If you’re wondering about any small business loans Texas offers, there are a few different options available. Here are four small business loans Texas food truck owners can apply for:

1). SBA Microloan Program

The SBA Microloan Program is a small business lending program that helps entrepreneurs with limited access to capital get the financing they need to start or grow their businesses. The program provides loans of up to $50,000, which can be used for various purposes, such as working capital, inventory, or equipment. It is administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), and loans are made by participating lenders, such as community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and non-profit organizations.

To be eligible for these loans, your business must:

• Be for-profit
• Have employed less than 500 people

2). Bank Term Loans

Bank-term loans are financing options that allow you to borrow money from a bank for a set period. The loan term can vary, typically between one and five years. This type of financing is often used for large purchases, such as food trucks.

When considering a bank term loan for your food truck business, remember a few things: You’ll need good credit to qualify. The interest rate on a bank loan can be higher than other types of financing, so you’ll need to be sure that you can afford the monthly payments. Shop around and compare rates from different lenders before choosing your lender. You can find the perfect loan for your business with a little research.

3). Business Lines of Credit

Business lines of credit loans are unsecured, meaning no collateral is required to secure the loan. The loan amount will also be based on the monthly sales of the food truck business. Their repayment terms are also flexible, and the interest rates are relatively low.

Another advantage of these loans is that you can use them for various purposes, such as buying new equipment, expanding the business, or even covering unexpected expenses. 

4). Merchant Cash Advances

For merchant cash advance loans, you don’t have to put up collateral to qualify. Instead, the lender will review your credit card sales to determine how much money you can borrow.

The great thing about merchant cash advance loans is that they’re easy to qualify for. Even if you have bad credit, you may still be able to get financing. And, because the loan is based on your credit card sales, there’s no need to make fixed monthly payments. Instead, the lender will automatically deduct a percentage of your daily credit card sales until the loan is paid off.

Starting Your Food Truck Business With Legion Food Trucks

After securing a small business loan in Texas, you can be on your way to owning your food truck and running a successful business. Legion Food Trucks can help. We design and build fully customized, cutting-edge food trucks for our customers from idea to completion. Each food truck that leaves our floor has passed every inspection to ensure a smooth business. Contact us now to let us help you. 

The post 4 Small Business Loans Texas Food Trucks Can Apply For appeared first on Legion Food Trucks.

Food truck financing can help you improve and expand your business and stand out from your competition. What are the best ways to use your food truck loan once you get it? Find out below what you can use food truck financing for.

Ways to Use Your Food Truck Financing

Ways you can use your food truck loan include:

Starting a Food Truck Business or Expanding

Starting a food truck business can cost you from $28,000 to $250,000. On the one side, this can be a relatively affordable figure compared to the actual costs of starting a traditional restaurant. 

On the other hand, accessing such funds can be challenging unless you have sufficient savings. The cost of acquiring business permits and purchasing a truck, ingredients, or machinery can be high for a starter. 

Fortunately, with food truck financing, you can avoid paying out-of-pocket and start your food truck business effortlessly. You can supplement the business loan with your savings to reduce the burden of financing down the line. 

You can also use food truck financing to open up a separate branch or truck. Having been in the food truck industry, you should know the financial strains of starting a food truck as you venture into expansion.

Truck Repair

As with any mechanical equipment, your food truck comprises functional moving parts susceptible to tear, wear, and breakdown. Has your food truck broken down recently? A food truck loan can help you cover the costs of truck repair and parts replacement to help you reduce downtime and resume operations. 

Upgrade Equipment

Kitchen equipment tends to lose functionality and value due to constant usage. While the cost of upgrading kitchen equipment can be high, their ROI makes the investment worth it. However, some kitchen equipment can be costly, depending on the brand, features, and type. With food truck financing, you can upgrade your food truck equipment and streamline your operations. 

Invest in Business Marketing

Marketing initiatives can increase your brand awareness and customer reach. Whether you want to outsource your marketing or hire an in-house marketer, you will need to invest in marketing initiatives. Food truck financing can help you run a strong marketing campaign. Investing in a good marketing agency can help you realize an impressive ROI and make the loan worthwhile. 

Expand Your Menu

A unique menu is an effective way to appeal to different customers. Conversely, a limited menu can also discourage away customers. With food truck financing, you can seek to increase your product offerings and stand out for fresh, unique menus. 

Hire New Staff

The more your food truck industry grows, the more staff you will need to keep up with the demand. Get a business loan to help you hire, recruit, and fairly compensate new staff. 

Get The Assistance You Need

Generally, food truck financing covers your operating costs, allowing you to provide value without unnecessary downtimes. Working with a food truck expert can help you avoid setbacks and maximize your business potential in the food industry.

At Legion Food Trucks, we can help you start a food truck industry and strategize your venture for success. Contact us to help you create a food truck business and use your food truck financing efficiently. 

The post What Can I Use Food Truck Financing For? appeared first on Legion Food Trucks.

A POS system has numerous benefits, which include tracking real-time data that helps create accurate business reports, saving time and thus improving customer service, and establishing your profit-loss statement, among others. Read on to learn how to quickly select the right POS system for your food truck business by identifying essential features, considerations, and best options.

What Is a Food Truck POS System?

A food truck Point-of-Sale (POS) system is typically software installed in a gadget or hardware. It is capable of processing transactions, accepting payments, generating receipts or invoices, etc. Modern POS systems are installed on tablets or gadgets with a touchscreen customer interface.

What Features Should a Food Truck POS System Have?

