Mobile Coffee Concerns, building and finding what I need.

[Allaband]

Hello all, hope I'm posting in the right place. I'm building a coffee truck, is this a good forum for me or is there a better one somewhere?

Assuming I'm in the right place, can anyone help me find some general guidelines for coffee truck law? I know it's by locale but all I find locally are laws for food trucks. I won't have the ability to keep beef at 300 degrees, I don't think I need to follow that law, but food truck law is all I find.

Currently I'm trying to decide where to place my generator. Are there regulations about where to put it, how far it can be from fuel tanks, what genny to use, and all that?

Also, the water system is about to go in, any rules on that? Will they crawl under to see how my water tanks are mounted? What am I up against here?

I've read many articles on starting coffee businesses and starting coffee trucks but they all basically tell me what I knew before I even had this idea. I need nuts and bolts. I don't need help choosing between a coffee truck and a coffee cart, I need help choosing between angle steel and box steel for my GenSet cradle.

Thanks a lot!

Dave.

 

[PinkRose]

Hello Dave,

Welcome to the Coffee Forums website.

We've had several members who have built their own coffee trucks or who have refurbished existing coffee trucks.
While you wait for a reply to your questions, if you do a search on this Forum (top right corner of your screen) you will find some threads where this topic was discussed along with some photos of the trucks as the building progressed.

Rose

 

[peterjschmidt]

Have you spoken with your local authorities?

 

[Allaband]

Hello, thanks for your ideas.

Pink Rose, I have read through many threads on coffee truck building but have not found the information I'm looking for.

Peterjschmidt, who are the local authorities? Who should I speak to?

 

[PinkRose]

Hello, thanks for your ideas.

Pink Rose, I have read through many threads on coffee truck building but have not found the information I'm looking for.

Peterjschmidt, who are the local authorities? Who should I speak to?

I remember reading discussions about generators for coffee trucks as well as information about local laws, sanitation, etc. I don't have time to explore today, and I'm assuming you've already read through the threads and didn't find the answers to your questions.

Maybe if you start new threads and ask specific questions, (one question per thread) you'll have a better chance of getting people's attention.

Rose

 

[sidg]

A couple things you should probably be aware of.
If you haven't gotten the codes from your local health department do that and set up a meeting. The health departments that I've worked with have always been very helpful as they would rather you do it right the first time than send you back to do it over and have to reinspect later.
Some localities classify coffee trucks as low risk food servers and their requirements for food safety aren't as high as for a truck cooking burgers. Just beware that laws and regulations change and being mobile you might end up in a location that does require the same level of equipment etc. as the burger truck so plan accordingly. I would recommend meeting the food truck standards even if you "don't have to" in case you end up needing to later or end up selling it. It is going to be a lot easier to do it now than it is to retrofit it or miss out on opportunities.
Also get the biggest generator that is possible. I run a 12K generator an in the winter I still need to unplug a couple of things to be able to run the little foot heater that I use to keep my toes from freezing.
The health inspectors will look at the size of your water tanks (fresh and gray) and they know if they meet the right percentages so don't skimp or try to pull a fast one.
Ask away with specific questions as there are a couple of us here who hopefully can help.
Sid

 

[TheGreenJoe]

Hey Allaband,
This is a little late but I thought I would reply anyhow just in case anyone else is in need.

I'm permitted as a food truck. In my town we have a few different permits to have (prepackaged vs full service). I could have fallen under the prepackaged, but I didn't meet with the local health department first and so I built my truck out to a full service...my bad! Not a bad thing, because every now and then I'll find out an event doesn't have food and I'll capitalize on that... but I am happy I have the triple sink because it comes in handy for frappes...

Energy:
My generator is 8k running/10k starting generator. I have a breakdown of my electricity needs and how I would do it different on my blog (generator post: Here).

Water:
The bigger the better. I have 26 gallons and I often bring extra. If it wasn't for my flimsy axle, I would load more on the truck, but weight is a concern for me...

My generator is not attached, which for me is a double edge sword. On one side, I can use an extention cord to move my generator away from the truck and keep the noise/smoke to a minimum. But that also means I have to load and unload it every morning...

Hope it helps. If you have any other questions, check out the blog (www.greenjoecoffeetruck.com) or let me know...