Looking to turn my Tacoma into a Food Truck

Hey Guys, Thanks for having me in the Tacoma World community.
I bought my 1995 Tacoma, in Bozeman, MT the year I graduated high school (in Thousand Oaks, CA) after working in Yellowstone National Park.
My Tacoma has been across country 9 times and has a little over 260,000 miles on it. I get asked if I want to sell my Tacoma, about 3 times a month. I've been holding on to it, because I'd eventually like to have it restored, however I'm not a "car guy"; I'm a Chef and catering business owner (and a Dead Head).
I'm looking for ideas on what I can do to have my truck restored and/or look into the process of having a custom, stand up camper shell put on it and turn it into a small food truck.
I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions.
Thanks!

 

Welcome Jeff!

I'm having a hard time picturing a tacoma as a food truck. Not saying it's a bad idea just seems a little... small. But what the heck do I know?
I say go for it. Maybe restore it and get a food trailer...

What's on the menu?

 

What's on the menu? Um.......Taco's?

 

Like this??




My vote would be to restore it and use it to pull a food trailer. That way you can disconnect it and still have your truck for adventures and day to day stuff.

 

I second this!

 

Put a Four Wheel Camper on there! We've always joked about creating a little menu and posting up in random towns as we travel. Or even as simple as selling just coffee at festivals or events.

You can get a shell model and build it up into multi-stove...whatever your needs are. We have a 2 burner stove and it rocks for our purposes.

Propane tanks to power the grill(s), solar to power everything else.

 

Towing something like this is a better option.

 

This is my vote. A taco serving taco's!

 

Tailgate BBQ?

 

You would pretty much never get permitted and certified in the us to do this. Food trucks are more heavily regulated than a restaurant. An ice cream truck maybe but nothing food is made in.

By the time you had a grill in the bed, no room to stand. Put in refrigeration, no room for a grill, put in prep area, no room for regtigeration, and put in a sanitation station, no prep area. So after spending your life savings you have a mobile hand wash station.

 

https://mobile-cuisine.com/off-the-...rucks-hot-dogs-from-a-1965-volkswagen-pickup/

 

Have you considered a trailer?

I'm a chef as well. I used to want to put a camper on my truck and pull a food trailer around the country and make simple solid food from whatever I could get my hands on locally. I'd go to events from the Kentucky Derby to the Super Bowl to Concerts, Ski Races to Mountain Biking Festivals. Along the way I'd maintain a travel review website and sell memoribilia. I could have guest chefs from where ever I was featured on my website and my food trailer.

My ultimate goal was to put my truck and trailer into a shipping container and sell my food and do my travel website thing in Europe and slowly make my way over the course of many years to South East Asia.

Then I started to look at the permitting...too much.