Percy Plate is a web-based food cost calculator for food trucks, caterers, cottage food producers, and small restaurant owners. It lets you enter your ingredients and what you pay for them, build recipes, and instantly see the cost per serving and recommended sell price based on your target food cost percentage.

Yes. Percy Plate has a free plan that lets you create up to 10 ingredients and 5 recipes to calculate food cost. A paid subscription ($14.99/month or $119.99/year) unlocks unlimited ingredients and recipes plus inventory tracking, revenue reporting, menu engineering, Prime Cost, AI invoice scanning, FDA nutrition facts labels, FDA ingredient labels, and label printing.

How does Percy Plate calculate food cost?

You enter each ingredient, the unit you buy it in (lb, oz, gallon, etc.), and what you pay per unit. When you build a recipe, Percy Plate converts the recipe quantities to your purchase units, calculates the cost of each ingredient used, and divides by the number of servings to give you a cost per serving. It also shows the food cost percentage and a suggested sell price.

Can Percy Plate generate nutrition facts labels?

Yes. Percy Plate can look up nutrition data from the USDA FoodData Central database for each ingredient, then automatically calculate the per-serving nutrition for a recipe. It generates an FDA-format Nutrition Facts panel that can be printed directly to thermal labels (Brother, Dymo, Zebra) or Avery sheet labels in sizes 2x4 inch and 3.33x4 inch.

Can Percy Plate generate an ingredient list label?

Yes. Percy Plate generates an FDA-compliant ingredient label that lists ingredients by weight (heaviest first), automatically detects the top 9 FDA allergens, and includes your business name and net weight. Labels can be printed to thermal printers or Avery sheet labels.

What label printers work with Percy Plate?

Percy Plate supports thermal label printers including Brother QL series (DK-1202 2x4 inch labels), Dymo LabelWriter (30334 and similar), and Zebra desktop printers. It also supports Avery 5163 (2x4 inch) and Avery 5164 (3.33x4 inch) sheet labels for standard desktop printers.

Who is Percy Plate designed for?

Percy Plate is designed for small food business owners including food truck operators, cottage food producers, caterers, small restaurant owners, and anyone who sells homemade or prepared food and needs to track ingredient costs, price their menu, and produce product labels.

Does Percy Plate work on mobile?

Yes. Percy Plate is a web application that works on any device with a modern browser, including phones and tablets. You can look up ingredient costs, update recipe quantities, and check your food cost percentage from anywhere.

How do you calculate food cost percentage?

Food cost percentage = (ingredient cost per serving ÷ menu price) × 100. For example, if your ingredients cost $3.50 and you sell the dish for $12.00, your food cost percentage is 29.2%. Most food businesses target 28–35%. To set a price from a target, divide ingredient cost by your target: $3.50 ÷ 0.30 = $11.67 suggested price at 30% food cost.

What is a good food cost percentage for a small food business or bakery?

Most food businesses target a food cost percentage between 28% and 35%. Bakeries and cottage food producers often achieve lower food cost percentages (20–28%) because flour, sugar, and butter are inexpensive relative to retail prices. Full-service restaurants tend to run 30–35%. The right target depends on your labor costs, overhead, and pricing power in your market.

How do I calculate the cost per serving of a recipe?

Add up the ingredient cost for the full batch, then divide by the number of servings. For each ingredient, multiply the quantity used by the cost per unit (converting units as needed). For example: 8 oz flour at $0.89/lb = $0.89 ÷ 16 × 8 = $0.44. Sum all ingredient costs, then divide by servings. Percy Plate does this calculation automatically once you enter your ingredient prices and recipe quantities.

How does yield percentage affect recipe costing?

Yield percentage accounts for trim loss, cooking shrinkage, and waste. If you buy 1 lb of chicken but only 0.75 lb is usable after trimming, your yield is 75%. To get accurate food costs, divide the as-purchased cost by the yield percentage: $4.00/lb ÷ 0.75 = $5.33 per usable pound. Percy Plate lets you set a yield percentage (AP to EP) on any ingredient so your recipe costs reflect what you actually use.

