How to start a food truck business in Kentucky

Posted by Damian Roberti on May 21, 2022

How to start a food truck business in Kentucky

How to start a food truck business in Kentucky, and how much is a food truck permit in Kentucky? So in this video here on Food Truck Freaks, we are going to dive into how to get a food truck up and running in the state of Kentucky. And if you're brand new to food trucks and you need a lot of information, definitely check out the subscribe button and bell notification here on foodtruckfreaks. We are a brand new food truck and entrepreneur channel dedicated to everything food and truck entrepreneurship, and we have a ton of resources. We're actually not new to YouTube. We actually have three other food entrepreneur channels; marketing food online is our other channel, and marketing food online too, as well as cottage foods, is for everyone who is starting home-based food businesses. So if you're interested or know someone who is looking to create a food business from scratch, we have all the resources to help you get that up and running. Check out the links down below in the description.

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So let's dive right into it. What do you need as far as licenses and permits to get up and running in Kentucky with your food truck business? So number one, right off the bat, is an E I N number. This is an employer identification number. This is kind of like a social security number for your food truck business. It is going to be needed in order to process your taxes every year. And of course, as your food truck grows and you hire employees, you've got payroll, you've got profits, the E I N is something that you have to have. It's also free. This is actually not something that charges you. Go to the IRS website and you can apply for your company's E-IIN, but you'll definitely need an E-IIN number two, for your business license. So, of course, to operate any food business of any kind in the state of Kentucky, you've got to have a business license.

How to start a food truck business in Kentucky

You can get that from the city or county that you actually live in, depending upon where you are. Of course, in the city or county you can apply for your business license. Make sure you do get that. That is number two. Number three, you've got to have a valid driver's license. Now, of course, as you might be thinking to yourself, well, that's kind of a no-brainer name. And of course you have a driver's license, because there's a food truck. Well, you need to have a valid driver's license as a food truck owner. Also, make sure that your employees make sure that they do have a valid driver's license because in many cases, you may not be actually on the food truck on a certain day or potentially you may have an associate, an employee, or even a family member. Who's working with you on the food truck and they're going to be driving your food truck?

And if there's an issue with their license and they happen to get into an accident or they get pulled over, or for any reason, a police officer stops them or has some issue with the truck itself, that could be potentially a loss of your business. Okay? And I'm sure you are not going to want to lose your truck, lose your food, truck, license, or other permits, which could be up for grabs. If the police officer decides to start citing your food truck, make sure everyone that you have on your food truck has a driver's license. That's valid. Okay, This is very, very crucial because the bread and butter of your business is the actual food truck itself. Okay, So next up is the seller's permit. Now this is a seller's permit. A permit is something that's really unique. It allows you to go out and get the ingredients that you need from wherever it is that you're sourcing them from without paying a tax on them. So if your state has a food sales tax,

How to start a food truck business in Kentucky

You want to make sure that you are not paying twice. And here's what I mean. If you go to a local food truck service supplier, if you go to a BJ's, or one of these bulk supply stores, and they've got food, and obviously you're getting your ingredients, your vegetables, your whatever it is, your proteins, your meats, whatever it may be. When you go through the checkout, you don't want to be charged sales tax. You want to show them your tax certificate. That's going to allow you to not pay tax on that. You would collect tax when you create the product and give it to your customer at the food truck stall itself. So be sure that you're not paying sales tax twice because there's no need to do that. All you need to get is a seller's permit. You can actually get that from your state of Kentucky website.

And as a matter of fact, to help you guys out even more down below, we'll actually have a whole bunch of additional resources. You can check out our website for Kentucky's information and link directly to the state website to help you out. But you need to get a seller's permit next to the food handlers' permit. This is also called food safety certification or food handler permit certification. It goes by a couple of different names, but this is actually a process that you go through. This is a course that you could take, and then you have to take a test on it. It is usually issued by a serving safe.It's one of the well-known ones. Many states will require you, along with the food truck, not only the owner, but any employee that's handling food, preparing food, cooking it, or storing it.

