louisiana. When you start your food truck. Also now you also sales tax deposit. You need a $50 sales tax deposit. You also have a $5 ID card fee per card on that as well. Now, one thing to keep in mind too, and what I just mentioned before, the food truck permits and licenses expire on the 31st of December and they are required by the end of January of the following year. So keep in mind too, that you do these renew these licenses and permits on time.
Outside of that, I wanna have additional resources down below the video. I'm gonna send you a link directly to the state of Louisiana. If you're looking to have additional resources and you check that out as well, that's gonna be great resources for you as well. If you are looking to create a food truck business in Louisiana, that is the gist of how it gets started, of course, from the legal perspective from permits and licenses. If you've got questions about it, let us know down below and definitely subscribe. We're a brand new channel. So we appreciate all of our new subscribers. And we'll see you guys on our next video. Thanks for watching food truck freaks. If you are interested in creating your own food truck and you've kind of figure out how to do that, be sure to check out these additional resources and our website, check out the links in the description for more information on how to create a food truck business, successful food truck that it is. And we'll see you guys on our next video.