Street Food Vendor Resume Examples & Writing Guide

This resume is for a vendor who ran his own taco cart for four years and now leads a food truck for a small operator, and who is applying for kitchen lead and catering roles. The name is made up. Notice how self-employment is written like a job, with the same numbers a restaurant manager would want: covers, ticket times, food cost, inspection scores. In the US this work is posted as "food truck cook", "mobile food vendor" or "concessions"; in the UK it is a "food stall" and in much of Asia a "hawker".

Whether you are applying to a food truck, a restaurant kitchen, a caterer, a stadium concessions company or a festival operator, the reader is checking the same four things. Put them where they can be seen in ten seconds.

• Food safety credentials. A food handler card is the minimum almost everywhere in the US, and most jurisdictions require a Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) on staff or on the truck. Name the exact certificate, issuer and expiration. Names vary by state and county, so use the wording on your card.
• Volume and speed. Covers a day, items an hour at peak, ticket times, number of events a season. Street food is judged on pace, and these numbers prove you can hold a window.
• Inspection and compliance record. Health inspection results, permits held, commissary agreements, fire and propane inspections. A clean record is the strongest line a vendor can write.
• Money and reliability. Daily sales handled, POS used, reconciliation record, food cost percentage, and the fact that you showed up in the heat, rain and at 5 a.m. load-in for years.

“Vendors who ran their own cart are some of the best hires I make, because they have already done every job on the truck. But they have to tell me the numbers. Covers, ticket times, inspections. Then I know it was a business and not a hobby.”

Food safety rules for mobile vendors are set by state and local health departments, so the names of cards and permits differ. Use the exact name on your certificate. Two credentials matter most: a food handler card (for everyone who touches food) and a Certified Food Protection Manager credential (for the person in charge). If you are not sure what your city requires, say so honestly in the interview rather than guessing on the resume.

• Food handler card: required in most states and counties for anyone handling food; usually a 2-hour online course. Some states accept any ANSI-accredited program; some require their own. Check your health department.
• Certified Food Protection Manager: ServSafe Manager, Prometric, National Registry of Food Safety Professionals and 360training all offer ANAB-accredited exams. Most jurisdictions require one CFPM per mobile unit or restaurant.
• Alcohol service: if you sold beer at events, list your state seller-server certificate (for example TABC in Texas, or your state's equivalent).
• Allergen training: ServSafe Allergens or a state-required allergen awareness certificate where one exists (Massachusetts and a few others require one for managers).
• Permits you held as an owner: mobile food vendor permit, business license, sales tax permit, commissary agreement, event vendor permits. List them in one line with years and "in good standing".

Write a summary once you have cooked or sold food for pay, including your own cart. Write an objective only if you are new to food service. In every version the first two lines name your food safety credential and your volume.

The weak versions below are how most vendors describe their work: general and modest. The strong versions use the numbers a kitchen manager, truck owner or concessions company already tracks.

Keep the skills list to 10 to 14 items and split them into cooking, safety and compliance, business and equipment. Every item should be something you could do on a trial shift.

• Cooking and prep: high-volume grill, plancha, fryer, wok or smoker work; knife skills and batch prep; holding and reheating safely; menu development and specials; scaling recipes for events.
• Food safety and compliance: temperature logs, date labeling, allergen handling, cleaning schedules, hand-wash and grey-water setup, health inspection prep, permit and commissary paperwork.
• Money and business: Square, Toast or Clover POS; cash handling and reconciliation; food cost and pricing; ordering and par levels; event booking and vendor contracts; social media for daily location posts.
• Equipment and logistics: propane systems and leak checks, generators and shore power, truck or cart towing and parking, water tanks, cold holding on battery or generator, load-in and breakdown.
• Service: taking orders and payment in a 30-second window, handling a 40-person line calmly, upselling drinks and sides, remembering regulars.

Most vendors write a resume for one of four reasons: to join an established food truck, to move into a restaurant kitchen, to work for a caterer or event company, or to get a supervisor role with a stadium or festival concessions company. The core resume stays the same; shift the emphasis for each.

• Food truck operator: lead with truck-specific skills (propane, generator, commissary prep, event permits, Square), covers a day and ticket times. Owners want someone who can run the truck alone on a lunch shift.
• Restaurant kitchen: lead with cooking volume, stations you can run, ticket times and food safety. Translate your cart into kitchen terms: "prep", "line", "covers", "HACCP logs". Many chefs value a vendor's speed and cleanliness; show them.
• Catering and events: lead with event counts, guest counts, load-in logistics and working off-site with limited power and water. Mention any large private events you catered from the cart.
• Concessions companies (stadiums, fairs, festivals): lead with peak volume per hour, cash handling accuracy, staff you trained and every permit and inspection you have passed. They hire supervisors from people who have run a stand.
• Explaining a closed business: one plain line. "Closed in 2022 when the downtown site was lost to construction; permit and cart sold in good standing." No apology needed.

Small trucks and restaurants read resumes by hand, often on a phone at the window. Stadium concessions companies, caterers and restaurant groups use tracking systems (Workday, Paradox, iCIMS). Write one plain page that works for both.

• Length: one page. Nobody in food service needs a second page from a vendor or cook.
• Order: header, summary, certifications (food handler and CFPM near the top), experience (self-employment written as a job), skills, education.
• One column, standard font, no photo, no date of birth. "Resume" in the US; in the UK the document is a CV, the business is a "food stall" and the credential is a Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate.
• Keywords to mirror from the posting: "food handler", "ServSafe" or "food protection manager", "line cook", "prep", "high volume", "POS", "cash handling", "health code", "food cost", "inventory", "catering", "events", "customer service", and equipment words ("grill", "fryer", "smoker").
• Use the posting's job title in your header ("Food Truck Cook", "Concessions Supervisor") and keep "Owner-Operator" as the title inside your own business entry.
• Save as PDF unless the portal asks for Word: Emilio-Santangelo-Food-Truck-Resume.pdf.

Run the file through the cvplex ATS checker with the posting pasted in. It flags a missing food safety line and any equipment or duty words from the posting you left out.