The POS system comprises various hardware and software components. For hardware components, it is essential to select the ones that can integrate innovative features that support future growth. The POS system hardware should also have a user-friendly interface and provide good flexibility and easy-to-read displays. 

Features of a POS System Hardware

Some of the basic hardware features of a POS System include:

• Barcode scanner
• Receipt printer
• Scale
• Kitchen/order printer
• Cash drawer
• Customer-facing display
• Card reader
• Network devices

Features of a POS System Software

A POS system software includes applications and programs that contain all the internal features. An ideal software easily integrates with the hardware to function in unison. Some of the main functions of the software are;

• Processing transactions
• Customer data management
• Sales reporting
• Inventory tracking
• Analytics

The main features of POS system software in the food truck business include:

• Inventory management
• E-receipts
• Payment processing
• Connect with other platforms or apps
• Payment processing

Top Food Truck POS Systems

Numerous POS systems are customized for particular industries or businesses. Each system comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is essential to carefully check the features of your selected POS system to ensure that they match your business needs. Some of the leading food truck business POS systems include:

1. TouchBistro. TouchBistro is a POS system customized for the food truck industry. The system boasts scalability and flexibility with in-depth functionality. It also has an easy-to-use interface; its main features include ordering, customer loyalty programs, and gift cards. On the downside, the system has automatic contract renewal, meaning that the company offers you a contract with no option to cancel.
2. Clover. Clover is designed for numerous businesses such as restaurants, professional services, and retail outlets. The main advantages of using the Clover POS system are that they have reasonable prices, and their hardware is well customized and efficient. However, Clover has no free options, and their billing can be hard to understand.
3. Square. Square is one of the most popular POS systems as it is easy to use and it is compatible with different operating systems, including iOS and android. You can download the application for free on their official website and enjoy numerous features, including payroll. The system may not be ideal for complex industries that require a more specialized approach.

Create Your Dream Food Truck with Legion

With the rapid growth in the food truck industry, it is essential to work with innovative tools like POS systems to meet the ever-evolving customer needs. At Legion Food Truck, we help customize food trucks to your exact needs and specifications using modern tools. Contact us today to learn more about our services.

The post Choosing the Right Food Truck Pos System appeared first on Legion Food Trucks.

This year, the market size by revenue currently stands at $1.2 billion. That translates to a 4.7% annual increase from the 2020s $1.1 billion. Granted, now is the best time to establish your niche in the mobile food catering industry by starting a food truck business.

How to Finance a Food Truck: Possible Financing Options

“How much will it cost me to finance a food truck?” There’s no direct answer to that question because food truck financing and loan requirements, and interest rates depend on various factors. This article will outline the different factors that can affect loan terms. 

Equipment Financing

Aspiring entrepreneurs can finance food-service truck equipment through loans or leases. It might be new or used equipment, such as kitchen appliances and utensils, and the loan allows you to acquire the necessary equipment without paying the total purchase amount. Instead, it covers the costs on hire purchase, which means spreading the costs over a fixed period, paid as fixed monthly installments. 

Equipment loans offset 80% of the total costs so that the borrower covers 20%, issued as a down payment. If you lease the equipment, you’ll pay the lender a regular amount over a fixed time to use the equipment. 

Financial institutions and online money lenders are possible sources for equipment loans and leases. However, they prefer working with seasoned food trucks proprietors with over two years of experience and at least $250,000 annual sales. Therefore, the loans favor businesses that want to update their existing equipment.

Microloans

Microloans are relatively more minor funding issued to underrepresented and minority markets, such as low-income businesses, female-run food-truck start-ups, low credit scores, and entrepreneurs with extended operation gaps. Many non-profit organizations, government-sponsored agencies, and private lenders offer microloans.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) loan is an example of government-funded loans and usually offers a maximum of $50,000. Borrowers can use the loan for wide-ranging purposes, from inventory and supplies purchases to equipment replacement and working capital. Businesses don’t apply directly to SBA, but they must do that through a microloan intermediary. 

Crowdfunding 

Crowdfunding means raising investment capital from the general public and providing campaigners with debt-free financing. Crowdfunding campaigns also offer entrepreneurs a chance to create a buzz about their food-service truck business. Examples of popular crowdfunding sites include GoFundMe and Kickstarter.

Most crowdfunding sites don’t have loan eligibility requirements like conventional financing options, such as experience, credit score, or annual revenue. The only costs you might incur are platform fees, a maximum of 5%, and online payment processing fees starting from 3%. One challenge people face when soliciting crowdfunds is making people believe in your business plan and why they should fund your business, which can usurp significant time.

Business Lines of Credit 

With business lines of credit, food truck owners can draw $ 1,000 to $ 1 million as working capital on an as-needed basis. That means, instead of getting a large lump sum at once, you’ll borrow it in various amounts to cover emergency or unexpected costs, and you pay back only that amount. Working capital loans in this financing option fetch an interest rate ranging from 8%-80%.

You can solicit money against business lines of credit from banks or online lenders. You, of course, must meet some requirements, including a minimum credit score of 650 and at least 12 months of working experience. If you take a secured line of credit, your lender will require you to list certain assets as collateral. 

Customize to Your Specific Needs

Do you have plans to start a food truck business? Finding a food truck customized to your specific needs within your budget is a significant challenge, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Contact Legion Food Trucks today, and get your dream food truck built from scratch backed by financing assistance.

The post How to Finance a Food Truck: The Costs appeared first on Legion Food Trucks.