Free food truck invoice template
Bill the event, the minimum and the travel on one page — and ring up the lunch rush at the window without a terminal.
A truck makes money two completely different ways and most invoicing tools only understand one of them. At a brewery or a lunch spot you are selling forty tickets an hour at the window, cash and card, and nothing gets invoiced at all. Then a company books you for a Friday and suddenly you need a real document: a guaranteed minimum, a headcount, a deposit to hold the date, and terms that say what happens if it rains. Write the private bookings as invoices with a deposit line, run the window through the counter till, and put a QR on the truck so anyone who forgot their wallet can still pay.
Lines a food truck operator actually bills for
| Line | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Event booking — 3 hour service window | $700–$1,800 for a standard window |
| Guaranteed minimum spend (billed if sales fall short) | $800–$2,500 depending on headcount |
| Per-person catering — entree, side, drink | $14–$28 per head |
| Deposit to hold the date | 25%–50% of the booking |
| Travel outside the service area, per mile | $2–$4 per mile past the first 25 |
| Additional crew member on the truck, per hour | $20–$35 per hour |
| Generator fuel and power surcharge | $50–$150 |
| Late-night / after 10pm service premium | $100–$300 |
What to include on a food truck invoice
- Your business name, phone number and email — and your license number if your state puts one on the paperwork
- The customer's name, the service address, and a phone number or email you can actually reach them on
- An invoice number and the date the work was done
- The date, the exact service window, and how early you need to be on site to set up
- Where the truck parks, and who is responsible for power, water and the permit at that address
- The guaranteed minimum in plain numbers, and what happens to it if fewer people show up
- The menu you agreed on, with any dietary swaps you already said yes to in writing
- Your deposit, when it was paid, and whether it is refundable if they cancel
- Your health permit and mobile vendor number if the venue or the county asks for it on paper
- Subtotal, sales tax if you charge it, and the total due
- Any deposit or payment already taken, and the balance still owed
- The due date, and what happens if it goes past it
- How they can pay — card, bank transfer, check or cash
Food Truck invoicing questions
Should I bill a flat fee or a guaranteed minimum?
Depends who is paying. A company feeding its own staff should be on a flat fee or a per-head price, because they want one predictable number for accounting. A brewery or an apartment complex that wants you there for foot traffic gets a guaranteed minimum: they only write a check if window sales come in under it. Put the minimum on the invoice even when sales cleared it, showing it as met and zero owed, so nobody has to remember the conversation next quarter.
How big a deposit should I take to hold a date?
A quarter to half, and take it when they book, not the week before. A held Saturday is a Saturday you turned other work down for, and a deposit is the only thing that makes a cancellation cost them something. Write the cancellation window right on the invoice — most operators keep the deposit inside fourteen days and refund it outside that.
Do I invoice the window sales too?
No, and you shouldn't try. Sales at the window are a till, not a document — you ring them up as they happen, cash or card, and read the day's total at close. Save the invoice for the private bookings where somebody needs a real piece of paper for their books. Two motions, two tools, and neither should pretend to be the other.
How do I charge for travel without scaring off the booking?
Give away the first twenty or twenty-five miles and price the rest by the mile on its own line. A truck burns fuel getting there and the return trip is unpaid time. Buried in the food price it makes you look expensive per plate; on its own line, it is the most obviously fair charge on the invoice.
What terms should I put on a rain date?
Decide it before the sky does. The common shape: they can move the date once, free, with at least seventy-two hours notice, and after that the deposit is earned. Say it on the invoice in one sentence. Trucks lose whole weekends to a client who assumed 'weather' meant a free pass, and that assumption is only expensive if it was never written down.
What does this actually cost me to run?
Building invoices and estimates is free, however many events you book, with no trial clock. Paid tiers exist — Starter is $9.99 a month, Pro is $24.99 — and they carry the things that cost us money every time you use them: receipt scanning for your food cost, sending from our email domain, your truck's logo on the invoice, extra people on the account. The rest of the money comes from card payments: 0.5% when a customer pays by card, and nothing at all on cash through the window.
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Write a free food truck invoice — Pocket Business is free to build and send, no signup, no invoice limit.