In a mobile business, the road is where you make your money but right now, that road is costing a lot.
“Before we would spend around $120 in gas for four days, that’s including gas for the generator and for the truck. Right now we’re spending more than $400 every four days,” said Hector Pliego, chef at Zs Buddies Sushi.
Their sushi truck is spending over $2,000 just for gas every month, Pliego said.
He’s not alone, Seckin Anlasay at No Leftovers is dealing with the same problem.
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“When we calculate everything, we’re not making as much money as before so I don’t know what we’re going to do,” said Anlasay.
He said his business is down 35% in profits this year.
“If we move to our own property, open a restaurant, it's going to be the same expenses as a restaurant with these gas prices,” said Anlasay.
Local
San Diego gas prices broke another record Saturday. A gallon of gas now costs residents an average of $6.36. That’s 51 cents more than one month ago and $2.14 more than a year ago.
The national average price for a gallon of gas hit $5 for the first time in American history Saturday.
On top of the high gas prices, these mobile businesses have also been struggling with inflation.
“We paid $1.28 for a pound of chicken breast at food depot and now it's $5 per pound,” said Pliego. “It's a big difference.”
Pliego said prior to the pandemic, his sushi truck would spend 18% to 20% of its budget on food costs and now they are spending anywhere from 35% to 42% every month.
“We try to have the same prices as when we start,” said Pliego. “I'm going to say we raised the prices only 50 cents for each item but the profits are not that good at this moment.”
Clearly business is anything but easy for these business owners at this time, but they remain hopeful better days will come.
“I hope everything is going to be good for all of us,” said Anlasay.
Gas prices have been on the rise since April 2020. According to AAA, they expect them to remain high in the near future.
