For the first time in four years, food trucks are nowhere to be found on Restaurant Canada’s list of the top 10 hot trends. And that’s probably a good thing for the sector. It may be confirmation that wheeled kitchens are here to stay — while the jury is still out on charcuterie, international sauces and quinoa, all among the top 10 for 2015. “A few years ago there was a real explosion of trucks on the scene and that has stabilized somewhat,” said Mark von Schellwitz, western vice-president of Restaurants Canada. “It has found a natural level.” No organization provides a definitive count, and operators come and go each season, but best estimates have the number of food trucks in Canada at more than 350, and the highest concentration is here in the west. The City of Edmonton said it had issued 149 food vendor permits as of June 30, but the total includes trucks, carts and trailers. City communications adviser Karen Burgess said she believes food trucks accounted for about 70 of those permits. More proof that trucks have hit the mainstream comes from Mack Male, who organizes What The Truck?! food festivals. He said he has heard grumbling from some of the 70 vendors who registered with his non-profit organization that there are now too many operators in the downtown core. “They’re interested in a cap,” said Male. To celebrate the symbolic arrival of the food truck as an established eatery, here’s a by-the-numbers look at the industry. So you want to run a food truck Before you flip a burger or sling a sandwich, here’s what you can expect to spend on hard costs: Used truck, fully operational — $30,000 to $65,000 (Sources: Internet listings) New truck, fully operational — $80,000 to $120,000 (Source: prestigefoodtrucks.com) Or, buy a used Grumman step van for $10,000 to $15,000 and deck it out with the following: Exterior vinyl wrapping — at least $3,500 (Source: wrapbullys.com) Interior conversion: counters, cladding etc. — $1,300 per linear foot Interior window — $785 Generator compartment with sliding frame — $2,200 Water system — $5,900 Propane system — $5,200 Exhaust hood — $3,900 Fire suppression system — at least $3,500 Extra counters if required — $350 per linear foot Interior/exterior shelving — $100 per linear foot Bulkhead if required $2,800 Standard 19 cu.ft. refrigerator/freezer — $850 Small chest freezer — $485 Sandwich fridge — $2,695 Cooler — $1,650 Steamer — $1,600 36-inch range — $4,475 Griddle — $1,800 Char broiler — $1,980 Deep fryer — $2,100 (Source: apollofoodtrucks.com) If you don’t want to buy, you can rent. But you’ll have to spend $2,000 per month for a 12-foot kitchen, or $1,000 per week for a 16-foot catering truck that is better appointed. (Source: rentafoodtruck.ca) Where do food truck come from? Will Hodgkins, 59, has been in the food truck business for almost half his life. He said his Napanee, Ont. company, Venture Food Trucks, builds about 150 trucks every year, making it the largest producer. Other builders in Canada include Apollo Food Trucks in Surrey, B.C., Kitchens on Wheels in Alexandria, Ont., Milenzo Corporation in Burford, Ont., Pizza Trucks of Canada in Dugald, Man., Silver Star Metal Fabricating in Mississauga, Unique Food Truck in Laval. Venture built Truck 1879 for Edmonton Northlands and sent it west on a flatbed truck. The company ships 60 per cent of their trucks to Canadian locations, 20 per cent to the U.S. and another 20 per cent elsewhere. Hodgkins figures he has shipped 50 to Alberta over his 27 years in the business.

