How Do I Compare Food Truck Locations The Right Way?

Score each recurring stop on real results — sales, profit, and profit per hour — then adjust for travel, site fees, reliability, and customer fit. Comparing stops on one number like sales hides the weak ones. This tool weighs profit, reliability, revenue, and strategic value together so your small business routes by fact, not feel.

What Makes A Food Truck Location Profitable?

Profit is what's left after food, labor, travel, and any site fee or commission — measured against the hours the stop takes. A location is profitable when its profit per hour beats your other options, not just when it's busy. Fees, long drives, and slow service quietly turn strong sales into a weak day.

Why Can A Busy Location Still Be A Bad Stop?

A crowd isn't the same as profit. A busy stop can carry high site fees, a long drive, the wrong customers for your menu, or a slow line that caps sales. If profit per hour is low after all of that, the location is costing your small business time it could spend at a better stop.

When Should I Keep Testing A Location Versus Replacing It?

Keep testing when the data is thin or the stop is new but promising — a few more visits will tell you the truth. Replace when the scores are consistently weak on profit and reliability with no strategic reason to stay. This tool flags low-data stops as "test again" so you don't cut too soon or hold too long.

What Is The Difference Between A Visibility Stop And A Profit Stop?

A profit stop makes strong money for the hours it takes. A visibility stop builds brand awareness, social proof, or catering leads even if same-day cash is modest. Both can be worth keeping — but for different reasons. This tool labels each stop so you keep visibility stops on purpose, not by accident.

How Do I Build A Better Weekly Food Truck Route?

Rank your stops by overall score, assign the strongest to their best days, and space out long-drive stops so one day isn't brutal. Keep a backup for every weather- or signal-sensitive location. This tool drafts that weekly route and backup list for you from the scores you enter.

Small business food truck owner comparing recurring locations and weekly route options.

Food Trucks BizTool

Food Truck Location Scorecard & Route Planner

A tool for small business food truck owners to compare recurring locations using real operating results — so you can build a weekly route based on profit, reliability, and strategic value instead of guesswork.

See which locations generate visibility, revenue, profit, or future catering leads — because those are not always the same stop.

Start Scoring Locations See How This Tool Works

Start Here

Score Your Locations In This Order.

Add your recurring stops and the real results from recent visits.

Score travel, site friction, reliability, and customer fit.

Compare the route recommendations before deciding what to keep or replace.

You do not need perfect data. Start with your best recent averages and improve the scorecard over time.

Scoring Weights & Financial TargetsShow

Weights should total 100%. Financial targets define what a "good day" looks like for your business — every location is scored against them.

Profit weight (%)Reliability weight (%)Revenue weight (%)Strategic weight (%)

Weights total 100%.

Target sales / day ($)Target profit / day ($)Target profit / hour ($)

Location Setup & Results

List the stops you are actually choosing between, then enter the real averages from recent visits — not memory.

Location nameLocation typeRecurring dayService windowAvg sales / visit ($)Avg direct profit / visit ($)Avg ticket ($)Avg transactionsService hours (total)Data confidence

Travel & Site Costs

Travel time, mileage, parking, fees, and commission all reduce the real value of a location — count them against the stop.

Round-trip travel (min)Round-trip milesFuel / vehicle ($)Parking fee ($)Site fee ($)Commission (% of sales)Power fee ($)Other location cost ($)

Market, Fit & Reliability

Rate each factor 1–5 (higher is better). A busy stop can still be wrong for your menu, and a profitable stop you can't rely on isn't really in the route.

Foot TrafficDemand ConsistencyCustomer Fit For Your MenuCompetitive Edge HereWeather ProtectionPower AvailabilityCellular / POS ReliabilitySafety & LightingEase Of Entry & ExitEase Of SetupPermission / Permit CertaintySchedule ConsistencyBooking DependabilityBrand Visibility / ExposureCatering Lead PotentialRepeat-Booking PotentialSocial / Community BuzzPartnership Value

Strategic Notes

Some stops are worth more than the day's cash. If you're keeping a low-profit stop on purpose, write down why.

