Custom Food Trailers & Trucks/California

YOUR BUSINESS.BUILT YOUR WAY.

Custom food trailers and food trucks built around your vision. Designed around how you actually cook and serve — then built to the requirements of the place you plan to operate.

Build Your Trailer Explore Models

Thinking about starting a food trailer business?

Sizes: 5models
Build target: 45days
Layouts: Customevery build
Market: CAexpanding

The difference

WE DON'T JUST BUILD FOOD TRAILERS.WE HELP BUILD BUSINESSES.

Anyone can sell you a box on wheels. The hard part is knowing what your menu actually demands of the build — and being the one accountable when it has to work at 200 tickets on a Saturday.

We start with the menu

A birria build needs stock-pot capacity a burger build never will. That decides the size, the layout and the ventilation.

We build the whole thing

Frame, skin, systems, kitchen, finish and wrap — fabricated in one shop, by the people accountable for it.

We build it for your city

Your build is engineered against the requirements of the jurisdiction where you told us you'll operate. That's the job, not an upsell.

In the shop

Steel first.
Everything else follows.

Frame, skin, systems and kitchen — fabricated in one shop by the people who are accountable for how it holds up.

How We Build

Capabilities

Custom is not a
marketing word here.

Six things we control end to end, because outsourcing any one of them is where builds go wrong.

Custom Fabrication

Every trailer is fabricated for the business it is built for. We do not sell inventory off a lot and call it custom.

Your Layout, Your Equipment

You choose the equipment. We design the workflow around how you actually cook and serve.

Built to Your Jurisdiction

We take responsibility for building your trailer to meet the applicable city, county and state requirements where you plan to operate.

Branding & Wraps

Logo, color, full wrap and signage — designed as one identity, not bolted on afterward.

Financing Available

Financing available for qualified buyers through our provider. Terms are determined by the provider.

Design & Blueprint

You see the plan before we cut anything — layout, equipment placement, utilities and dimensions.

The lineup

Five footprints.
Every one built custom.

The size is the only thing that comes off a list. Everything inside it is designed around your concept.

All Models

8×12

Compact

The entry point. Tight, mobile, fast to park.

Popular for

CoffeeDessertsIce Cream

Starting at$35,000≈ 96 sq ft
1 – 2 operators

8×14

Compact +

Two more feet. A meaningfully different kitchen.

Popular for

BurgersSandwichesBreakfast

Starting at$42,000≈ 112 sq ft
2 operators

Most built

8×16

Versatile

The workhorse. Most concepts fit here.

Popular for

Tacos / MexicanBirriaBBQ

Starting at$49,000≈ 128 sq ft
2 – 3 operators

8×18

High capacity

Volume-ready. Built for lines that do not stop.

Popular for

BBQPizzaSeafood

Starting at$57,000≈ 144 sq ft
3 – 4 operators

8×20

Maximum

Maximum kitchen. Full commercial capability, mobile.

Popular for

CateringBBQPizza

Starting at$65,000≈ 160 sq ft
3 – 5 operators

Not on the list?

We build to spec.

Food trucks, larger footprints and specialty configurations are quoted individually. Tell us what the business needs.

Custom Builds

Final pricing depends on configuration, equipment and specifications. Concept suitability is typical guidance based on what we most often build at each size, not a verified engineering determination for your menu.

Express Build AI

Configure itbefore we build it.

Answer a few questions and watch your trailer draw itself. You end up with a real configuration and a preliminary project range — not a contact form pretending to be a quote.

Build planPlan view

Schematic representation of workflow and zoning. Not a construction drawing. Your final layout is produced during the design phase.

Concept: Birria
Footprint: 8×18
Components: 24

Express Build AI

ConceptBirria
Size18′ High capacity

18′ gives us significantly more room for the cook line and refrigeration.

Based on your birria concept, I'd start with the Taco Layout.

Use this layoutShow other layouts

Start Building

This is a preliminary estimate, not a quote. Your final quote is prepared by our team after we review your build.

Craftsmanship

Built in steel.Built for work.

Commercial stainless, welded frames, real extraction, and systems that hold up to a full service. Every trailer leaves the shop switched on and tested.

