Mobile Catering

3 Mobile Catering Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 7th, 2024

Imagine driving to the heart of an event, ready to serve bespoke culinary delights straight from your mobile kitchen. Mobile catering allows you to provide food and beverage services without the overhead of a traditional restaurant.

You bring your kitchen to weddings, corporate functions, festivals, and private parties, transforming every occasion with gourmet experiences. You'll need a well-equipped food truck or trailer, a keen sense of logistics, and a passion for cooking.

What makes mobile catering intriguing is its flexibility and scaling potential. You aren’t tied to a single location, which means your market reach is vast. Plus, you have the creative freedom to alter your menu for different events or seasonal specials.

Ready to embrace the challenge? With the right planning and execution, your mobile kitchen can become a sought-after culinary hotspot in any community.

In this list, you'll find real-world mobile catering success stories and very profitable examples of starting a mobile catering that makes money.

1. New York Food Truck Association ($2.4M/year)

Ben Goldberg, founder of the New York Food Truck Association, came up with the idea after realizing that the food truck events market in NYC was untapped. He pivoted his own food truck business to focus on events catering and corporate marketing, leveraging his industry expertise. Within the first year, the business did over $1 million in revenue with consistent 50%+ year-over-year growth.

How much money it makes: $2.4M/year
How much did it cost to start: $25K
How many people on the team: 5

How Starting The New York Food Truck Association Resulted In A $200K/Month Business

How a former food truck owner founded the successful New York Food Truck Association which generated over $1M in its first year of business, providing local vendors with high-margin ancillary revenue streams, and saw consistent growth of 50% YoY.

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2. Tap Truck USA ($360K/year)

Corbin and Taylor, childhood friends, came up with the idea for Tap Truck after combining their passion for craft beer and classic cars. They built their first truck together, named Bae, and launched the business in San Diego. Since then, Tap Truck has experienced significant growth, with annual sales doubling each year and expanding to 45 locations nationwide. They have plans to expand internationally as well.

How much money it makes: $360K/year
How much did it cost to start: $50K
How many people on the team: 8

How Two Friends Started A $30K/Month Business Selling Craft Beer From Vintage Trucks

Tap Truck, a mobile bar service that serves beer, wine, and cider from the side of classic trucks, has grown its family of locations from 3 to 45 in just four years, seeing year-on-year growth of double its San Diego sales, and is set to expand internationally.

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3. Elegante Catering ($240K/year)

Since the launch, Elegante Catering has focused on online marketing and SEO to attract and retain customers. The founder leveraged their previous experience in online marketing and utilized targeted blog posts and social media to drive traffic to their website. Additionally, they prioritized customer feedback and created menus based on customer preferences to ensure customer satisfaction and retention.

How much money it makes: $240K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 10

How I Found Success With A $20K/Month Catering Company After Starting Many Businesses

Elegante Catering founder, Nestor Nidome, details his journey from failed DJ business to a $20k/month catering company, emphasizing the importance of online marketing and customer feedback as key contributors to his success.

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Read by 8,957 founders