What equipment is needed in a food truck? So, welcome to "Food Truck Freeks." We are YouTube's premier food truck entrepreneur channel. In this video, we're actually going to go over a list of equipment that is needed in a food truck. If you are just starting out and you're trying to figure out what exactly you need, Of course, based upon the types of food that you're going to produce, every food truck will be slightly different, but there are a handful of pieces of equipment that are needed, no matter what you're doing. Also, there's a smaller list that we're going to go over of how to keep the truck sanitized, clean, organized, and all of that. So, we're going to dive into that right now.
All right, so welcome back to Food Truck Freeks. It is a brand new food truck entrepreneur channel here on YouTube. We discuss everything food truck related. If you're not subscribed, definitely hit the subscribe button, because we're brand new, we've got a ton of new content, but we're not brand new to YouTube. If you want to check out the links down below this video, we've actually been on YouTube for quite a few years. We have three other channels that are related to food entrepreneurship, but our one channel, "Marketing Food Online," was actually overflowing with a lot of food truck questions.
So we decided to create Food Truck Freeks, dedicated to the sole purpose of food truck entrepreneurship. Now, let's get into this list. So, what equipment is new and needed for a food truck in general? So number one, the most important thing right off the bat, is going to be a three-compartment sink, which is going to be used to clean, wash, and sanitize all of the equipment that you're going to use on your food truck. So, I actually operate a food business. You may not know too much about me. My wife and I have been e-commerce food entrepreneurs for quite some time. We even operated Italian bakeries and brick-and-mortar bakeries as well. So, one of the things that the Department of Agriculture required for us was a three-compartment sink, a mop sink to actually clean up the area and a hand washing sink.
All separate sinks, of course, but those sinks are specific as to keeping things clean, sterilized and washed. So, you may not actually use a mop sink on your food truck, but the hand wash sink and the three compartment sink are definitely a must. Now, next up, gas ranges. So basically, there's a huge variety of food that can be used on gas ranges. They will be the areas where you will cook the majority of your food.If you're doing food prep solely on the food truck itself, some states will require you to have a commissary or commercial kitchen to prepare what you're going to make, but you actually end up cooking it or finalizing it on the food truck. Next up, under-counter freezers.
So, these will be items that are frozen and have a longer shelf life due to the fact that you have them frozen, but undercounter freezers are hugely important and very handy when it comes to keeping foods and ingredients frozen for a long period of time. So, you might actually want to get into one of those as well. Of course, the generator The next thing is a generator. We are actually getting ready to do a video. We're going to do a comparison of five generators based upon price point, weight of the generator, and the different features of the generator. So be aware that we're going to have that video coming out. So, definitely subscribe to the channel in the next couple days. We're going to have that edited and up and running. It's got a great video about generators, what to use, what not to use, and the noise. Also, the noise is a big factor too, so trying to find a quiet generator because you don't want it too loud when you're having your customers eating their food and such, but we're going to go over a handful of generators. So yes, you do need a generator.
Next up, a menu board. This is going to be the particular board that's going to be placed out in front of your truck. As your menu changes, or from day to day, or event to event, you can customize your menu board, allowing you to write up the day's particular food products that you're going to sell, or menu items that you're going to have. And of course, keep in mind that you can change and update that as you go along; you don't have to keep a menu specifically stagnant or stay the same all the time. Having a variety is something that will help keep you in business. Of course, based on the event you're going to, you may also mix up your menu a little bit. On the go, these are things that you're going to need too. You're going to have to have thermometers to check and maintain, and make sure throughout the day that your food products are being kept at the right temperatures.
If you happen to get a health inspection that just pops up at random and you don't have thermometers to double check, I believe that's actually something you can get nicked on. And that would get you into a little bit of trouble. But make sure you have thermometers. But of course, you make sure that they're working properly and that they're calibrated properly. Next up, if you're doing any cutting on surfaces, you're going to need cutting boards. You're going to need knives, obviously. Serrated knives include butcher knives, large knives, preparing knives, paring knives, and even bread knives if you're making sandwiches.So, make sure you've got those available as well.
Even though you have prep tables, which is going to get into our next list, But prep tables, stainless steel, NSF-certified prep tables on the food truck. You want to make sure that you're using cutting boards because, over time, you don't want to slice into or cut into, obviously, a stainless steel table. You're going to scratch it up dramatically. Of course, you're going to need fire safety systems. These are things that you're going to need to have in place in order to have a fire inspection, which is normally required by every single county or city that's going to have your food truck.
You pretty much go through a fire inspection because of the fact that you've got electrical wiring equipment, you've got potential generators that are running on propane or gasoline, any electrical wiring, overhead air ducts, and such, making sure that they are cleaned properly, that there's no potential fire hazard. All of these things will be inspected and checked off before you actually get to open your doors. And normally they'll have an annual inspection too, where they'll come in and double check your fire systems that you have set up in your actual food truck. Now, in some cases, you may not have to worry too much about that inspection. If the types of products you're making are rather prepackaged and you're just reselling them, there are plenty of food trucks that don't actually do any cooking or food prep on them.
