Food Truck Equipment Checklist Australia: The Complete 2026 Setup Guide
The Australian food truck industry has gone from a side hustle to a $400M+ category in under a decade — every Australian food truck operator now needs a discipline and a checklist that fixed-restaurant owners can largely avoid. with every capital city now running weekly markets and a healthy private-event circuit. But the operators making it past year two are not the ones with the loudest paint job — they are the ones who got the food truck equipment checklist Australia right before the keys arrived. Compact, mobile and AS/NZS-compliant is the rule; everything that fits a fixed kitchen will not necessarily fit a 6-metre van.
This guide walks through every category you need to budget for: cooking equipment, refrigeration, food prep, serving and display, power and gas systems, water systems, safety equipment, POS and technology, and the Australian regulations every mobile food vendor must satisfy. Total equipment outlay typically lands between $12,800 and $54,000 (excluding the vehicle itself), with budget estimates and a consolidated checklist at the end you can print and tick.
Cooking Equipment
Cooking equipment is the single biggest budget line and the first thing your menu shapes. A burrito truck, a Korean fried chicken truck and a Vietnamese banh-mi truck all need different rigs — but they share four constraints: compact footprint, robust under vibration, runs on either LPG or limited single-phase power, and stainless steel for daily wash-downs.
The core list:
- Benchtop griddle (electric or LPG) — 600 mm wide minimum for any burger / breakfast truck. Choose ribbed for marks, smooth for pancakes / smash burgers, dual-zone for both. Budget $700–$2,500.
- Benchtop deep fryer — single-tank twin-basket for chips and protein, twin-tank for separate allergy-safe oil. Compact deep frying equipment in the 8–14 L range fits most food truck galleys without crowding the prep bench. LPG models put out more power; electric is easier on amperage.
- Benchtop chargrill (Asado-style) — gas burners under cast-iron grates, the iconic "smoke and flame" item for street-food trucks.
- Benchtop convection oven — for baking, finishing, slow-roasting and warming, especially crucial for cookie / pastry / pizza trucks.
- Menu-specific items — wok burner with tilting cradle (Asian trucks), Belgian waffle iron, panini press, soft-serve machine, espresso machine.
Run every gas burner through a wet-chemical fire suppression hood if council requires one (many do for any LPG inside an enclosed van). Keep clear airspace around hot zones — a sweltering July market day in Brisbane is forgiving; a 42 °C Mildura summer day is not.
Refrigeration
Australian summers and a sealed metal box are a punishing test of any commercial fridge. Buy commercial-grade — never domestic — and oversize the cooling capacity by 25–30 percent on what a fixed restaurant would carry.
- Under bench fridge (one or two doors) — the workhorse. 600–900 mm wide units fit under most prep benches, hold 200–400 L. See under bench fridges for sizing rules.
- Under bench freezer — for proteins, soft serve mix, garnish ice. 200–300 L is enough for a single-day service.
- Display fridge or cake-display fridge — only if you sell drinks / desserts straight off the truck. Glass front, illuminated.
- Portable cooler / esky — for transit and overflow. A 60–100 L wheeled cooler with 24-hour ice retention is cheap insurance.
- Solar / battery cool box — a compressor-driven 12 V chiller that runs off the truck's house battery overnight, lifesaver for early-morning markets.
Set every commercial fridge to 1–4 °C and every freezer to –18 °C or below. AU-summer tip: park out of direct sun, run an afterlife "pre-cool" cycle the night before service, and keep the door-open count down — every door swing costs you 30 seconds of recovery time.
Food Prep
Most food truck builds assume a base kitchen — a council-approved fixed kitchen where you do high-risk prep (cutting raw meat, cooking proteins to be reheated, washing produce). The truck handles cooking-to-order, reheating and assembly only. Confirm your council's rule before you skip a base kitchen — many will not issue a mobile food licence without one.
The minimum prep kit on the truck:
- Stainless steel prep bench — 1.5–2 m long, with under-shelf storage. Centre island in the truck.
