Request a Food Truck for Party, Special Event, or Catering
If you are interested in having a food truck serve at your party, wedding, or other special event, we can send out a “Food Truck Request” notice to all our members who are permitted to vend in your county. Food truck operators who are interested and available will then contact you directly. We charge $25 to send out these food truck requests. These fees are used to help fund our advocacy efforts on behalf of the mobile food industry in WA.
Timing: Most food truck operators will book themselves several weeks in advance, and some are even fully booked 2-3 months in advance. So, don’t expect a lot of food trucks to be available on short notice. Conversely, few food truck operators are willing to book themselves too far in advance (like 5-months or more in advance), especially during peak event season. The months of July and August are filled with large events opportunities for food trucks, so it can be especially challenging to find available vendors during these two very busy months.
Minimum Number of Customers - Each food truck will require a minimum of 60-customers. An event with only 100 attendees might only create 50-customers so please keep this in mind.
Minimum Sales Guarantee - Vending at a new, or unestablished, location can be risky for mobile food vendors. They need to accurately gauge how much food, supplies, and staff they will need each day. If they miscalculate, they'll lose money. If they prep and set-up for 100-customers, but only get 40-customers they will lose more money than they’ll make that day. A minimum sales guarantee (for example $1,000), means that if the vendor only gets $800/gross during the meal service, the venue host will cover the remaining $200. The type of cuisine will determine the minimum sales amount necessary for each food truck (ranging from $800 - $2,000). If you are unsure how much of a minimum sales guarantee to offer, you can just state your willingness to negotiate an amount.
Fees: The WA State Food Truck Association will not support any effort to overcharge food trucks to vend at an event. A small flat fee, or a small percentage fee (never both), is acceptable ONLY if the event is large enough to justify the fee. Venue hosts should be willing to offer a minimum sales guarantee if a vending fee will be charged.
Charging a vending fee will greatly reduce interest in your event. Keep in mind that 90% of the Food Truck Requests that we send out are not charging a fee.
Why? The food truck industry, like many others, was devastated by the Covid-19 crisis. Unfortunately, a lot of mobile food vendors went out of business permanently, and many of those who survived are still struggling to return to pre-Covid levels of business. Nationwide shortages of certain foods, restaurant supplies, and qualified labor, combined with skyrocketing costs across the board continue to negatively impact these hard-working small business owners. We are respectfully asking event hosts to keep all of this in mind when establishing event fees.
*There is always the option to simply hire the food truck to cater the event, which will eliminate any concerns about vending fees, the amount of food to prep, etc…
Charitable Events: Most food truck operators are very generous, and they strongly believe in supporting their local communities. However, keep in mind that food truck operators are frequently contacted by charitable organizations, and there is a limit on the amount of charitable work that they can do and still survive in a very competitive and low-margin industry. Some of the most popular food trucks will get these requests daily during the peak of the season and they simply can’t support every charitable cause, no matter how worthy. So, please don’t take it personally if food truck operators aren’t willing, or able, to support your specific charitable endeavor.
Location: It’s important to consider the appeal of the location where you’re asking food trucks to vend. Some food truck operators are willing to drive an hour or more to vend at a special event, but many are not willing to travel that far. Generally speaking, the further the event is from large urban areas, the fewer the number of food truck operators that will be interested in vending at the event. Urban areas can also be problematic if there are safety concerns about a specific part of town, especially when vending after dark. Food trucks can be very vulnerable to street crime, and many food truck operators are unwilling to risk themselves, or their staff, to vend at locations that they consider to be unsafe.
Laws, Regulations & Requirements: If you would like to make sure that your event and location are suitable for food truck vending see our Things You Need to Know Before Booking a Food Truck.
Event Types: We can send food truck request notices for one-time parties or special events, including 2-3 day long events, however, these food truck request notices are NOT to solicit ongoing vending at a location (example: a food truck every Wednesday).
Large Events: If your event will have over 300-attendees, AND you are planning to charge the food trucks a vending fee, your event must meet our Large Event Guidelines, see here.
Sundays & Holidays: Most food truck operators like to take a day or two off each week, and Sunday is probably the most common day off. Food truck operators will sometimes work on Sundays and holidays, but usually only for very large events. So, expect limited availability if you’re trying to book a truck on a Sunday or a holiday.
Availability & Interest: The WSFTA does NOT guarantee that a food truck will be available or interested in vending at your event. These are all fully independent business owners and they each make their own business decisions. We send out the Food Truck Requests (exactly as we receive them), in hopes of helping to pair a great event with a great food vendor, and that is the end of our involvement.
PLEASE do not contact us to ask why vendors are not responding to your event announcement. If you’ve followed ALL of the advice above, we’ll just have to assume that everyone is already booked on the day of your event.
Tip: The $25 fee is to submit the Food Truck Request once, each additional submittal will be an additional $25, so be sure to get all of the information correct the first time. The more details provided about your event, the better. It’s safe to assume that vendors will have other opportunities on the same day as your event, so make sure your event stands-out from the others. If you provide minimal information, you can expect minimal interest.
We will NOT send out these notices for out-of-state event planners or food truck booking services.
Step 1: Payment of $25
Step 2: Complete the request form
