Karpatia's Custom Step Van Food Truck
Believe it or not, step vans were actually built for delivery and not food trucks. The reason step van food trucks leave the competition in the dust in terms of numbers is straight forward- simple supply and demand, as a result of their universal popularity for delivery flooded the market and food truck operators took it from there.
WHY STEP VANS ARE THE MOST POPULAR FOOD TRUCK BUILD
A step van’s basic features include a large internal surface area, high ceilings, and overall decent engine reliability. This allows for fitting all the necessary food truck equipment and organizing it around an optimal workflow for the crew and product on virtually all foods and concepts.
If you are a new US based food truck entrepreneur, these all-American units are one of your best bets. They are so flexible the can be used for a wide variety of popular use cases, from custom taco trucks, to coffee trucks, pizza trucks, ice cream trucks and more!
Of course, food truck is often a blanket term that covers other use cases like flower trucks and experiential builds. The Step Van is an exceptional base unit for those too! Case in point is a brand activation truck we custom built for Catan’s Sheepy Step Van Project.
All the practicality above adds up, and don’t forget one of the hidden advantages is that this is what the consumer imagines in their mind when they hear the word food truck, not a trailer.
Our Custom Step Van Food Truck Solutions
Old Step Van Conversions
The most popular and budget-friendly path into step van ownership. Best suited to entrepreneurs with a proven concept who want to maximize starting capital without sacrificing quality of build.LEARN MORE →The Trailer Step Van Option
It sounds unconventional, but it works. All the iconic step van look and appeal — built as a fully towable trailer. The best of both worlds for customers who want that classic silhouette with flexibility of a trailer setup.LEARN MORE →New Step Van Conversions
Same Karpatia craftsmanship but using all-new materials and a purpose-built van as the base. For operators ready to go all-in, this is a professional, fully-specced build with zero compromise from the ground up.LEARN MORE →
TYPES OF STEP VAN FOOD TRUCKS
STEP VAN FOOD TRUCK CONVERSIONS
You found a newly used vehicle or want us to source it for you, and do the conversion? Can do! We hunt the listings together so you always have a 100% transparent up front purchase price of the vehicle before conversion.
Not only that but having us tag along or source your vehicle takes some of the risk out of buying used. We then do a quote & cap or work in budgeted installments and can help you secure financing if necessary.
Yes, older vans have a risk of breaking down and missing your concession for a few days or worse, booked catering events. This is a real risk but then again so is a week of rain or any personal illness.
Preventing this particular risk has a price tag. New step vans are $75k for the most budget friendly find we know how to source. That figure is without any food truck conversion work, appliance, and wrapping.
Most food truck owners without a proven concept and the capital to go for a $160k to $200k fully kitted out new step van, are going to have to weigh the opportunity cost and the higher resale value of a new van vs. lower capex for a used unit. They’ll find that the balance comes up in favor of the used model.
RETROFIT AND REFURBISH EXISTING FOOD TRUCK
As so many food trucks are step vans, there is a decent chance of finding one out there pre-converted for your needs. You are, after all, not the first person to sell taco’s or ice cream from a food truck.
Buying a used step van and converting it into a food truck has very clear pro’s and cons. The biggest advantage of taking over a running food truck business, or at least their already converted food truck, is that it can get you started a lot faster.
Cost can be an advantage but not always. Not every builder does a top job and some solutions are hacked together in a way where undoing that work will be more cumbersome than converting a used van.
For this reason, you should always have us check how recent the license and inspection of a given step van food truck are, and whether anything has been modified since. Keep in mind also that one state or county health department is not the ultimate authority, with a frequent issue being things that fly in the Midwest requiring substantial and costly extra work to be up to code in a major coastal metro.
Equipment is not always maintained to standards and many sellers price their inventory unrealistically high. Bargains certainly exist though and being patient and persistent will pay off.
