faq
Right now, standard lead times we are quoting is 5-6 months to arrive or 4-5 months if expedited for an additional +$1,900 expediting fee.
This is an average standard lead time for a custom made food trailer in the industry, with some American builders at 1+ year lead times.
Arete has the unique capability of producing large volumes in the 4-6 month lead times, so for those dealers or franchisors looking to have 3+ units, the lead time will stay the same no matter the volume.
Lead times include all travel times, and are estimates based on our most recent orders.
Our process for building your custom food trailer & vending carts are outlined below week by week.
Week 1 - Getting the food trailer Order Ready with floorplans, Supplies, Raw Materials, & Appliances.
Week 2 - Putting trailer into production, starting with the assembly of the concession Cart Chassis.
Week 3-4 - Finish of vending trailer frame and chassis.
Week 5-6 - Begin steel lining & insulation material. Finish up interior base, install non-slip floor. stainless steel interior & make cuts for appliances.
Week 6-7 - Stainless steel interior & make cuts for appliances.
Week 7-8 - Finish the exterior & Interior with Fiberglass shelling & base coat paint.
Week 8-10 - Finish up exterior paint, drop in sinks & appliances. Final electrical wiring.
Week 10-12 - Finish sealing, caulking, and touch ups. Cleaning. 30 point inspection for food trailer (Electrical outlets, connector tail lights, sinks, tires, chassis, hitch, sealed surfaces, appliance specs, breaker box) Begin shipping out.
Week 12-16 - Pending booking, arranging, loading, and Shipping your custom made vending trailer.
Upon loading and shipping, the ocean freight delivery time is 3-6 weeks to arrive to your designated port (3 weeks for west coast ports, 4-5 weeks for Houston port, 5-6 weeks for east coast ports).
Upon arrival at port, it takes 3-10 days for our brokers to arrange the pickup and delivery of our containers to our locally designated warehouse for unloading and assembly of your food trailer.
We provide shipping updates throughout the entire process, so you may be ready for the pickup or direct delivery of your food concession trailer.
Arete Food Trailers main offices are located in Rancho Cucamonga, California, USA
Our showroom address is by appointment only at 9360 Baseline Rd. Unit A, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91701
We have partner warehouse facilities across the United States in Portland, OR, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, Houston, TX, Savannah, GA, and Elizabeth, NJ.
In order to maintain our value pricing, our food trailers are produced at our own private factory in Hong Kong, made up to American standards, meeting all DOT, EPA, FDA, regulations, along with all electrical made according to American Wire Gauge standards.
Our appliances are sourced from various commercial appliance manufacturers in China.
*See our blog post about sourcing trailers from overseas.
We offer a 1 year Manufacturers Limited Warranty on your custom made food trailer & the appliances also come with their own 1-2 year warranty from the manufacturers. This is non-accidental warranty, so if anything is faulty out the box, we will ship out new appliances or compensate to cover the expense of repairs in your local.
All of our concession trailers are always delivered insured, so if any damages happen during any point of delivery, it is fully covered and fully insured to have repairs done in your local.
We can recommend financing institutions that our customers have used in the past for their custom food trailers. These include small business loans, commercial equipment leases, etc. Please check this link to see potential financing options.
We ship our food trailers anywhere in the U.S.A. all 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
We can also provide a custom shipping quote to any country in the world.
We have partner warehouse facilities across the United States in Portland, OR, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, Houston, TX, Savannah, GA, and Elizabeth, NJ.
We provide the following flat rate shipping rates to each of these ports based on size and local fees, with a direct to door shipping option as extra fee upon arrival, which is avg $2 per mile rate for tow on road, and $3 per mile for a flat bed.
All drivers we use for direct delivery are professional licensed and bonded hotshots.
7-8 ft Food Trailers West Coast - TBD $2-3 per mile (Tow on road-Flatbed) Major Port Cities (Houston TX, New York, NY, Savannah GA) - $1905
For smaller cities TBD $2-3 per mile (Tow on road-Flatbed) International Major Cities - TBD International Small Cities - Customer must arrange from Major city
Hawaiian Islands TBD current rate is at $2300 via Matson
Other Islands or Alaska TBD by customer
9-12 ft Food Trailers West Coast - TBD $2-3 per mile (Tow on road-Flatbed) Major Port Cities (Houston TX, New York, NY, Savannah GA) - $2055
For smaller cities TBD $2-3 per mile (Tow on road-Flatbed) International Major Cities - TBD International Small Cities - Customer must arrange from Major city
Hawaiian Islands TBD current rate is at $2600 via Matson
Other Islands or Alaska TBD by customer
13-16ft + Food Trailers West Coast - TBD $2-3 per mile (Tow on road-Flatbed) Major Port Cities (Houston TX, New York, NY, Savannah GA) - $2255
For smaller cities TBD $2-3 per mile (Tow on road-Flatbed) International Major Cities - TBD International Small Cities - Customer must arrange from Major city
Hawaiian Islands TBD current rate is at $2800 via Matson
Other Islands or Alaska TBD by customer
16ft + Food Trailers West Coast - TBD $2-3 per mile (Tow on road-Flatbed) Major Port Cities (Houston TX, New York, NY, Savannah GA) - $2505
For smaller cities TBD $2-3 per mile (Tow on road-Flatbed) International Major Cities - TBD International Small Cities - Customer must arrange from Major city
Hawaiian Islands TBD current rate is at $3050 via Matson
Other Islands or Alaska TBD by customer
The size you need for your food cart depends on a few factors;
1. The size of your operation: Some trailers fit 1-2 people, other can fit 5+ people inside, so thinking about how many folks you plan to have inside is step 1.
