Why Cash Management Is Critical for a Food Truck
Your till is the gateway for 100% of your revenue. Yet many food truckers overlook the discipline required: no defined float, closing counted from memory, discrepancies never investigated. The result: invisible losses that pile up, painful bookkeeping at year-end, and sometimes trouble with the tax authority.
This guide gives you a simple, repeatable process to open, run, and close your cash register every day — whether you work alone or with a team.
The Basics: Float, Current Cash, Net Cash
The Opening Float
Your float is the cash you keep in the till before each service to make change. It must be:
- Fixed and defined in advance (e.g. £80 in coins and small notes)
- Replenished each evening after closing
- Never used for personal or business purchases outside the service
Current Cash
During service, every cash payment adds to your till. But be aware:
- Refunds are deducted
- Emergency cash purchases (ice, napkins…) must be noted with a receipt
- Tips should be tracked separately
Net Cash
At closing: net cash = total cash counted − float. This is the amount to bank or secure.
Opening Procedure (5 minutes)
- Count the float before every service — never trust the previous session
- Record the amount in your cash journal (notebook or app)
- Check your card reader: SumUp sync, battery charged, receipt roll OK
- Check your coins: do you have enough 50p, £1, £2 coins and £5 and £10 notes?
During Service: Best Practices
Always Offer Card Payment
Card payments via SumUp are automatically tracked and synced with your management software. Encourage contactless payments: they reduce change errors and theft risk.
With FoodTracks connected to SumUp, every sale is recorded in real time — no more manually entering card totals at close.
Managing Interim Cash Movements
If your till starts to overflow (beyond £300–£400 in cash), do an interim removal: take out large notes, count them, record the amount, and secure them (safe or money belt). This is called an "interim bank" — it protects against theft and simplifies closing.
Handling Refunds Correctly
A cash refund must always include:
- The reason (non-conforming dish, order error…)
- The exact amount
- A note in your journal
Closing Procedure (10 minutes)
This is the most critical phase — and the most often rushed.
Step 1: Isolate the Float
Remove the bills and coins matching your standard float (e.g. £80) and set them aside. Do not count them in your revenue.
Step 2: Count Remaining Cash
Count cash by denomination: £2, £1, 50p coins… then £5, £10, £20, £50 notes. Record the total.
Step 3: Pull Card Totals
On your SumUp, retrieve the day's card total. If you use FoodTracks, this figure is already in your dashboard.
Step 4: Calculate Theoretical vs Actual Revenue
| | Amount | |---|---| | Card total | £342.50 | | Cash total (excl. float) | £87.00 | | Actual revenue | £429.50 | | Theoretical revenue (software) | £431.00 | | Discrepancy | -£1.50 |
A discrepancy of ±2% is acceptable. Beyond that, investigate: change error, missed note, unprocessed ticket.
Step 5: Record and Secure
Write in your journal: date, cash revenue, card revenue, discrepancy, notes. Secure the cash. That's it.
Costly Mistakes to Avoid
Mixing Business Cash with Personal Spending
Paying for your morning coffee or personal shopping from the truck's till — even with the intention of reimbursing — creates unjustifiable discrepancies. Keep a separate personal card for your expenses.
Never Analysing Discrepancies
A £5 discrepancy per service seems trivial. But across 200 services a year, that is £1,000 in unexplained losses — the equivalent of several days' revenue.
Leaving Undeclared Notes "For Emergencies"
This practice, often innocent, is an accounting irregularity. In the event of a tax inspection, a fluctuating float with no justification is a red flag. Instead, maintain a small dedicated reserve in a business account.
Skipping the Closing on Slow Days
Even if you only served 8 customers, do your close. Procedural consistency is what protects you and simplifies your monthly bookkeeping. For more, read our food truck accounting guide.
Cash Management and Legal Obligations
Certified POS Software
Since 2018 in France (and under similar obligations in the UK for VAT-registered businesses), point-of-sale software must meet certification standards guaranteeing data integrity, security, and retention.
SumUp is certified. If you use a complementary solution, verify its certification before purchase.
Data Retention
Cash data (tickets, journals, closes) must be retained for 6 years. Certified software does this automatically. If you keep paper journals, scan and archive them in the cloud.
Tax Inspections
An inspector may request:
- Your cash journals for the last 3 years
- Consistency between declared revenue and SumUp/software data
- Your Z-reports (end-of-day closing receipts)
Automate to Save Time
Manual cash management takes time and generates errors. Digital tools largely automate it:
- SumUp automatically records every card payment with a timestamp
- FoodTracks consolidates SumUp + cash data to calculate your actual revenue
- The FoodTracks dashboard shows daily cash discrepancies and alerts you if the gap exceeds your tolerance threshold
Also read: Monthly Food Truck Costs and Overheads · Food Truck Break-Even Point · Connecting SumUp to FoodTracks
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much should I put in a food truck's opening float?
- A float of £80 to £120 suits most food trucks. It should contain mainly coins (50p, £1, £2) and small notes (£5, £10). If your average ticket is high (above £15) and few customers pay cash, you can go down to £50. Conversely, at a very cash-heavy market, go up to £150–£200.
- How do I handle a large cash discrepancy at the end of service?
- Recount calmly, denomination by denomination. If it persists, review: any £50 notes received (easy to miscount), refunds given without a note, unrecorded cash purchases. If the gap exceeds £20 and cannot be explained, log it in your journal and look for a pattern over the next services (same time, same employee?). A recurring discrepancy may indicate theft.
- Do I need to do a cash close if I don't accept cash payments?
- Yes. Even if you work 100% by card, a certified POS system requires a Z-report (daily close) for each day of activity. This report summarises card payments, voids, and refunds. SumUp generates this report automatically — access it from the app.
- How long must I keep my cash journals?
- 6 years from the date of the accounting period. In practice, a certified POS system like SumUp retains data automatically. If you keep paper journals for cash, scan them and store them in a secure cloud service (Google Drive, Dropbox). If lost, the tax authority can reconstruct your revenue by other means and issue assessments.
