What is a Food Truck Wrap?
A food truck wrap is essentially a huge vinyl sticker that covers and bonds to your truck’s body. The vinyl wraps are made with large format printers and are then installed carefully to fit your truck.
How is a Food Truck Wrap Applied?
Food truck wraps are applied in three phrases.
1. Creating a Food Truck Wrap Design.
The first step is designing a wrap for your food truck. If you already have an established brand design, you’ll want to use logo elements or brand styles and colors for your food truck design.
If you don’t yet have any kind of established design, no worries – many food truck wrap companies have a team of graphic designers who can help you. Part of this process also involves taking proper measurements for your food truck to ensure that your wrap will fit properly.
2. Production and Printing.
Your food truck wrap graphic is printed and laminated in order to protect the vinyl. The vinyl wrap needs to be laminated in order to protect the wrap against abrasions and UV rays which can fade and erode the wrap over time.
3. Wrap Installation.
Finally, the vinyl wrap must be applied to your food truck. While this may sound simple, it’s essential that you have specialized food truck wrap installers helping you.
Large food trucks can be quite complicated, with their odd-shaped parts and edges. Many wraps come in several pieces, with specials sections cut out to fit perfectly around fenders, rivets, and sometimes windows. Using professional, experienced wrap installers will result in a smooth, sleek looking wrap without bubbles or wrinkles.
Food Truck Wrap Cost
Food truck wraps can be fairly expensive, but it’s worth the high price tag. Having a unique and visually powerful food truck design is important for food truck branding and will catch the eyes of customers.
Food truck wraps can cost anywhere from $2,500 – $5,000 depending on the designers you hire, as well as the quality of the food truck wrap installers. Prices can also vary depending on the size and structure of the vehicle.
With protruding edges and rivets, it’s important to have quality designers and food truck wrap installers working with you to prevent any creases, bubbles, or misshapen application areas. Using low quality food truck wrap printers can results in sections that don’t line up properly, plus fading of peeling of the wrap – stick with only quality food truck wrap installers.
Sounds too pricey? There are some cheaper alternatives.
If a full wrap sounds too expensive, you may want to consider partial wraps, in which smaller sections of your truck are wrapped (rather than the entire truck).
Some food truck wrap companies also offer less expensive (but also less durable) vinyl materials, so talk over all your options with vendors if you’re concerned about price.
However, if you can afford to splurge on your food truck wrap, do it. Your food truck design and look is tremendously important. It creates brand buzz, attracts attention from individuals passing by (whether they eat or not), provides 24/7 advertising, and make a tremendous first impression on customers. It’s absolutley woth spending extra to ensure that you have an incredible food truck design and an experienced team to apply your wrap without a hitch.
Other Food Truck Wrap Common Questions
How long do food truck wraps last? Most vinyl wraps will last between 3-5 years.
Can food truck wraps be removed? Yes, it’s recommended that food truck wraps be removed at some point within their expected 3-5 year lifespan. Professionals can easily remove food truck wraps without leaving behind any adhesive residue or marks.
Do food truck wraps ruin the original paint? Food truck wraps should not affect your truck’s original paint job. The only situations in which wraps may damaged your truck’s paint is if the paint is in poor condition prior to having the wrap applied, in which case removing the wrap may take off paint.
6 Examples of Awesome Food Truck Wraps
To get your creative juices flowing, here are six examples of awesome food truck wraps!
Boston’s now retired Fugu Truck can still inspire us with its impressive food truck wrap. If you like what you see here, consider getting in touch with Wrap It Boston, the vehicle wrap company that did Fugu Truck’s wrap.
Wrap It Boston also did one of my favorite food truck wraps of all time, the Go Fish food truck skin.
Another impressive food truck skin worth checking out is the award-winning food truck design from Paris Creperie for their crepe food truck, the Eiffel Tourer!
Sweetery NYC is a sweet dessert food truck based out of New York City. They serve a variety of treats, from ice cream sandwiches and cupcakes to their unique macarella (two macaroons sandwiched around Nutella).
The colorful and stunning food truck wrap ensures that the Sweetery NYC truck gets the attention it deserves.