What is the best recipe costing software for a small food business?

The best recipe costing software for a small food business depends on your needs. Percy Plate ($14.99/month) is built specifically for cottage food producers, food trucks, caterers, and small restaurants — it includes recipe costing, menu pricing, FDA ingredient labels, nutrition facts labels, inventory tracking, and revenue reporting. Competitors like meez start at $24/month and scale to $199/month. Square and Toast do not include recipe costing natively.

Is there free recipe costing software for home bakers or cottage food businesses?

Yes. Percy Plate has a free plan that includes recipe food cost calculation and menu pricing suggestions. The free plan lets you create up to 10 ingredients and 5 recipes. For unlimited recipes, FDA labels, nutrition facts, and inventory tracking, the paid plan is $14.99/month or $119.99/year. No credit card is required to start.

How do I price homemade baked goods to make a profit?

Start with your ingredient cost per batch, then divide by the number of units to get ingredient cost per item. Add packaging (boxes, bags, labels) as a per-unit cost. Then set a target food cost percentage — most cottage food bakers aim for 25–35% — and divide your total ingredient cost by that percentage to get a minimum price. For example: $0.85 ingredient cost per cookie ÷ 0.30 = $2.83 minimum price at 30% food cost. Factor in your time and overhead to ensure you are actually profitable, not just covering ingredients.

What are the labeling requirements for cottage food products?

Most states require cottage food labels to include: (1) the product name, (2) your name and home address, (3) a list of ingredients in descending order by weight, (4) a disclosure statement such as 'Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the state or local health department,' and (5) allergen declarations for any of the 9 major FDA allergens present. Some states also require net weight. Requirements vary by state — check your state's cottage food law for specifics. Nutrition Facts panels are generally not required for cottage food operations below a certain revenue threshold.

Do I need a nutrition facts label on my cottage food products?

Most cottage food producers are exempt from FDA Nutrition Facts label requirements under the small business exemption (fewer than 100 full-time employees and fewer than 100,000 units sold annually). However, you must still list ingredients in descending order by weight and declare all major allergens. Some states impose additional requirements. When in doubt, check your state's cottage food law and the FDA's small business labeling exemptions.

What allergens must I disclose on a homemade food label?

FDA requires disclosure of 9 major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. These must be declared on all food labels, including cottage food products — even if a full Nutrition Facts panel is not required. The standard format is a 'Contains:' statement after the ingredient list, for example: 'Contains: Wheat, Eggs, Milk.' Percy Plate detects all 9 allergens automatically from your ingredient names.

How do I create a nutrition facts label for homemade food?

To create a Nutrition Facts label for homemade food: (1) look up the nutrition data for each ingredient using the USDA FoodData Central database, (2) calculate the per-serving amounts for calories, fat, carbohydrates, protein, sodium, and other nutrients, (3) format the panel according to FDA guidelines with serving size, servings per container, and daily value percentages. Percy Plate automates this — it looks up USDA nutrition data for your ingredients, calculates per-serving totals, and generates a print-ready FDA-format Nutrition Facts label for thermal or sheet labels.

How do I list ingredients in the correct order on a food label?

FDA regulations require ingredients to be listed in descending order by weight — the ingredient present in the greatest amount by weight must appear first. For example, if your muffin contains more flour than sugar, flour must be listed first. Sub-ingredients (like those in a chocolate chip) must be listed in parentheses immediately after the component. Percy Plate sorts ingredients automatically by weight when generating your label.

What information is required on a homemade food product label?

A complete homemade food label generally requires: (1) the name of the food, (2) the net quantity (weight or count), (3) an ingredient list in descending order by weight, (4) allergen declarations for all 9 major FDA allergens, (5) your business name and address, and (6) for cottage food specifically, a state-required disclosure statement such as 'Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the state health department.' Nutrition Facts panels are usually optional for small cottage food producers below certain revenue thresholds.

