The truck was already in the driveway.
That is the short version of this build, and it is the reason it is worth writing up. Most people who call us need everything: a chassis, a box, a kitchen and the systems that make the kitchen legal. The owners of Beautiful Life Bowls in Fort Collins, Colorado needed one of those four. They had a Ford Transit cutaway with a cargo box on it, they had a chest freezer and the rest of the equipment an açaí menu needs, and what they did not have was the water, the power, the window and the paperwork that turn a box truck into a licensed food truck. So that is what we built, and nothing else.
Beautiful Life Bowls sells açaí bowls and superfood bowls, vegan, gluten free and dairy free, with the bowls named for the places around town: High Country, Horsetooth, Old Town. It works the Fort Collins event circuit and caters across Northern Colorado, from brewery yoga sessions to town festivals. The menu is cold from start to finish, which matters to this story, because a cold menu changes what a food truck has to be.
Here is what we built, why a customer supplied vehicle is a different job from a full build, what an açaí truck does and does not need, and how a truck gets licensed in Fort Collins.
Three purchases, not one
A food truck is really three things bought together: the vehicle, the kitchen equipment, and the systems that connect them and make them pass inspection. On a full custom build we supply all three and the price reflects that. On this build the owners supplied the first and the third, and we supplied the second.
The systems are the part most owners cannot do themselves and the part the inspector cares about most: a 100 amp electrical service with outlets where the equipment needs them; a thirty gallon fresh water tank and a forty gallon waste tank; an eight gallon water heater and a pump; the plumbing to a hand sink and to the three compartment sink; a concession service window cut into the side of the box with a five foot outdoor shelf under it; a generator box; a six foot stainless work table behind the window; and the decals that turn a white box into a brand. That is the whole invoice, plus labour.
What we did not do is just as important. We did not replace the box’s floor or walls, because they were sound and cleanable and the health department would accept them. We did not fit a hood, because nothing on the menu is cooked. We did not supply a freezer, a blender or refrigeration, because the owners already had the units they wanted. Every one of those is a line that would have been on a full build and was not on this one.
What a cold menu needs, and what it does not
Açaí arrives frozen, in packs, and a bowl is built by blending it with frozen fruit and a little liquid, then topping it with granola, fresh fruit, nut butter and seeds. There is no heat anywhere in that process. So the cook line on this truck is a glass top chest freezer, a blender, cold storage for the toppings and a long table under the window, and that is all it needs.
Not having a hood is the single biggest saving on a cold menu, and not only in dollars. A Type I hood means a duct through the roof, a fan, a wet chemical suppression system, a cylinder on the wall, a Class K extinguisher and an inspection tag every six months. None of that exists on this truck. The fire inspection still happens, but it is a check of the extinguisher, the generator and the propane, if any, rather than the long version.
The sinks are where a cold truck looks like every other truck. Blender jars, scoops and bowls come back sticky and in volume, and the three compartment sink handles them with the hand sink beside it for the staff. The eight gallon water heater is enough here because the sink is not being refilled every twenty minutes the way it is behind a fryer line, and the forty gallon waste tank is larger than the thirty gallon fresh tank so the sinks never back up before the water runs out.
The window is a standard concession window with a glass panel that lifts to form an awning, and the five foot outdoor shelf under it gives customers somewhere to put a bowl down while they pay. Inside, the six foot table runs the length of the window so bowls are assembled facing the queue, which is how a menu built on toppings sells itself.
Power without a hot line
The electrical load on this truck is a freezer, a blender, a water pump, a water heater and lights. That is a fraction of what a truck with a flat top and two fryers draws, so a 100 amp service is generous, and it leaves room for a second blender or a display fridge later. We built a generator box into the truck for the generator the owners run, and a cold menu like this one is also a good candidate for shore power at a commissary or an event with a hookup, which is the quieter and cheaper option where it exists. Our Lakewood corn truck went further and skipped the generator altogether; the right answer depends on where the truck will park.
Getting an açaí truck licensed in Fort Collins
Fort Collins has three separate layers, and the order matters, because the city licence needs the other two first. We covered the same ground on the boba truck we delivered to Fort Collins in September; here is the version for a no cook menu, as of this writing. Fees change, so confirm them before you budget.
Larimer County Health Department
The county licenses mobile food units, not the city. The 2026 fee for a full food service mobile unit is $481 a year, with a plan review beforehand at $155 for the application and $288 for the on site review and pre opening inspection. An açaí truck that blends and assembles fresh food is a full service unit, not a prepackaged one, so it pays the full rate. The county expects the unit to work from a commissary or base kitchen and return to it each day it operates, within 60 minutes or 60 miles for multi day events, and it will ask for the commissary agreement in writing with the plan review. For this menu the commissary is where fruit is washed and prepped and bulk stock is kept, so the arrangement is natural rather than a burden.
The City of Fort Collins
Fort Collins is a home rule city that collects its own sales tax, so a city sales and use tax licence is needed on top of the state one; the combined rate inside the city is 8.30 percent. A food truck then needs an Outdoor Vendor License at $60 for six months or $120 for a year, issued only after the sales tax licence, the county health licence and a Poudre Fire Authority inspection are in hand, with $500,000 of general liability and $500,000 of products liability insurance. The vending rules shape where the truck can trade: no vending between 3am and 7am, generally no more than three days a week at the same spot, not within 200 feet of a school, downtown only at the six approved concessionaire locations, not in parks or on trails, not on Colorado State University property, and on the street only where parallel parking is allowed.
