10 Food Truck Maintenance Tips

Just as good marketing and customer service are critical when starting a food truck business, so is proper care of the equipment and vehicle. If you want to minimize unexpected downtime and avoid expensive repairs, this food truck maintenance guide lists 10 tips that’ll help keep your mobile eatery running properly.

Check Fluids

One of the most important parts of food truck maintenance is ensuring that critical engine fluids are at the proper levels. From motor oil and transmission fluid to engine coolant and wiper fluid, they all play a critical role in engine performance, so remember to check their levels on a consistent basis–at least weekly–and top them off if needed.

Rotate Tires

A food truck’s wheels are its literal foundation, so it’s important to keep them in good working order. If you want to improve their performance and extend their working life, remember to rotate your truck’s tires every 5,000 to 8,000 miles so they wear more evenly. In addition to regular rotation, checking the pressure is another simple maintenance task that’ll go a long way toward helping you get more out of your tires.

Maintain Equipment

Your food truck’s kitchen equipment is absolutely crucial to its business operations, so don’t skip routine maintenance tasks. Be sure to scrape the griddle and filter oil on a daily basis to remove impurities and enhance flavor, as well as clean filters and inspect seals every few months to improve cooking results and enhance energy efficiency. Even though preventative maintenance can be time consuming, its positive effect on quality, productivity and longevity more than makes up for the inconvenience. 

Optimize Technology

Although the vehicle motor and cooking equipment should be the focuses of a food truck maintenance plan, taking care of your business’s technological assets is important, too. Whether it’s installing POS system updates, charging the GPS device or updating your website, managing your tech tools on a consistent basis plays a big role behind the scenes in helping your mobile eatery collect customer payments, navigate city streets and attract new diners, all of which are crucial to your business’s success.

Clean Surfaces

Cleaning your food truck regularly can go a long way in preventing foodborne illness, improving food quality and boosting equipment performance. From daily tasks like wiping kitchen surfaces to monthly chores like cleaning the exhaust hood, there are a lot of things you can do to keep your mobile eatery safe, sanitary and efficient. If you’re worried about not remembering everything that needs to be done, following a food truck cleaning checklist can make completing your to-do list a lot easier.

Degrease Hood

According to HoodMart.com, food truck exhaust hoods perform two critical functions: maintaining air quality and preventing fire hazards by removing heat, steam, smoke and grease from the interior. This is sure to leave greasy residues inside the ventilation system, so be sure to clean the canopy, filters, ductwork and other parts of the system once a month, or more often if you make a lot of greasy dishes. 

Prevent Fires

Reviewing fire safety measures should be a part of any food truck maintenance checklist. Make sure your truck has at least one fire extinguisher and smoke detector, as well as a first aid kit. Since the thought of emergencies doesn't usually stay top of mind, it’s a good idea to periodically reeducate staff members on how to use the fire extinguishers, as well as how to turn off the gas and treat minor injuries–you never know when quick thinking can save the day.

Anticipate Inspections

Since food truck health inspections aren’t always announced ahead of time, it’s important to always follow local food safety guidelines. As explained by LegionFoodTrucks.com, labeling storage containers properly, setting refrigeration temperatures accurately, serving cooked foods promptly and organizing necessary paperwork diligently all go a long way in keeping your business ready for unplanned inspections.

Examine Connections

Potholes, cracks and ruts in city streets can take a toll on your food truck over time, loosening gas, water, electrical and other critical connections within both your equipment and your vehicle. When conducting a routine monthly equipment inspection, remember to check things like hoses on gas fryers and the water inlet on dishwashing sinks, along with battery, alternator and ignition connections in the truck’s engine. If you carry out these simple preventative maintenance tasks, you’ll greatly reduce the risk of unexpected breakdowns and malfunctions. 

Safeguard Propane

Even though propane is an inexpensive and efficient way to power your mobile eatery’s cooking equipment, handling it properly is crucial. That’s why propane supplier AmeriGas provides a list of food truck propane safety tips, such as having authorized technicians refill your tanks and inspect them for leaks regularly, along with training employees to recognize the smell of gas leaks. By staying aware of propane safety guidelines, you’ll greatly reduce the risk of gas leaks, the leading cause of food truck fires.