Food Truck Statistics for 2026: Industry Trends, Data, & Insights
Food trucks are shining stars in the fast-casual food sector, bridging the gap between quality eats and convenience.
We love celebrating this booming industry, so we surveyed our food truck policyholders. They gave us all the details about their business outlook, customer habits, profits and expenditures, and more.
Bite-Sized Takeaways
- 58.4% of food truck owners said their business grew in 2025
- Rising costs and supply chain issues were the biggest challenge in 2025, according to 61.6% of food truck owners
- 37% of food truck owners said events were their top customer acquisition driver
- 5 – 8 PM is the busiest time of day for most food truck owners, with 63.6% of operators reporting evenings as their peak hours
- 86.9% of food truck operators use Facebook to promote their business, making it the most popular social media platform for this industry
Food Truck Industry Economic Outlook
Growth
Over half (58.4%) of food truck business owners we surveyed said their business grew in 2025, with 29.9% reporting no growth. Only 11.8% said their business’ performance declined.
Despite most food truck owners experiencing growth, those we surveyed were fairly split on whether to expand operations in 2026. 54.3% plan to do so, while 42.5% said they intend to maintain their current level. Only 7% plan to scale back operations this year.
Challenges
61.6% of food truck operators reported rising costs and supply chain issues as their biggest challenge in 2025. Over half said these hurdles cut into their profitability.
Other major challenges included:
- Inflation/customer price sensitivity (48.4%)
- Marketing customer acquisition (34.7%)
- Labor shortages (21.9%)
64.9% expect food costs to continue to rise throughout 2026.
Top Food Truck Menu Items
As of 2024, the most popular food truck menu item was French fries or potatoes, with 21% of survey respondents including them in their offerings.
Other top-selling menu items:
- 19.2% sell burgers
- 15.3% sell BBQ
- 11.7% sell fried chicken
- 10.2% sell tacos
Check out our complete list of the top food truck menu items in the U.S.!
Food Truck Customer Insights
63.6% of food truck operators surveyed reported the evening (5 – 8 PM) as their peak business hours.
Other reported daypart trends:
- Lunchtime (11 AM – 2 PM) is the second busiest time of day for food trucks, according to 55.7% of respondents
- The slowest time of day is late night (11 PM – 2 AM), with only 2.3% of respondents reporting this period as peak business hours
- 14.8% of food truck operators experience variable or seasonal peak hours, with their busiest times changing throughout the year or being affected by location
Food truck operators rely on direct conversations with customers to get feedback on their business, according to 93.2% of respondents.
Other food truck owners report gathering feedback from these sources:
- 61.4% use social media
- 22.7% use online review sites like Google Reviews and Yelp
Food Truck Pricing
The lion’s share of food truck businesses (48.3%) use the cost-plus strategy for pricing their menu items.
Value-based pricing is the second-most popular strategy, with 23% of food truck operators using this to determine prices.
20.7% reported using competition-based pricing as their primary strategy, putting it closely behind value-based pricing in terms of popularity.
Learn how to price your menu items and ensure you’re balancing revenue with expenditures and making the profits you need to stay in business.
Food truck operators are divided on whether to offer discounts, specialty offers, or loyalty programs for their customers.
45.9% of survey respondents said they do offer discounts or special offers, while the majority (54.1%) do not.
Food Truck Festivals and Events
- Food truck operators remain big participants in festivals and rallies, with 30.6% of them attending 10 or more events in 2023
- Nearly as many (29.4%) reported only participating in 1–5 events last year
- 21.2% — more than one in five — didn’t participate in any events
- 58.5% of respondents prefer participating in food festivals
- 51.2% of food truck owners vend at music festivals, making them the second-most popular event for them to participate in
- Farmers markets and food truck rallies are also popular, according to 47.6% and 36.6% of respondents, respectively
If you’re interested in participating in events like these, discover 6 ways to get your food truck into festivals this year and expand your vending repertoire!
Preferred Technology for Food Truck Owners
For point-of-sale (POS) systems, here’s what food truck owners are using:
- Handheld is the most popular with food truck operators; 37.9% said they use a handheld system to process transactions
- 36.8% use a tablet, followed closely by smartphones at 33.3%
- Despite the rise in handheld devices and tablets, 16.1% of food trucks use a desktop computer POS system
Of the 19.8% of food truck owners who do use food truck finder apps, the overwhelming majority have a presence of StreetFoodFinder (71.4%).
- Mobile Nom is the next most popular food truck finder app, with 14.3% of respondents saying they’re active on this platform
- Truckster, Truckily, and TruckFindr are the least popular, each used by 7.1% of food truck owners surveyed
Food Truck Marketing
When asked what the best customer acquisition method was, 37% of food truck owners ranked events at the top of the list, followed by:
- Social media (27%)
- Location (18%)
- Word of mouth (16%)
When it comes to preferred social media platforms for food trucks, Facebook takes the lead. 86.9% of respondents use it to promote their food truck business.
- Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is the next most popular platform for food trucks, according to 71.4% of people surveyed
- Despite its growing popularity worldwide, only 22.6% of food truck owners use TikTok to promote their business
Food Truck Insurance Claims
In 2025, the average general liability insurance claim cost $6,438, while the average food truck equipment claim cost $2,558.
Out of all the claims filed with FLIP that year, the most common ones involved accidents causing property damage.
As for tools and equipment claims, equipment failure/food spoilage and theft — particularly generators — top the list. Generators are often targeted by thieves because some are worth hundreds (and sometimes even thousands) of dollars.
Make sure your food truck (and your gear) is protected in the event of incidents like these with affordable, customizable food truck insurance from FLIP!