Lastly, sourcing decent used food trucks is more challenging than sourcing decent used step vans. You are generally faced with a choice between overpaying a sizable commission on used vending or slogging it out in various Facebook groups with irregular supply. Karpatia tries to remedy this by keeping a current inventory of quality used step vans for you to choose from.
STEP VAN TRAILER
The idea is as crazy as it sounds. Why not make a trailer that looks like a step van? Our VW T1 Food Trucks are very popular models for export to the US as a vintage restoration, replica, or European quality “new vintage” model as the originals are not widely available in the US.
On the flip-side, step van trailers are their cross-atlantic complementary counterpart. Widespread in the USA yet hard to come by and relatively expensive in the EU, customers looking for that American food truck style of a step van food truck could be well serviced by opting for the trailer instead.
Our converted step van trailer comes in any customizable color and size starting at 13ft (4m), has a CE certified trailer chassis, and can be pulled with a regular license. Outfitting is possible to any standard trailer configuration. And, of course, the model is available to US- and Canada based customers too with a NHTSA/DOT compliant version instead of a CE-certified chassis.
BRAND NEW STEP VAN FOOD
TRUCK CONVERSIONS
Made using brand new step vans, our premium step van is a professional beast of a truck with top of the line purpose built vans as the base.
All Karpatia craftsmanship and materials are top notch – in other words, we know how to convert a step van. This is no different from our retrofitting where we use the same design teams and work crew as new builds.
All the materials on this unit are new, meaning we can use innovations like cast vinyl flooring instead of doing up your diamond plate, put in that new automatic smoker or ventilation instead of performing maintenance on the old one, etc., making an altogether epic build.
DOES IT MATTER WHAT BRAND I USE FOR
A STEP VAN FOOD TRUCK CONVERSION?
With so many options to choose from Freightliner, Workhorse, Ford, GMC, Chevrolet, Morgan Olson, plus about half a dozen extra if you go vintage, it can be hard to see the forest for the trees. What do we advise or how do you decide?
In our professional opinion there is no great material effect of the brand and type or model of a step van food truck on the success chances, operating, and maintenance costs or other key business drivers for a food truck entrepreneur. Older models break down and require maintenance at statistically similar rates.
Picking the right step van is therefore a pragmatic and practical decision of what is available, nearby, and in good working condition. Converting an older step van in Mexico is a lot cheaper if the original is for sale in Texas and not Seattle, even if you are going to operate it as a food truck in WA. Higher-end intensive revisions are possible too if you have time so the logistics of being able to fit the truck into the exact right production slot work into the equation.
For new trucks, if cost is no concern, we recommend the Morgan Olson Foundation Food Truck as it is partially pre-configured for upfitting to a food truck allowing us to save time and costs on your build without the quality suffering for it.
For customers outside the US looking for a high quality step van base we advise a Mercedes Vario, older p30 Chevy van or step van trailer replica.
If you are looking for something more unique but still want a step van – why not try a vintage step van instead?
frequently asked questions about step van trucks
Learn more in our knowledge center ►Only if the total combined gross vehicle weight is over 26,001 lbs.
Commercial Truck Trader, Craigslist, eBay – all of them offer a ton of listings at any given point in time. If you do not bring your own vehicle you can purchase through Karpatia – we use local (Elkhart county IN) dealerships to source decent price point base vehicles.
“It depends” is a terrible answer but you’re getting it anyway.
Most commonly the works for converting a used step van, or refurbishing a pre-owned food truck back to our standards, will run in the 70k-170k+ range depending on the setup, from simple retail builds to full kitchen, grill, and pizza oven buildouts, including labor and materials.
YMMV if you want a handmade Italian mosaic pizza oven, for instance, or your professional combi steamer oven needs a fix or you need a high-yield commercial deep-fryer.
It is very project-dependent but our mean (most commonly occurring time) conversion build is 8 weeks, the median timeframe is 6-10 weeks.
Builds average 500 hours of labor, total lead time is often 3-5 months including design time and waiting for parts and equipment.