New food truck owner - trying to understand health inspections and daily paperwork
Hi everyone,
I’m in the early stages of planning to start a food truck business in the US, and before jumping in I’m trying to understand how food safety and inspections actually work in the real world.
I’d really appreciate hearing from experienced food truck owners.
A few questions:
How often do you get inspected by the health department?
What do inspectors usually focus on the most?
What are the most common reasons food trucks fail inspections?
What food safety records or logs do you keep on a daily basis? (Temperature logs, cleaning logs, cooking temperatures, etc.)
Do you keep everything on paper, in Excel, or use any software/app?
Which records are the most annoying or time-consuming to maintain?
Have you ever forgotten to complete a log and had problems during an inspection?
What documents do you always keep inside the truck?
If you operate in multiple cities or counties, does the paperwork or inspection process change?
If you could automate one part of food safety compliance, what would it be?
I genuinely want to understand how the business works before investing in a truck.
Any advice, lessons learned, or things you wish you had known before starting would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!