- Cutting boards — colour-coded by allergen / protein, replaced quarterly.
- Knives — chef's knife, paring knife, bread knife, boning knife, all magnetised to the wall, not loose in a drawer.
- Mixing bowls and prep containers — full set of GN (gastronorm) pans for fridge / hot-hold inserts.
- Hand tools — peelers, tongs, ladles, whisks, spatulas, wrapped in a roll.
Daily mise-en-place is what keeps service times under 4 minutes per ticket. A food truck that takes 8 minutes to plate loses regulars in three weeks.
Serving and Display
The serving window is your storefront. Get this wrong and the queue gets impatient before the food hits the bag.
- Serving window with a sliding flyscreen and a fold-out serving shelf for collecting orders.
- Takeaway containers — compostable, bento-style for plated items, paper bags for handhelds. Source from one supplier so the brand colour stays consistent.
- Menu board — chalkboard or printed vinyl, lit if you trade after dark. Keep it to 6–10 items, never more.
- Order systems — tablet-based POS at the window, kitchen display screen at the cook line, paper backup ticket roll for when the wifi drops.
A good rhythm: order in, ticket printed in 5 seconds, cook line acknowledges, food out in 3–6 minutes, customer name called once.
Power and Gas Systems
Power and gas are where most first-time food truck builds blow the budget. Get a licensed electrician and a licensed gas fitter on the build from day one.
- LPG bottle setup — twin 9 kg or twin 45 kg bottles, AS/NZS 1596-compliant cage with vented door, regulator and changeover valve. The cage must vent to outside the van and never share airspace with the cabin.
- Gas burner manifold — copper line in convoluted stainless conduit, every joint pressure-tested by the gas fitter and certified.
- Power source — generator, inverter + house battery + solar, or shore-power hook-up at fixed sites. Choose for the worst-case scenario.
Approximate power draw of typical food truck appliances:
| Appliance | Typical draw (W) |
|---|---|
| LED interior lights (full set) | 60–120 |
| Single benchtop griddle (electric) | 2,400–3,600 |
| Single benchtop deep fryer (electric) | 3,000–6,000 |
| Under bench fridge | 150–250 (compressor cycling) |
| Under bench freezer | 200–350 (compressor cycling) |
| Espresso machine (single group) | 1,800–3,000 |
| POS tablet + card reader | 30–60 |
| Ventilation fan | 100–200 |
A 6 kVA petrol generator handles a moderate menu; a 10–12 kVA diesel handles a heavy electric-cooking load.
Water Systems
Mobile food vendor regulations require both a fresh-water tank and a separate grey-water tank, with the grey-water capacity at least equal to the fresh.
- Fresh-water tank — minimum 60 L for a small operation, 100–150 L preferred. Food-grade plastic, fitted with an inspection port and a drain valve.
- Grey-water tank — captures dishwasher / handwash / sink discharge. Disposed at a council greywater dump point (never on the ground).
- Handwash basin — separate from the kitchen prep sink, with a foot-pedal mixer tap, soap dispenser and paper towel — non-negotiable for food licence approval.
- Prep / wash sinks — minimum two compartments, ideally three (wash, rinse, sanitise). See commercial kitchen sink requirements for the EPA-aligned standard.
- Hot water — LPG instantaneous unit or 12 V electric calorifier, 60 °C minimum at the tap for sanitising.
Re-fill the fresh tank only at potable taps; the grey tank gets dumped at a registered facility. Keep dump-point receipts on file — councils audit them.
Safety Equipment
The non-negotiables — every one of these is a council inspection item.
- Class F wet-chemical fire extinguisher within 1.5–2 m of every cooking appliance.
- Class E (CO₂) extinguisher near the electrical board.
- Fire blanket in a wall-mounted pouch beside the cooking line.
- Smoke alarm above the cabin, photoelectric type.
- First aid kit to AS/NZS 4501.4 standard, mounted at eye level near the door.