See Delivered Builds

Diamond plate

Welds

Hood

Service window

Operating area

Riverside CountyLos Angeles CountyFresno County+ 55 more

Requirements verified by our team

Where you operate

You pick the city.We build for the requirements.

You should not have to become an expert in trailer construction requirements to start a food business. Tell us where you intend to operate and that becomes our problem to solve.

Express American Trailers takes responsibility for building your trailer to meet the applicable city, county and state requirements for the jurisdiction you specify.

We confirm current requirements directly with the governing agencies for your area as part of your build — we do not publish a requirement list, because these rules change and vary by jurisdiction.

Permits, licenses, health department applications, commissary agreements and business registration remain the operator's responsibility. We will tell you what you need to pursue.

We currently build for operators across California, with nationwide expansion underway.

How We Build

How it works

CUSTOM BUILT. AMERICAN STRONG.

Nine phases from first conversation to the day you tow it away. You approve the plan before we cut anything.

Typical build target≈ 45 daysBuild times vary by configuration, approvals, equipment availability and project requirements.

Discovery

We start with your business, not the trailer. Your menu, your volume expectations, where you plan to operate and how you plan to staff it. Those answers determine everything that follows.

Your part

Tell us what you are building.

1 / 9

Discovery

The Full Process

Branding & wraps

It stops beinga metal box.

Your trailer is the largest piece of advertising you will ever own. We design the wrap as part of the build, not as something bolted on after it leaves the shop.

No wrapPainted finish only. Add a wrap later without changing the build.
Partial wrapLogo, menu panel and key graphics. The most common starting point for new operators.
Full custom wrapEdge-to-edge designed graphics. Your trailer becomes the largest piece of advertising you own.

I already have a logo · I need a logo · I need complete branding

Design Yours

Before

After

Financing

Don't let the full price
stop the conversation.

Financing available for qualified buyers. Depending on the applicant and the project, financing may let a qualified buyer begin with a portion of the total build cost rather than all of it.

Starting with $15,000?

See what may be possible.

We will build your specification and quote first, so any financing conversation is about a real project instead of a guess.

See What May Be Possible Build Your Trailer

How it works

01
Design your build
We define the exact trailer, equipment and specification. Financing conversations are far more productive when there is a real build behind them.
02
We prepare your quote
You receive a written quote reflecting your configuration — the document a financing provider actually needs.
03
You apply with the provider
We connect you with our financing partner. The application, the decision and the terms are entirely theirs.
04
The provider makes the decision
Approval, down payment and terms are determined by the provider based on your application. We do not influence that outcome.
05
We build
Once funding and deposit are in place, your build enters production.

Financing available for qualified buyers.

Approval, down payment, rates and terms vary by applicant and are determined by the financing provider. Express American Trailers does not approve financing or set terms.

$15,000 may represent a strong starting down payment for a qualified applicant. It is not a qualification threshold and does not imply approval.

Delivered

Builds that are
out there working.

Every one specified around a different business. None of them interchangeable.

Full Gallery

Birria8×16
Taco layout

Coffee8×12
Bar layout

Interior8×18
Cook line

BBQ8×20
Holding-forward

Desserts8×12
Display-first

In build—
Fabrication

Opening day

The first ticket
is the whole point.

Start a business

Have $15,000to invest?

See how that could become the starting point for your own food trailer business. Not a franchise. Not a job. An asset with your name on it.

Free · 25 chapters

The Food Trailer Business Blueprint™

FROM IDEA TO OPENING DAY.

Concept validation, food cost, startup costs, requirements, commissary, insurance, locations and a 90-day opening checklist.

Get the Business Blueprint See How It Works

$15,000 may represent a strong starting down payment for a qualified applicant. It is not a qualification threshold and does not imply approval.

Approval, down payment, rates and terms vary by applicant and are determined by the financing provider. Express American Trailers does not approve financing or set terms.

Express American Trailers makes no representation, promise or guarantee regarding income, revenue, profit or business results. Business outcomes depend on factors outside our control.

Customer stories

We publish these only once the operator has approved them.

We are collecting them properly — with permission, real photography, and nothing exaggerated. They will appear here as they are verified.

In progress