How Much Do Food Trucks Make? Census Receipts and Operator Numbers, Compared

By Heidi Macomber · September 14, 2026

In June 2025, a Reddit user named Lokthrys posted in r/foodtrucks on behalf of herself and her mother. They wanted to open a coffee and dessert truck in suburban Dallas. Her mother believed it could bring in $10,000 a month. The daughter thought otherwise and asked operators what they actually make. The thread drew 69 comments, and the answers ranged from $5,000 months to $100,000 months.

That argument is worth settling with more than anecdotes. The U.S. Census Bureau collects actual receipts from food truck businesses (Census classifies them as mobile food services, NAICS code 722330), and the numbers cut the question in two: food trucks with paid employees averaged $342,000 in receipts per truck in 2022, while solo operators with no employees averaged around $27,000 a year across the broader mobile food category. Both numbers are real. They just describe two different businesses.

How Much Do Food Trucks Make a Year? The Census Answer

The Census Bureau's Statistics of U.S. Businesses surveys employers, meaning businesses with paid employees. In 2022, the most recent year with published receipts:

11,516 food truck firms operated 11,611 trucks
Together they took in $3.97 billion
That averages $342,000 in receipts per truck

Five years earlier, in 2017, the same count was 5,340 firms and $251,000 per truck. The industry roughly doubled its headcount while revenue per truck still rose 36 percent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022).

An independent operator survey reported almost exactly that number. FoodTruckProfit's 2026 survey of food truck owners found average annual revenue of $346,000 (FoodTruckProfit, 2026). A government census and an industry survey within $4,000 of each other is rare, and it makes $340,000 a solid planning number for an established, staffed truck.

The catch sits in the phrase "with paid employees." The Census Bureau counts businesses with no employees separately, and it does not break food trucks out in that file. The closest category, special food services, blends mobile food trucks with caterers and food service contractors. Across 381,492 such businesses in 2023, average receipts were $27,700 per business (U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, 2023). That average mixes serious solo trucks with hobby caterers, so treat it as a rough midpoint for the whole blended category, not as a typical solo truck's income. Still, the gap between $27,700 and $342,000 is the whole story: the money in this industry is on the employer side of the line.

How Much Do Food Trucks Make a Month? What Operators Reported

The Reddit thread that the mother and daughter started is public, and several operators shared real monthly figures. Here is the spread, next to the Census average:

Operator (2025 thread)	Monthly revenue	Setup
BBQ truck, one permanent spot	$100,000+	5 days a week, 4 people including the owner
Ohio burger truck, peak month	$47,000 to $50,000	Averages $35,000 over a 7-month season
Hawaii multi-truck operation	$25,000 low, $40,000 good	2 to 3 events a week per truck, staff at $18 an hour
12-year burger truck	$20,000+ good, under $5,000 bad	Took 12 to 18 months to build locations
Solo Thai food trailer	$8,000	One person, free parking, 3 menu items
Coffee truck, 12 years in	$10,000+ some months	Took over 5 years to reach that level

Put in monthly terms, the Census average of $342,000 a year works out to $28,500 a month in receipts. The Hawaii operator and the Ohio burger truck sit right around it. The $100,000 a month BBQ truck runs nearly four times the average, and its owner said so plainly: "We're pretty much at the top. Yours will very likely not do that much."

At the bottom, the Thai trailer shows what the best-case solo looks like. It grosses $8,000 a month and the owner takes home $6,000 of it, a 75 percent share, because he pays no rent (he parks free at a nonprofit next to warehouse workers), has three menu items, and employs no one. He also told the thread he cannot afford to hire anyone. That is the trade the Census data predicts: solo operators keep a bigger share of each dollar but bring in less total revenue, and hiring staff reverses the trade.