The most expensive truck his company built went for $350,000, but they average about $80,000. He’s seen the industry explode in the past decade, and he has no patience for people who say they can’t make it work. “The nice thing about trucks and carts is, they have wheels and they’re on there for a reason. You’ve got a lousy location? Move it. “The money is there. No excuse for failure if you’re not lazy. “It’s just too good an idea.” The government’s bite You need a business license and food vendor permit from the city. Here is a cross-country sampling of those costs: Edmonton — $220 license, $111 monthly standard vendor permit (there are also rates for non-profits and special events) Vancouver — $129 license, $1,210.99 annual vendor permit Toronto — $1,118.22 license, $2,597.69 six-month vendor permit Regina — $112.50 resident license (waived if less than $5,000 annual revenue), $1,400 annual vendor permit Saskatoon — $625 licenses, $2,330 six-month parking fee Winnipeg — $1,600 to $3,386 permit, depending on size of truck Alberta Health Services requires food handlers to apply for a permit. Depending on the level of handling raw ingredients, permits cost $100 to $250 per year. You also need to register your vehicle, pass a safety inspection, and buy insurance. Toronto Food Trucks advises operators to purchase business insurance at a cost of $350 to $450 per month and liability insurance at a cost of about $100 per month for up to $5 million in coverage. The City of Edmonton requires vendors to have $2 million in general liability coverage. Unless your truck is fully decked out, you will also need a commissary, where you prep your food: Toronto Food Trucks estimates it will cost between $25 and $35 per hour to use a licensed commissary. If you want to reserve a metered parking space in downtown Edmonton, and the best spots are often metered, you need to apply for a metre hood from the city. That costs $68.11 per week.

Link: Click the graphic to enlarge it. A day in the life Clover Food Lab broke down a typical day for a food truck operator, and it seems daunting. Load truck — 1.5 hours Drive to site — 45 minutes Set up for service — 1 hour Service (typically 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) — 3 hours Take down — 45 minutes Drive to commissary — 30 minutes

Store food — 1 hour Clean truck — 2.5 hours Clean dishes — 2.5 hours Prep food — 4 hours Total — 17 hours That sounded outrageous, until we talked to Liana Greniuk, owner/operator of Hot Mess, a new food truck that serves smoked pulled pork, deep fried pickles, red velvet pancakes and other savoury and sumptuous treats in Leduc and environs. “A typical day? I’m up at 6 (a.m.) to bake cinnamon buns. And I’m home around 8 (p.m.), and I’ll probably still have to prep for the next day,” she said earlier this week. Add a couple hours of prep, and that’s a 16-hour day. Yikes. Greniuk is a 41-year-old machinist and Le Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef. She was laid off from her machinist’s gig last year and started thinking about a truck business. After consulting extensively with friends who own Tres Carnales, Greniuk bought a truck in Sylvan Lake that she found on Kijiji. Hot Mess got rolling in mid-May and it has already been an up-and-down ride, as she tries to predict which food items will fly out the window and where to find the hungriest crowds. “I was told going in it takes three years; expect to lose money for three years basically. I was lucky I had a high-paying career, so I could afford that. Being a machinist was good to me.” Her break-even point on the truck, if she’s paying a wage to an employee, is about $800 per day. That also covers gas, insurance and food costs. But she doesn’t draw a salary of her own. “Some days you make $200 over lunch and you’ve lost money. Then there’s a day like Canada Day, when you make $3,500. It’s so up and down, so unpredictable. “I’m happy if I make $800. It’s not a terrible day. It’s not a fabulous day.” Food festival fight The Columbia StrEAT Food Truck Fest in downtown New Westminster, B.C. has confirmed more than 70 trucks and trailers for Aug. 22 and calls itself the country’s largest one-day food truck festival. According to event co-ordinator Maddison McKitrick, most vendors are indeed trucks rather than trailers, and most are from the lower mainland. Vendors could have reserved a spot at the festival for an early bird fee of $175, but now it’s $200. By comparison, Edmonton’s What The Truck?! events charge each vendor $100 — to cover the cost of street closures and waste disposal and a DJ — and attract between 15 and 25 food trucks and trailers, well up from the seven that were at the first What The Truck?! in 2011. Fifteen vendors were scheduled to be at Northlands Park on Friday night from 5 to 10 p.m. It marked the first time a What The Truck?! event was held at a licensed venue, allowing diners to grab an alcoholic drink with their mobile munchies. Proximity a prickly point Canadian jurisdictions haven’t reached a consensus on how much space ought to be between a food truck and a bricks and mortar restaurant. Not even close, really. Here is a sampling of current buffer zones in metres: Kitchener — 10