- Non-slip rubber mats on the floor where the cook stands — wet stainless steel is treacherous.
- Emergency exit — a second door or a pop-out hatch reachable from the cook position.
Pair this with annual fire safety induction training for every staff member; see our companion guide on commercial kitchen fire safety for the full AS 1851 servicing schedule.
POS and Technology
Modern food truck operators run leaner POS stacks than fixed restaurants. Tablet-first, cloud-based, no register needed.
- Card reader — Square, Tyro Mobile or Stripe Reader for tap-and-go payments. Australia is now ~95% cashless on street food.
- Mobile POS app — Square POS, Lightspeed, Kounta or similar. Inventory, sales reporting, day-end Z-report.
- Mobile internet — 4G hotspot with a backup SIM on a different carrier. Never assume venue wifi.
Total POS / tech outlay is usually under $1,500 — the smallest line on the budget.
Australian Mobile Food Vendor Regulations
Mobile food vendor regulations vary slightly by state and council, but every operator must satisfy a baseline of national requirements before trading.
- Food business registration — register with your local council under the Food Standards Code. Registration costs run $80–$400 depending on state and council.
- Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) certificate — at least one staff member on every shift must hold a current FSS, completed via an RTO-approved course. NSW, ACT and QLD require this; VIC and WA encourage it.
- Mobile vendor permit — issued by each council you trade in. A truck working five councils needs five permits, each with its own fee and conditions.
- Base kitchen approval — most councils insist on a fixed registered kitchen for high-risk prep. Inspected and certified annually.
- Vehicle requirements — gas-fitter certificate (AS/NZS 5601.1), electrical Compliance Certificate, weight under your driver's licence class, food-grade interior surfaces, vermin-proof seals.
- Insurance — public liability ($20M minimum), product liability, equipment cover and a goods-in-transit policy. Premiums run $1,500–$4,500 / year.
Search "mobile food vendor [your state]" for the state's primary food authority — NSW Food Authority, Department of Health VIC, Queensland Health, etc. — for the master rule sheet.
Consolidated Food Truck Equipment Checklist
Print this page and tick off as you commission each item.
Cooking equipment
- [ ] Benchtop griddle (electric or LPG)
- [ ] Benchtop deep fryer
- [ ] Benchtop chargrill or wok burner (menu dependent)
- [ ] Benchtop convection oven
- [ ] Menu-specific cooking item (waffle iron, panini press, soft-serve machine, espresso etc.)
Refrigeration
- [ ] Under bench fridge (1–2 doors)
- [ ] Under bench freezer
- [ ] Display fridge (if selling drinks / desserts)
- [ ] Portable cooler / wheeled esky
- [ ] 12 V battery cool box (overnight pre-cool)
Food prep
- [ ] Stainless steel prep bench (1.5–2 m)
- [ ] Colour-coded cutting boards
- [ ] Full knife set, magnetised wall mount
- [ ] GN pan set
- [ ] Hand-tool roll (peelers, ladles, tongs, spatulas, whisks)
Serving and display
- [ ] Serving window with flyscreen + fold-out shelf
- [ ] Takeaway containers (compostable)
- [ ] Menu board (chalkboard or vinyl, lit if night trade)
- [ ] POS tablet at window + KDS at cook line
Power and gas
- [ ] Twin LPG bottles in vented AS 1596 cage
- [ ] Gas burner manifold + certified joints
- [ ] Generator (6–12 kVA) OR inverter + battery + solar
- [ ] Distribution board with RCD + circuit breakers
Water systems
- [ ] Fresh water tank (60–150 L)
- [ ] Grey water tank (≥ fresh tank capacity)
- [ ] Handwash basin (foot-pedal mixer tap)
- [ ] Two- or three-compartment prep / wash sink
- [ ] Hot water unit (60 °C minimum)
Safety equipment
- [ ] Class F wet-chemical extinguisher
- [ ] Class E (CO₂) extinguisher
- [ ] Fire blanket in wall pouch
- [ ] Smoke alarm
- [ ] First aid kit (AS/NZS 4501.4)
- [ ] Non-slip floor mats
- [ ] Second emergency exit
POS / tech
- [ ] Tablet card reader (Square / Tyro / Stripe)