They just resell packaged food. And that is allowed, of course. Make sure you have the right permits and business licenses for that type of food truck, but you don't prepare anything. So the fire inspection will be minimal, if that's best, because you're not going to have such a dramatic amount of equipment needed if you're just simply reselling. So, you've got your three-compartment sink for washing, sanitizing, and rinsing equipment. And of course, separate hand washing sinks and make sure that you may or may not even have to have a mop sink, which is a sink dedicated solely to the purpose of sanitizing and keeping clean the food truck itself. Some health departments in the city or county that you're in may or may not require those.
There's not really a lot of food trucks that have them, but you might have to have one put on, okay? Next up, wastewater. So throughout the day, obviously, you're going to have a water tank where you've got your sinks that are running from a fully self-contained water supply and wastewater tanks, which are normally emptied out at the end of the day, all your waste from cleaning and sanitizing or washing your hands. That is something that has to be done normally at a commissary kitchen or the commercial kitchen where your food truck is specifically geared towards and has to be addressed. That is, many states will require you to have a specific area, such as a commissary kitchen or commercial kitchen, with which you will be associated.
So that's going to be where you can empty out the wastewater and get your fresh water for the next day. And you're good to go. Now, in order to make water come out of a spigot or a faucet, You need to have a water pump. The water pump system is going to pump the fresh water, obviously, through the three compartment sinks and hand wash sinks for you to utilize to keep your hands clean and keep utensils clean. And then, as I just mentioned, you'll have a wastewater collection, but in order for all that water to go up and down, you've got to have a water pump. So keep that in mind as well. Next up, really important, super important, obviously, is a POS system.
Some types of systems that account for cash, credit card, or debit card transactions To be honest with you, POS systems are not too expensive for food trucks. And by the way, all of the equipment that we're talking about here, we have a great list down below. Definitely check out those links. They'll show all of the variety of items that we're actually speaking about here in the video, here in Food Truck Freeks. We also try to give you a lot of additional resources and even our blog. So check those out too. So, make sure you've got a payment system set up, the POS, or Point of Sale, that's what POS stands for. You've got to have that available as well. Now, if you have to have... if you need to supply hot and warm running water, you're going to need a boiling system, obviously, put into the food truck as well to keep the water super hot and clean when it comes out of the faucet.
If you're doing any pasta, if you're doing anything that's boiling, anything that needs to be held with boiling water or even hot water, If you have a coffee shop, let's say you even just do a coffee truck with espresso coffees, hot chocolates, and things of that nature, you need to definitely, of course, have a boiling system in order for you to prepare hot coffee and constantly have that hot coffee available and on the go. So now, one other really quick point about coffee food trucks: they are hugely popular lately. I've seen a lot of them pop up. I've been noticing online a lot of new food trucks that have been just solely dedicated to hot tea, hot coffee, hot chocolate, that type of thing. Keep in mind the size of your water tank.
The average water tank for a food truck will be there for cleaning purposes, but if you are solely doing nothing but serving those types of beverages, you're going to go through a lot more water than normal. So make sure your water tank is big enough and is going to have enough fulfilled water for all of those beverages that you're going to be using. Keep that in mind too. Next up, if you use a lot of gas-powered equipment, such as griddles, ranges, or even a generator off of gas, make sure you have enough propane or gas on hand during the event that you're going to use it.
Obviously, you don't want to pick up your food truck, drive to some place just to fill up your propane and gas, and then come back to it. Normally, events won't allow you to do that. Once you park, you're designated, you have to be there from eight in the morning, let's say, till four or five in the evening, or something to that effect, they're going to want you to be there constantly. So make sure that you have access to enough of that. Next up, storage shelves. So we talked a little bit about prep tables, stainless steel prep tables, but you're going to need storage, of course, on your unit as well.
Normally, above ranges and above sinks.This is similar to even our commercial bakery that we operate now. We have all of our storage shelving above those units, wall mounted, of course, and secured. That's something you need to be really careful about too, when you're driving and transporting your food truck, is that everything is safely secured during transit. So when you're driving your food truck, nothing is rocking all over the place. Shelves are not falling off. You don't have products on the shelves coming off.
Make sure you've got the right type of shelf that's not going to allow anything that's put on it to fall, obviously, while you're driving. So definitely make sure that you have the right storage shelves as well. Now, anything else that you would need aside from that is going to be specifically geared towards the type of food that you're going to make. And the next video we're going to do, we're going to post it right after this one. I'm going to get into some more specialized and specific types of equipment that you may need based upon the types of food that you're cooking, making, and preparing. So now, if this was helpful as always, please do give us a big thumbs up.
If you have any questions about it, let us know down below. We are a brand new channel, Food Truck Freeks, and we would love to hear from you guys, our viewers, and not only that, but our subscribers too. If you've got questions, we'll find the answers. We'll see you guys in our next video. Thanks for watching Food Truck Freeks. If you are interested in creating your own food truck and you cannot 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, the successful food truck that it is. And we'll see you guys in our next video.