Poudre Fire Authority
Fire is Poudre Fire Authority rather than a city department. It requires an annual permit and inspection for every mobile food vehicle at $75, an ABC extinguisher on every truck, and a Class K only where cooking produces grease laden vapour, which it does not here. Fort Collins adopted the 2024 International Fire Code in May 2025. Since 1 January 2026, under Colorado’s HB 25-1295, a fire safety permit issued by one Colorado local government is honoured by the others if it was issued by a certified inspector under current codes and the operator gives 14 days notice, which for a truck that caters across Northern Colorado removes a great deal of paperwork.
Where an açaí truck earns in Fort Collins
Fort Collins has about 171,500 people and Colorado State University enrolled a record 34,412 students in autumn 2025, which is the market a healthy cold menu is built for, with the caveat that you cannot vend on CSU property itself; the student market is reached from private lots near campus, from events and from the places students already go.
The regular dates: the FoCo Food Truck Rally on Tuesday evenings at City Park from May to September; the Larimer County Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings at 200 West Oak Street from mid May to the end of October, in its 50th season in 2026; and the Fort Collins Farmers Market on East Harmony Road on Sundays and midweek in summer. A farmers market is the natural home of an açaí truck, and it is also the pitch where a quiet power plan pays, because nobody wants a generator running beside a produce stall. Beyond the city, catering is the other half of this business: Beautiful Life Bowls lists brewery yoga mornings and town festivals like Johnstown BBQ Days among the events it has worked, and a truck on a Transit chassis is an easy thing to drive to Loveland, Greeley or Windsor for a morning.
What a build like this costs
Custom food trucks start at $55,000 and custom food trailers start at $40,000. A typical 16ft truck comes in around $72,000 and a 22ft around $110,000.
This build is not in that range, and the reason is the point of the article. Of the three purchases, the owners made two themselves: the vehicle, which is usually the largest single line on a food truck, and the equipment, which is usually the second. What they bought from us was the systems and the labour to install them, and a systems only build on a sound vehicle comes in at a fraction of a full build. If you already own a van, a box truck or a trailer shell, send us photos and your equipment list and we will quote the systems on their own. Our truck or trailer guide is the place to start if you are still deciding what to buy.
Build time on a systems only job is shorter than a full build, because there is no chassis to source and no box to fabricate; plan on a few weeks once the vehicle and the equipment are both on our floor.
Frequently asked questions
Can you build a food truck on a vehicle I already own?
Yes, and it is one of the cheapest ways into the business. On this build the owners brought a Ford Transit cutaway with a cargo box and the equipment they wanted inside it, and we built the systems: a 100 amp electrical service, the fresh and waste water tanks, the water heater and pump, the hand sink plumbing, the service window and outdoor shelf, a generator box and a work table, and then the decals. The vehicle has to be sound and the box has to be something a health inspector will accept as a food space, so send us photos before you buy one.
Does an açaí bowl truck need a hood or fire suppression?
No. A hood and an automatic suppression system are required over cooking that produces grease laden vapour: fryers, griddles, charbroilers. An açaí truck blends frozen fruit and builds bowls; nothing is cooked. That takes the hood, the duct through the roof, the suppression cylinder and the annual inspection off the list, which is a large part of why a cold menu is a cheaper build than a hot one. Poudre Fire Authority still inspects the truck and wants an ABC extinguisher on board.
What equipment goes in an açaí bowl food truck?
Freezer space first, because the açaí itself arrives frozen and the bowls are built from it. This truck carries a glass top chest freezer the owners supplied, their blender and cold storage for the toppings, and a long work table under the window where the bowls are assembled. Then the sinks: a three compartment sink for the blender jars and tools and a separate hand sink. The power draw is modest, so a 100 amp service with a generator box or shore power covers it.
Who licenses a food truck in Fort Collins?
Three layers. Larimer County Health Department licenses the mobile unit after a plan review, at $481 a year for a full food service unit in 2026, with plan review fees of $155 and $288 on top. The City of Fort Collins requires its own sales and use tax licence and an Outdoor Vendor License at $60 for six months or $120 for a year, and it will not issue the vendor licence until the county licence and a Poudre Fire Authority inspection are done. Poudre Fire Authority’s annual mobile food permit is $75.
Does a food truck in Fort Collins need a commissary?
Larimer County expects a mobile unit to operate from a commissary or base kitchen and return to it each day it operates, and for multi day events the commissary has to be within 60 minutes or 60 miles. Get the commissary agreement in writing before the plan review goes in. For an açaí truck the commissary is where the fruit is prepped and the bulk stock is held, so the arrangement suits the menu.
How much does a food truck cost if I already own the vehicle?
A fraction of a full build, because the vehicle is usually the largest single line and the equipment is the second. Treat it as three separate purchases: the vehicle, the systems, and the equipment. If you own the first and buy the third yourself, you are paying us for the second, which is the electrical, plumbing, window, generator box and labour. Our full custom food trucks start at $55,000 and trailers at $40,000; a systems only build on your own vehicle comes in well below that, and we quote it from photos and your equipment list.
How long does a build like this take?
A systems only build on a vehicle the customer supplies is quicker than a full build, because there is no chassis to source and no box to fabricate. Plan on a few weeks on our floor once the vehicle and the equipment are both here, and run the Larimer County plan review in parallel so the inspection can happen as soon as the truck leaves.
More reading
- Food trucks for Fort Collins, Colorado
- 14ft boba tea food truck built for Fort Collins
- 14ft roasted corn food truck built for Lakewood, Colorado
- 16ft commissary trailer built for Boulder, Colorado
- How to find a commissary kitchen
- Food truck or food trailer
If you already own the vehicle and need the rest, call or text with photos of it and we will tell you whether it is worth building on and what the systems would cost. We have built around 500 food trucks, trailers, bus conversions and van conversions, and we deliver across Colorado and the surrounding states.
Jacob Varghese
Zion Foodtrucks
719-722-2537