American Food Truck Menu Template

You must consider certain factors before designing a menu for your American food truck. Among these are location, customer preferences, pricing, and quality of ingredients.

Location can affect your customer base and influence their meal preferences. For example, suppose your food truck is near a college campus. In that case, you should consider adding vegan and vegetarian options since a considerable percentage of the younger generation has recently been leaning towards these diet types. You also need to consider what foods your customers will most likely order. If you serve burgers, you might want your menu to include variations that cater to different customer preferences — toppings like bacon or speciality cheeses can make them more enticing.

Additionally, before customising any of the many American food truck free menu templates available on Menuzen, think about the pricing and quality of food. While ensuring competitive pricing is essential, you need to also account for the cost of ingredients and labour required to produce each dish. Lastly, strive to include only high-quality food on your menu so customers have a great experience visiting your truck. This is crucial to expanding your customer base since word of mouth travels faster when advertising foods.

There’s a seemingly endless list of food options popular among American food trucks. However, a few have proven to be more popular than others. The top three below are easy to make, universally loved, and can be adapted to suit any palate.

1. Philly Cheesesteak

Deemed to have originated from Philadelphia, this fast food has become a staple in American fast food trucks. To make a Philly cheesesteak, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add thinly sliced beef and cook until browned, then add sliced onions and bell peppers (optional) and cook until softened. Then, introduce sliced provolone and stir until melted. Serve the mixture on long hoagie rolls. Instead, you may top the meat with the provolone and heat until the cheese melts. You should consider taking some high-quality pictures, as they will come in handy whenever you decide to create an American food truck menu on Menuzen.

2. Hot Dog

Hot dogs are steamed/grilled sausages placed in between an incompletely sliced bun. To make this popular American street food, start by boiling or grilling the hot dogs. To do so, bring a pot of water to a boil, then carefully add the hot dogs. Cook for about 5 minutes or until heated through. To grill the hot dogs instead, grill them on medium-high heat. Cook for about 5–7 minutes, occasionally turning, until they’re heated through and have grill marks. Once sufficiently cooked, you can serve them on buns and add toppings of your choice, such as ketchup, mustard, relish, cheese, sauerkraut, etc.

3. Burrito

Considered to have roots in America and Mexico, this Tex-Mex fast food comprises a tortilla with some rich fillings. To make burritos, warm flour tortillas with your desired ingredients, such as cooked meat, beans, rice, vegetables, and cheese. Fold and roll the tortilla to form a tight burrito. Cook the burritos in a skillet or wrapped in foil in the oven or microwave and serve with toppings such as salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and cheese.

Here are the top three meal options that we consider to be the most authentic at an American food truck:

1. Falafel

Falafels are deep-fried spiced balls or patties comprising gaga beans or chickpeas. To make this famous street food, soak chickpeas overnight, then grind them with onion, garlic, spices and flour or breadcrumbs. Form the mixture into small balls or patties and fry in oil until golden brown. Serve on pita bread with vegetables and tahini sauce.

2. Poke

Poke is of Hawaiian origin and refers to diced, raw, marinated fish tossed over rice and fortified with umami flavour and vegetable toppings. To make poke, marinate fresh raw fish (such as tuna or salmon) in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar, then toss with additional ingredients such as green onions, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, and seaweed. Serve over sushi rice or bowl with toppings such as avocado, edamame, or seaweed salad. A perfectly-taken picture of this dish in a poke bowl would sit comfortably in your chosen American food truck menu design. In preparing poke, using fresh and high-quality raw fish is essential, as consuming raw or undercooked fish can cause food poisoning.

3. Tacos

This traditional Mexican fast food—similar to a burrito—is essentially a small tortilla wrapped around some filling. To make tacos, heat tortillas, fill them with cooked meat or other fillings of your choice, and top them with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and guacamole. Fold the tortilla in half, creating a taco shape and serve them hot. You can also make different types of tacos with various fillings and toppings, like fish tacos, chicken tacos, etc.

Focusing on flavour is crucial when customising your American food truck menu template. After all, it’s among what will set your food truck apart from the competition. A great way to do this is to use ingredients that offer distinctive flavours and tastes.

For barbecue, for example, you might use Memphis-style dry rubs (paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, and brown sugar) on your meats. On the other hand, you could use chilli peppers, cumin and oregano in your dishes for Tex-Mex flavours. Other popular spices that introduce flavours into American food truck meals include salt, lemon pepper, cajun, and jalapeno. Don't forget to serve a little something sweet for people to have for dessert! An ice cream would never go amiss.

If you’re looking for classic American comfort food, there’s no better option than barbecue. And thanks to Menuzen, it’s never been easier to customise American food truck menu templates to feature lip-smacking BBQ dishes.

When making your barbecue menu, think about what type of meats you want to offer and how you want to serve them. Popular options include ribs, pulled pork, brisket, chicken and hot dogs. Also, what sides do you want to offer? Consider classics like coleslaw and macaroni salad, or get creative by adding unique items like pickles, jalapeno poppers or grilled veggies.

When putting together your menu items, consider portion size and price points. Barbecue is typically a more expensive main course item, so offering smaller portions can be a great way to ensure that your customers don’t exceed their budget. Most importantly, don’t forget the sauce! Use Menuzen’s free menu templates’ customisation tools to showcase any sauces or rubs you offer, and you’ll undoubtedly have a winning BBQ combo.

If you're looking for American food truck menu design ideas, you should note that creating the right layout for your desired American food truck menu design is vital. Your design should be straightforward to look at. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should be professional-looking and highlight the different sections of your menu. Menuzen has plenty of design templates to help you hit the ground running.

That said, here are some tips for designing your perfect menu layout:

• Include images of the dishes, if possible. A picture of your foods can draw in customers and make them more likely to order a particular dish.
• Keep sections together and adequately formatted. Your customers should be able to easily differentiate between breakfast dishes, lunch/dinner dishes, dessert items, drinks, etc., so make sure to use bold fonts or different colours.
• Use white space liberally. Too much clutter on a page can be overwhelming and hard to navigate; to avoid this, consider introducing plenty of white space between each section or dish description.