- [ ] Mobile POS app + KDS
- [ ] 4G hotspot + backup SIM
Regulations
- [ ] Council food business registration
- [ ] Food Safety Supervisor certificate (per shift)
- [ ] Mobile vendor permits (every trading council)
- [ ] Base kitchen approval
- [ ] AS/NZS 5601.1 gas certificate
- [ ] Electrical Compliance Certificate
- [ ] Public liability + product liability insurance
Budget Estimates
Total equipment outlay (vehicle excluded) for a typical Australian food truck build:
| Tier | Equipment outlay | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Entry-level | $12,800 – $22,000 | Single-cuisine concept, weekend markets, 1–2 staff |
| Mid-tier | $22,000 – $36,000 | Multi-cuisine menu, full week trading, generator + LPG, 2–3 staff |
| Premium | $36,000 – $54,000 | Heavy electric load, espresso programme, soft-serve, multi-product menu, 3–4 staff |
Add the vehicle ($35,000 – $90,000 used; $80,000 – $180,000 new) and the build / fit-out ($25,000 – $80,000) for the all-in figure. A realistic complete first-truck investment lands at $90,000 – $250,000 depending on tier — see our commercial kitchen setup cost guide for the broader cost framework that informs food truck budgeting.
Frequently Asked Questions — Food Truck Equipment Australia
What equipment is required to start a food truck in Australia?
At minimum: cooking equipment for your menu (griddle / fryer / chargrill / oven), commercial refrigeration (under bench fridge + freezer), prep bench and knives, a serving window, an LPG or generator power source, fresh and grey water tanks, a handwash basin and prep sinks, full safety kit (Class F + E extinguishers, fire blanket, smoke alarm, first aid), and a tablet POS with card reader. Most builds also need a council-approved base kitchen for high-risk prep.
How much does food truck equipment cost in Australia?
Equipment alone (excluding the vehicle) ranges from $12,800 for an entry-level single-concept truck to $54,000 for a premium multi-product build with a heavy electric load. Add $25,000–$80,000 for the fit-out and $35,000–$180,000 for the vehicle itself for the full picture.
Do I need a base kitchen for my food truck?
Almost always yes. Most Australian councils require a council-registered fixed kitchen for high-risk preparation (cutting raw meat, cooking proteins to be reheated, washing leafy produce). The truck then handles cooking-to-order, reheating and assembly only. Check your local council's mobile food vendor guide for the exact ruling.
What gas and electrical certifications does my food truck need?
An AS/NZS 5601.1 gas-fitter certificate covering every gas joint, regulator and bottle cage; an Electrical Compliance Certificate covering the distribution board, generator hookup and every fixed appliance; and a current LPG bottle test for each cylinder. Renew the gas certificate annually and the electrical at major changes.
How do I keep food cold in a food truck during summer?
Buy commercial-grade refrigeration sized 25–30% larger than the equivalent fixed-kitchen need; pre-cool the night before service; park out of direct sun; minimise door-open count; carry a 12 V battery cool box for overnight pre-cool of the next day's stock; and run a back-up portable esky for any product you cannot afford to lose if the compressor cycles off.
Final Word
A solid food truck equipment checklist is half the battle in starting a food truck business — the other half is matching every item to your menu, your local council's rule sheet, and the power and water profile of the sites you trade. Plan equipment around the menu, get every safety and compliance item on day one, and budget 15% contingency. A successful food truck business is built on a maintenance routine, food safety standards from day one, and reliable refrigeration units that survive the Australian summer.
Browse our full range of benchtop equipment — every item ships nationally with manufacturer warranty, and our team can help spec a complete food-truck cooking line to suit your menu, your power source and your council's compliance bar.