How to start a food truck business in Kentucky

They need to understand how that works and how they go about doing it. So what you'll have to do is take that course and then get that certification. Much of the course program is actually online. Believe it or not, but you'll have to take the test normally in person. When you go to the facility to get that done, next up is the health department inspection. Of course, the health department permit. Of course, across the board, just like a restaurant, you're going to have an inspection and they're gon na come in. The department's going to look at the truck. They're going to make sure that everything is handled properly. Food is protected. It's put away, it's kept at the right temperature, sanitation practices, and so on. So the health department will have to sign off on your truck. Most of the time, before you even begin to serve or even sell food products, you need to make sure that they have your health department's approval.

And you're good to go. That is something that happens in every single city and county. That's not something you can get away with not doing now. This is also a paid certificate. This is a paid permit. This is normally done annually. You'll have to do it most of the time. It's every year. Some states or some cities and counties actually have it every BI month. We actually have it every six months in our facility here. It's an annual checkup. And that's a yearly thing, but you do have to pay for that permit. Okay? Next up, you get your fire inspection and fire certificate. So, in the state of Kentucky, when you start your food truck business, the fire department will come in and inspect any type of wiring. Make sure that propane or gas generators are secured.

How to start a food truck business in Kentucky

Every electrical outlet, everything is wired correctly. Electric stoves, grids, and Aliba trucks are all in place.We used two topics restaurants that I'm going to mention because we had some great connections through Ali's food trucks. So that's something you want to laptop open. I'll come to you.So food trucks will get aware of questions before you'll have to get Alibaba. Actually, to get going next up, you're going to need to have food truck insurance. The insurance policies will vary based upon several different factors, but in general, food truck insurance will be like any other food business policy. You'll have to have at least what the state will require as far as the minimums. And you can go over that and get additional coverage as well for your insurance needs on your food truck. But that is something you'll have to get as well before you even get up and running.

Next up is your brand's trademark. So if your food truck is gon na create a brand, which 99, 9% of the time, you're gon na have a brand, you're going to have a logo. You're going to have a catchphrase. Those should be trademarked. The reason why is that if you want to protect yourself and you want to secure a look, you want to secure a brand for your food truck, potentially down the road. You could be selling merch. You could be selling stuff online, and that logo needs to make sure that it's not someone else using something similar to it. Brand trademarking is very important. It also takes time to do so. When you start off with your business license, if you've got your logo, you've got your brand. Start the process with the S PTO office. That's the United States patent and trademark office. You want to submit that early because it takes about six to eight months for you to actually get a trademark approved or denied.

So that's a bit of a process. So do that. A mobile food facility, permit. Many cities and counties in the state of Kentucky will require you to have a commissary kitchen or commercial kitchen, potentially. You'll have to have that, like, kind of on record. Many states, believe it or not, will have to require you to keep a document on your food truck, showing that you were actually at a designated commissary or commercial kitchen. That's kind of a normal thing to do. So check into that as well. The city county varies on that. And lastly, you want to have, of course, an address. You're going to have to have an address and most PO boxes won't be allowed. Most of the time, your address on record will be the commissary or commercial kitchen that you're attached to.

How to start a food truck business in Kentucky

That is pretty much good to go. And they're allowed to do that most of the time. That's like 90% of the time. You can just use that as your, basically, you can't use your home, is what I'm saying.And you can't use a PO box because there's no business attached to the PO box. So make sure that you get a commissary or commercial kitchen to do that. So, guys, this is a great outline of the permits and licenses you'll need to get up and running. Make sure you, of course, dive into it and ask questions. If you've got questions for us, let us know down below, but check out the additional resources in the description section below the video. And I'll see you guys on our next food truck freaked out video. So remember also that we have a handful of other channels. You might want to check those out as well down below.

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