2. Appliances: Consider the number of appliances that will fit in a limited space of your food concession trailer. Our smallest 7 ft trailer will fit a 47" prep fridge under the front counter and 2 small cooking appliances on the back counter, with our stock 3 compartment sink and hand sink on the back towbar side. 7 ft trailers are a 1 person operation, while a 9-10 ft is a good size for 2 people, and an 11-12 ft trailer is enough space for 3 people, etc.
3. Your budget: The larger size of concession trailer will increase the price, which is why we give all of our prices upfront to allow proper budgeting.
4. Your food serving location: If you plan on vending in a mall or some street vending operations may sometimes have sizing constraints.
Considering these 4 factors will allow you to properly plan what size of food trailer is needed.
We pride ourselves in the easiest quote process available.
All prices for our food concession trailers and carts are given upfront at the following link on our website. Please visit this link for a custom quote form submitted directly to our sales team.
Our concession trailers & vending carts come stock with:
-A standard 3 compartment sink with drainboards, and separated hand sink. *Single or dual sink or no sink options are available
-Instantaneous electric tap water heater 120F, all plumbing, and stock 10 gallon fresh water with 3/4" hose inlet and 18 gallon waste tank with drainage valve under trailer
-Diamond pattern non-slip aluminum flooring
-304 stainless steel counters & shelving *Any custom cutouts for counters included
-Smooth white FRP "easy to wipe clean" wall panels
-2" towable Ball Mount with tow chains *DOT Approved
-Tail lights with 4 flat pin plug, turn signals & brake lights *DOT Approved
-13-14" Wheels & tires *DOT Approved
-LED light with light cover inside
-Full electrical system, a 30 or 50 amp subpanel w/ exterior plug (Nema L14-30P/L14-50P)
-110-120v Electrical outlets inside trailer
-Bill of sale, registered DOT vin #, HS7 form, Entry Summary, and the Electronic Certificate of origin needed to register with DMV
-Entry door with set of keys
-Exterior steel serving bench
**Appliances like fridges, AC, griddles, hood ventilation are all extra add on costs.
We ship our food trucks worldwide, each county's health code is unique and can vary based on the type of operation.
Our stock trailers meet most, if not all health code requirements across the US. In most situations, the only add ons your county may require are larger 30/45 gallon water tanks, and plexiglass window coverings.
If you may have your county health codes ready to send over when we provide you a quote for your trailer, then our team will read through your health codes to determine if anything further is required.
*We do not install Ansil fire suppression systems or propane lines. These can be done in your local with a licensed master plumber or another local contractor. We may help guide you on finding this upon your food trucks arrival.
**Due to the subjective nature of many county health inspectors, there is no guarantee that our trailers will pass your county or state health codes or regulations due to the variability of health inspectors in some states.
We have a strict policy to not work with any outside equipment or trailers, but if you tell us the dimensions of your exact appliances you are planning on installing, we will make a custom cutout in the food trailer countertops & power outlets for you to drop in anything of your own, free of charge.
We are a licensed manufacturer of these popular model of food trailers, our designs have been replicated by manufacturers around the world, but none have the original patent, & none have an American foreman on premises to guarantee USA approval on the road or allow passing through customs.
When sourcing an overseas builder, you must be aware of a few major keys;
1. Overseas builders may not know, nor care about meeting your county health codes or DOT regulations. Since 2020, US Customs and Border Protection have heavily increased their regulations, and have since been seizing any trailer or vehicle coming into the country from a company who is not licensed both foreign and domestic under NHTSA. Arete is licensed under NHTSA/DOT as both a foreign and domestic manufacturer.
2. They may not give you the entire cost of fees, tarrifs, shipping, or warehousing up-front. Arete provides all pricing and any estimated additional shipping fees upfront.
3. Also beware of no warranty and/or no legal contract for a 2nd or 3rd class company.
There are many cheap food trailers for sale from other manufacturers, but the factors mentioned above should be considered. Check out this Arete Blog article about the rising cases of fraud in this industry and how to avoid it.
We do payment in two equal deposits of 50%
1st deposit 50% is to be placed on waitlist and start production in 1-2 weeks .
From here, we will be updating you every month with photo updates and an updated ETA showing the progress of the build.
Once completed we will send over full photos showing the trailer as agreed upon. We do a 30 point quality inspection to make sure everything is in compliance with US regulations, safe to tow, and properly running for long periods of time. After we ship the trailer out to your designated port, we accept the final deposit and then guide you along with the pickup or delivery instructions.
Weight ranges between each model & are outlined on each vending trailer page, most are under 3000 lb & do not require brakes unless the trailer is more than 40% of your towing vehicle weight.
Some stock weights listed below:
7x5 ft Rounder is 992 lb
9x6ft Rounder is 1653 lb
13x6ft Rounder is 2292 lb
9x6ft Boxer is 2094 lb
13x6ft Boxer A2 is 2711 lb
16 & 18 ft Boxers are 3747 lb
9.8ft Streamliner 2755 lb
12.4ft Streamliner 3747 lb
16.4ft Streamliner 4960 lb
18.7ft Streamliner 5732 lb