Dog Tags Grub specializes in Philly Cheesesteaks and other meats in Washington, DC. It’s run by veterans, with a one-of-a-kind food truck wrap to match their unique truck concept.
Where to Get a Food Truck Wrap
There are many companies all across the US that can assist you in designing, printing, and installing food truck skins. Here are a few that come highly recommended.
Canawrap
Canawrap is a vehicle wrap company stationed out of Canada. They’ve got solid experience, great designs, and a reliable team of professionals to help you out. Get quote info and check them out!
- Award Winning 3M Select Graphic Provider
- Pro Design Services. Canawrap can help with re-branding efforts, design custom logos, and help fine-tune your vision.
- Potential for Big Savings. With the current US -> Canadian exchange rate, you can save close to 20% on your wrap services, making for some pretty sweet savings.
Wrap Solutions
Wrap Solutions is a vehicle wrap company servicing the New England area.
Located: Woburn, Massachusetts. Providing food truck wraps for Boston food trucks and other surrounding areas.
- Past Clients Include: Tasty Burger, Orange Leaf, etc.
- 3M Preferred Graphics Installer
- Comes with 3M 3 Year Warranty
- Experienced Graphic Design Team
- 5 Star Review Rating on Yelp
Custom Vehicle Wraps
Custom Vehicle Wraps is stationed out of Northern California. While they offer free pickup and delivery to/from their installation facility, they also have mobile installers that can come and install food truck wraps where you are.
Locations: Oakland + San Francisco, CA, plus other cities in Bay Area of California.
- +20 Years Experience
- 3-5 Year Warranty
- Pro Food Truck Wrap Installers
Some examples of Customer Vehicle Wraps’ work:
Capital Wraps
Capital Wraps provides quality food truck wraps along with professional installation.
Locations: Main locations are in Washington DC, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. However, Capital Wraps will also send out installers to most states in the US.
- Experience doing vehicle wraps for NASCAR, ARCA, and other events
- 3M Performance Warranty (3 years)
- Use quality 3M materials
- Certified Vehicle Wrap Installers
- Designer Team. Capital Wraps has a team of talented designers who can help you create a custom concept for your truck, even if you don’t have any images or branding yet. Designers guide you through consultation, providing 3 different design options to choose from. This service is no added cost – it is included in the price of your food truck wrap.
Wrap One
Location: Wrap One services trucks in the Southern California area (LA, San Diego, etc).
- Experience doing wraps for clients such as: Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Budweiser, Disney, and more.
- 3M Guaranteed Vinyl & Laminate
- 3M Certified Wrap Installation
Examples of Wrap One’s work:
Food Truck Wrap Alternatives
If a food truck wrap doesn’t sound like a good fit or is out of your price range, try painting your food truck.
You won’t get the same quality as you would with a food truck skin wrap (unless you hire a professional artist), but you’ll be looking at half the cost. Painting your food truck usually costs between $1,000 – $3,000. We’d recommend hiring a professional painter at the very least (painting yourself will take time and likely won’t turn out as well as with a pro).
However, if you’re dead set on the DIY route, you can plan out a design, print it onto stencils, and have your hand at it.
Another alternative to a pricey full-body food truck wrap is to do a partial wrap – perhaps just your logo and contact info.
Do you have any advice regarding food truck wraps? What has been your experience? Share your thoughts in the comments!
thanks for share, great work done, thanks for update.
thanks for share, great work done.
All of these car wraps look great! Car wraps, especially on food trucks, can be costly upfront but they’re well-worth the investment and will last for years to come.
Truck Wrapping is really an art, Max Vehicle Wraps is one of the big name in New York City who doing this business very well. All these trucks looking very beautiful and doing the brand publicity very clearly.
Great post…! and great job too..! Thanks for sharing. Clean and elegant work on the food trucks mentioned above. amazing. Representing it’s brand boldly.
I’m surprised a lot of food truck wraps don’t add a phone number. I would always recommend adding a phone number, email, website, and the social media URL’s.
Nice advice!
I am a professional installer in the NC area, but travel nationwide. Contact me for a quote at [email protected].
I agree. Nice works but no phone numbers…