Revenue Is Not Profit, and the Margin Spread Is Wide

The most repeated line in the thread came from operator Ivoted4K: "10k in sales? Easy peasy. 10k in profits is another thing."

The numbers back that up:

The $100,000 a month BBQ operator estimated his profit at "something like" $30,000 a month when asked, roughly 30 percent of sales, and that is a top performer with scale.
The Hawaii operator said ingredient costs "have gone through the roof" and his monthly take has fallen even as revenue held.
The Thai trailer's 75 percent take-home share exists only because his two biggest costs, rent and wages, are zero.

Food cost benchmarks for trucks run 25 to 35 percent of sales before labor, insurance, fuel, permits, and the truck payment. A truck doing the Census average of $28,500 a month with typical costs often nets somewhere between $3,000 and $8,500 for its owner, and the owner may be working 60 hours a week for it. If you want to run your own numbers instead of borrowing someone else's, our food truck food cost benchmark guide and prime cost explainer walk through the math line by line.

The Hiring Ladder: Each Step Roughly Doubles Revenue

The Census data groups employer firms by headcount, and the pattern is hard to miss:

Firm size	Share of firms	Average receipts per firm
Fewer than 5 employees	80.5 percent	$200,000
5 to 9 employees	11.6 percent	$548,000
10 to 19 employees	5.3 percent	$1,016,000
20 to 99 employees	2.3 percent	$2,276,000

Four out of five food truck firms never hire past four people. The ones that do roughly double revenue at each step. This is the mechanical answer to "can I quit my day job": quitting becomes realistic not when your truck has a good month, but when your bookings support payroll, because payroll is what separates the $200,000 firms from the $548,000 firms.

How Long Before a Truck Replaces a Salary?

Every operator in the thread who shared big numbers also shared a timeline, and none of them were short:

The 12-year burger truck: 12 to 18 months to build the right locations and clientele.
The coffee truck: "over 5 years" to reach regular $10,000 months.
The Ohio burger truck: "$20k months were average in our early years" before 2020, then the jump.
The BBQ operator at $100,000 a month cooked everything himself for 7 years before letting an employee work the smoker.

The consistent advice from the thread, repeated by operators with no stake in the outcome: keep the day job, work the truck on weekends, and build private events first.

Events Beat Street Sales, Say the Operators Who Tried Both

Four separate operators named the same revenue source without prompting: catering and private events. The Hawaii operation runs on 2 to 3 events per week per truck. The 12-year operator said "the real money will be in corporate and private events." A dessert truck owner wrote that event days are her biggest revenue days, ahead of farmers markets and marathons. The FoodTruckProfit survey found the same thing at scale, with owners who diversified into catering and brewery or office park partnerships calling those channels their most reliable weekly revenue (FoodTruckProfit, 2026).

One coffee operator shared a tactic worth stealing: find out when nearby businesses run their fire alarm drills and park by the assembly point, because the entire company walks outside and waits.

Where You Operate Changes the Math by Up to 2.4x

Census state-level receipts for 2022 show how wide the geography gap runs. Among states with at least 100 employer trucks:

Highest revenue per truck: Oklahoma at $515,000, California at $514,000, Hawaii at $467,000, New York at $423,000
Lowest: Wisconsin at $211,000, Arkansas at $212,000, Missouri at $232,000

The best state out-earns the worst by 2.4 to 1. If you are choosing where to launch, your state's ceiling matters as much as your menu.

So, Was the Mother Right About $10,000 a Month?

Both of them, partially, which is what the data says about most food truck dreams.

The daughter's skepticism fits the startup math. Year one revenue for a new solo truck commonly lands well under $10,000 a month, and the thread's ramp times run 12 months to 5 years. Startup costs average $109,500 for a new truck and $46,800 for a used one (FoodTruckProfit, 2026), so early revenue mostly services debt. Dessert-only trucks in mid-size cities were specifically called out as struggling to reach $10,000 unless paired with a food truck or event calendar.

