CUSTOM PIZZA FOOD TRUCKS
Your choice of pizza has an effect on what the right truck is and your choice of truck has an effect on what the best fitting pizza is.
If you have a model in mind or even already purchased a classic truck, let’s not waste any time. Let us know what you’d like to build and we can get right to work making the quote and designs for you.
Still in need of advice? This should be the right page to read to the end. Although every pizza truck we build is a 100% custom unit built just for that specific customer, we display a few popular options to get the ball rolling in your mind.
Not sure if you want a food truck yet, and considering a trailer? We have options for pizza trailers too.
POPULAR PIZZA FOOD
TRUCK OPTIONS
TYPES OF PIZZA FOOD TRUCKS
AMERICAN PIZZA FOOD TRUCKS
Step vans were built for delivery. Little did the manufacturers imagine, they were also setting the standard for food trucks nationwide.
This is the most common food truck build option for a reason. The amount of space offered and the tall ceilings, coupled with their wide used availability from being put to use in any and every delivery service, makes for a lot of step vans out there.
Although step vans all look more or less the same, the variation is huge. Units range from 14ft to 30ft, and prices go from $50k for a decent, quality pre-owned truck conversion to $150k and up for a top-of-the-line, everything brand-new mobile pizzeria on wheels.
The most important budgeting question you need to ask yourself is if you really need a new van and why that matters. If your operation can live with a used truck you will earn back your investment that much faster.
BOX TRUCK OPTIONS FOR A PIZZA
FOOD TRUCK
Our favorite box truck is hands down the Mercedes Sprinter. But very little is German about pizza. An even more budget-friendly option and still pretty decent quality alternative is the real Italian Fiat Ducato box truck conversion.
You could even argue that Fiat is the best option for an Italian-American selling pizza. You can’t really put a price on patriotism or sell it as an extra topping. Still, it is a very on-message option for a pizza food truck that can really help your brand out.
Our Fiat box superstructure is made from sandwich panels that are 100% wood free and guaranteed to last 7 years or more. Just over 20 ft long in total, the truck is easy to maneuver and park anywhere, yet still equipped with a 15 by 8 box that allows a good-sized pizza operation.
The Fiat will accommodate any type of pizza operation and oven, offers ample workspace, dry and refrigerated storage space, and can be fitted out with stainless steel interiors or lacquered hardwood. Optional extra’s like a coffee machine or deep fryers can be fitted as well depending on the size of the chosen oven(s).
VINTAGE PIZZA FOOD TRUCKS
Although Karpatia offers a wide variety of vintage food trucks, we’ll convert anything (really, test us)! Our perennial vintage top seller is the Citroen type H van. As a pizza truck it has some evident limits. It is a comparatively small frame to use as the base for a food truck conversion in relation to modern step vans and box trucks, and the engine age will affect your operations.
For this reason the vintage type H food truck is more suited to vending pizza in a fixed spot and using a smaller oven. Any kind will still fit, but you have to keep it within reason. A great combination with the vintage truck look is a big, concrete cast tiled oven that everyone can look at when the hatches are open.
If you want more space, it can make sense to search for an extended van, a van with an extended wheelbase, or extend a regular size Citroen Type H van. This carries a cost but not an insurmountable one vs. the total budget needed to build a quality, vintage pizza food truck.
There are also alternatives. Equally vintage, retro, charming, and French is the Peugeot J7. Less popular and not as iconic, as classic as the Citroen, but just as well performing and optionally available in a long version, the J7 is priced up to 10% lower.
A vintage Italian option is a Piaggio Food Truck, and believe it or not those can actually support and carry quite a nice wood fired brick oven on the back without tipping over in a curve.
FOOD TRUCK PIZZA
OVEN CONSIDERATIONS
The food truck pizza oven is logically the most important part of a pizza truck and a choice that requires your full attention and extensive research. What kind of pizza are you making, where, for who, and why?
Although wedding guests and festival attendees will love a wood fired pizza trailer, many corporate and industrial sites will not be all that thrilled about an open fire on their premises (even if confined to your food truck). The same applies to gas fired ovens to a lighter degree. On the other hand, a good reason to want the oven on gas or wood and not electric is the jaw-dropping power consumption of an electric deck oven. 6.6kw per deck is low and that is for one single deck! For reference, 6.6kw is an amount of power that uses up one single inverter generator all by itself so be warned that electric pizza food trucks are power consuming beasts.
As deck ovens consume so much power, a solution can be to install those in your commissary or a different fixed brick and mortar point of sales where you pre-bake the pizza, simply refrigerating them on board to later reheat and finish cooking with a smaller convection oven on the truck that uses only half the amount of power.
Other considerations for your pizza business case are the weight the oven puts on the truck or trailer being in danger of putting you over the limit you can pull with your car or a state limit on total gross vehicle weight for your driving license. Those big, concrete cast ovens with classic Italian tiling are as sexy as they come but are also the heaviest option by far and you need to keep that in mind. Aside from the weight, the oven’s speed of cooking and roadworthiness (i.e. likeliness to crack under stress), is something to account for too.
BRICK OVEN PIZZA FOOD TRUCK
Many food truck operators think all brick oven pizza ovens are also wood fired – but no!
A brick oven can be powered on gas or electric too, so being dead set on having a brick oven pizza food truck does not mean being dead set on a wood fired pizza food truck.
WOOD FIRED PIZZA FOOD TRUCK
LEARN MORE →Neither is the other case true. Not all wood fired ovens are brick ovens.
Most wood fired ovens are cast concrete and some of the most popular wood fired pizza food truck ovens are cast iron or stainless steel.
There are literally hundreds of food truck builders.
so why karpatia?
Karpatia provides one of the best quality-to-value ratios in the industry. From 100% made in the USA to high end European classics and authentic conversions, we can do it all.
With Karpatia, you have an endless amount of possibilities. We will provide you with the best kitchen equipment and customizations such as full body wrap or painting. Working with us is fast and easy!
We also provide additional services to help you get started – from financing to food truck websites. We want to see you succeed, which is why we offer many options in hopes it will help your business be successful.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT PIZZA FOOD TRUCKS
Learn more in our knowledge center ►Containers go everywhere, and all units can always be shipped to the nearest port. We might not have a local forwarder in your country (yet) though, in which case we will find one together with you.
Of course! Karpatia has no real showroom, but we are always happy to host you at the workshop. You can make an appointment through our contact form and try before you buy. We operate out of Atlanta Georgia, at the MET business park (675 Metropolitan pkwy SW).
If you do it right – yes. Food trucks and concession trailers are some of the most profitable small businesses you can operate without very specialized skills.
It all depends on your product and the effort you put in to the business. Go out there and grind every day and you’ll be selling like hot cakes!
Prices for a pizza food truck conversion using good quality pre-owned base with substantial mileage start at $65k.
WHAT PIZZA FOOD TRUCK IS
RIGHT FOR YOU?
Click below to get a free quote and officially begin the process.