Why keep this despite weak profit? (optional)Notes

Compare All Locations

Location	Overall↓	Revenue	Profit	Reliability	Strategic	Value	Recommendation
Riverside Office Park Office park · Tue	85	81	98	86	58	Profit	Keep
Craft & Barrel Brewery Brewery / bar · Fri	82	92	81	69	88	Visibility	Keep
Downtown Saturday Market Recurring event space · Sat	63	83	60	50	58	Revenue	Renegotiate

Sort by any column. Score chips carry color, number, and word — never color alone.

Your Suggested Weekly Route

Each location is placed on its recurring day. Stops flagged "Replace" are excluded from the route board. Strongest score first when a day has more than one stop.

Calendar Timezone

PDF is BizHealth.ai branded. The .ics opens in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook as recurring weekly stops in your selected timezone.

Mon

—

Tue

Riverside Office Park

Profit · 85 · Keep

Wed

—

Thu

—

Fri

Craft & Barrel Brewery

Visibility · 82 · Keep

Sat

Downtown Saturday Market

Revenue · 63 · Renegotiate

Sun

—

Backups (Reliability ≥ 62)

Riverside Office Park · reliability 86
Craft & Barrel Brewery · reliability 69

Test Again

Nothing needs more testing.

Strategic Hold (Kept On Purpose)

No strategic-hold stops flagged.

Replace / Renegotiate First

Downtown Saturday Market · Renegotiate

💡 Do This / The Playbook

How To Evaluate Food Truck Locations With More Than Just Sales

Score profit per hour, not gross sales. A packed 6-hour market at $1,600 can lose to a quiet 3-hour office park at $900. Time is the cost that hides.
Charge every fee against the stop. Site fees, commissions, parking, power, fuel, and the long-drive tax all reduce a location's real value.
Rate reliability seriously. A stop you can't count on — weather, power, cell signal, permission — isn't really in the route.
Label the value type. Visibility, revenue, profit, and catering-lead stops aren't the same. Keep visibility stops on purpose, not by accident.

Cross-check the daily math for any close-call stop with the Daily Profit & Prime Cost Tracker.

⚠️ Watch Out / Red Flags

Warning Signs A Recurring Stop Is Hurting Your Route

Busy but broke. Strong ticket count, thin profit — usually fees, comps, or a long drive.

Great last summer. One good stretch is doing the work of a scorecard.

Constant weather scars. Every cancellation resets the month's margin.

POS drops. If half your sales are cash-only when signal fails, real demand is hidden.

Host churn. A stop with shaky permission risks the whole week, not just the day.

Wrong customers. Foot traffic that doesn't buy your menu is a location problem, not a marketing problem.

If two of these are true for the same stop, it's not a slump — it's the wrong stop. Evaluate a proposed replacement before committing with the Event & Location Profitability Analyzer.

🎯 Decide With Data / The Discipline

Make Route Decisions With Numbers, Not Emotion

Zero-Base The Week. Would you add this stop today with what you now know? If not, it doesn't get to stay by inertia.
Compare To The Next Best Option. Every kept stop is competing with the stronger stop you could book instead.
Anchor The Route On Reliability. Build the week around your two most dependable stops — everything else fills around them.
Renegotiate Before Replacing. A fee cut, an earlier window, or a smaller commission can flip a Renegotiate into a Keep.

Straight Talk

Loyalty to a first location, a host you like, or a stop that was great last summer are real feelings — and poor routing reasons. Keep the emotion, and let the scorecard decide.

Go Deeper

Turn A Smarter Route Into A Stronger Food Truck Business.

Costing, pricing, profitability, cash flow, catering, and now location strategy — built for small business food truck owners.

Explore The Food Trucks Guide Hub Turn Catering-Lead Stops Into Booked Events

Food Truck Location & Route — FAQs

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