The mother's math fits the mature business. $10,000 a month is $120,000 a year, about a third of the Census average for a staffed truck. As the coffee operator put it: 100 drinks a day at $6 each, 25 days a month, is $15,000. The question is whether a location exists that sells 100 drinks a day, and how many years it takes to find it. The daughter estimated her suburban Dallas spot at 20 to 30 customers a day. At that volume, the truck is a good side business and a poor salary replacement.

The decision rule the numbers support: quit the day job when private event bookings alone cover your salary for two consecutive quarters, not when street sales have one good month.

FAQ

How much does a food truck make per month?

Staffed food trucks averaged $342,000 a year in 2022 receipts, about $28,500 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). Solo operators with no employees averaged far less, around $27,700 a year across the blended mobile food and catering category. Operator reports from a 2025 industry thread ranged from under $5,000 in slow months to over $100,000 for a top BBQ operation.

Can a food truck make $10,000 a month?

Yes. $120,000 a year is roughly one third of the Census average for employer trucks, so established trucks clear it routinely. New trucks usually do not. Operators in the 2025 thread reported needing 12 months to 5 years before $10,000 months became regular.

What is the average food truck profit margin?

Profit varies more than revenue. A top operator in the 2025 thread estimated about 30 percent profit on $100,000 months. A solo operator with free parking and no employees reported a 75 percent take-home share. Typical planning ranges run 10 to 25 percent after food costs of 25 to 35 percent, labor, fuel, permits, and the truck payment.

How long does it take for a food truck to become profitable?

In a 2026 industry survey, more than 60 percent of owners reported reaching profitability in their first year (FoodTruckProfit, 2026). Profitability is not the same as replacing a salary. Operators reported needing 12 to 18 months to build locations and clientele, and up to 5 years to reach consistent $10,000 revenue months.

Do food trucks make more money at events or on the street?

Events, according to operators who do both. Catering, corporate events, breweries, and festivals were named the most reliable revenue source both in the 2026 operator survey and by multiple operators in the 2025 Reddit thread. Street and commute locations provide the weekday base, and one operator targets office fire drill assemblies specifically.

Which state has the highest food truck revenue per truck?

Oklahoma, at $515,000 per employer truck in 2022, narrowly ahead of California at $514,000 and Hawaii at $467,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). The lowest among states with at least 100 trucks was Wisconsin at $211,000.

Is a coffee truck profitable?

Coffee trucks can be profitable, but operators describe a ceiling: customers pay $5 to $7 for coffee against $15 to $20 for a BBQ plate, so matching a food truck's revenue means selling several times the volume, with refrigerated dairy storage and rising bean costs. One 12-year coffee truck operator reported $10,000+ months after more than 5 years of building locations.

Know your margin before you book the festival. Run your ingredient costs and portion prices through Percy Plate's free food cost calculator so the truck's next $10,000 month is one you can keep.

Sources

U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses. (2022). "U.S. & states, 6-digit NAICS, 2022." Data file, NAICS 722330 Mobile Food Services. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb/tables/2022/us_state_6digitnaics_2022.txt
U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses. (2017). "U.S. & states, 6-digit NAICS, 2017." Data file, NAICS 722330. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb/datasets/2017/us_state_6digitnaics_2017.txt
U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics. (2023). "Historical datasets, U.S. summary." Data file, NAICS 7223. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/data/datasets.html
FoodTruckProfit. (2026). "Food Truck Statistics: Industry Revenue, Costs, and Profit Margins." Operator survey. https://www.foodtruckprofit.com/food-truck-statistics (survey methodology not published; figures used with that caveat)
r/foodtrucks. (2025). "How much do your food trucks pull in a month?" Reddit thread, 69 comments, accessed Sept 14, 2026. https://www.reddit.com/r/foodtrucks/comments/1l8h4ke/

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