Food truck industry in Europe: 2026 figures and trends
How many food trucks there are, how fast the sector is growing and what changed in 2026: the figures official statistics actually publish, and what they leave out.
Romain BarreauFounder of Food Truck Store · 5 min readHow big is the food truck industry in Europe? Nobody can give an exact figure, because for years official statistics counted food trucks together with restaurants. Since 2025, European statistics have used a revised classification of activities, and several countries now count mobile food service separately. Here is the market as official statistics measure it, figure by figure, and what it means for your business.
Food trucks finally get their own code.
The revised EU classification of economic activities, NACE Rev. 2.1, has been used for European statistics since 2025 (Eurostat). Its national versions give mobile food service a code of its own: 56.12.00 in Denmark (Statistics Denmark), 56120 in Finland (Statistics Finland) and 56.120 in Norway, where the description mentions food trucks by name (Statistics Norway). Until then, food trucks were lumped in with restaurants.
- Until 2024
Restaurants and mobile food service share one class, so food trucks cannot be singled out in the statistics.
- From 2025
NACE Rev. 2.1 for European statistics, and national codes for mobile food service.
- Coming next
The first data series on the new code, country by country, as statistics offices publish them.
The EU picture: restaurants and street food.
In 2024, the EU had 969,933 enterprises in “restaurants and mobile food service activities”, with 6.1 million persons employed and a net turnover of 382.9 billion euros (Eurostat, sbs_ovw_act). These figures cover restaurants and street food together and say nothing about the share taken by food trucks. What they do show is the size of the market in which you will be competing for customers.
- 969,933restaurant and mobile food service enterprises in the EU, 2024
- 161,871of them in Italy
- 79,508in Spain
- 9,735in Ireland
What each country actually measures.
Some countries go further. Norway’s business register lists the entities in the food truck class (Brønnøysund Register Centre), Finland counts its food kiosks (Statistics Finland), Italy’s chambers of commerce count street food businesses (Unioncamere), and the CSO publishes Irish figures for 2020 (CSO). For Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Portugal, we found no official count of food trucks, so we give none.
- Norway355 entities in the mobile food service class on 7 October 2026, 205 of them sole proprietorships.
- Finland892 food kiosks in 2024, with 1,381 full-time equivalents, under a code that does not single out food trucks.
- Italy4,286 street food businesses on 31 March 2026; the press release does not say which activities it includes.
- Ireland8,372 restaurant and mobile food service enterprises in 2020, with 67,393 persons engaged.
Growth shows in the registers.
The trend is clearest in Italy: 4,286 street food businesses in 1,975 municipalities on 31 March 2026, compared with 2,271 in 1,258 municipalities in 2016, an increase of 88.7% (Unioncamere and InfoCamere). In Norway, 104 of the 355 entities in the food truck class were registered on or after 1 January 2025, and Finland went from 828 food kiosks in 2022 to 892 in 2024. More businesses also means more competitors trading right next to you.
More street food businesses, more choice for customers.
2026: lower VAT on food.
Three of the countries this site covers cut VAT on what a food truck sells this year. Ireland moved hot takeaway food, hot tea and coffee to 9% on 1 July 2026 (Revenue), Finland lowered its reduced rate for food and restaurant services to 13.5% on 1 January 2026 (Vero), and Sweden charges 6% on food from a food truck from 1 April 2026 until the end of 2027 (Skatteverket). Whether you cut your prices or keep the extra margin, build the new rate into your figures.
- 9%on hot takeaway food in Ireland since 1 July 2026, down from 13.5%
- 13.5%on food and restaurant services in Finland since 1 January 2026, down from 14%
- 6%on food from a food truck in Sweden until the end of 2027, down from 12%
What makes a business last.
The registers show who starts up, not who lasts. What we see on the ground is simple: the problem is rarely the cooking; it is the size of the investment and how secure the pitches are. Plan for the quiet months before you buy, and secure more than one pitch.
What the figures mean for you.
You will win customers from restaurants and other street food with your product and your pitch, not by waiting for the market to grow. Every figure here comes from an official source; anything we could not find, such as a count of food trucks in Europe or an average turnover per truck, we have left out. Work out your own numbers with our guide How much money do food trucks make?, find your layout with the FTS Academy quiz and see our food truck trailers, from €11,500 excl. VAT.
Your pitch and your product make your market.
Your questions answered.
Got another question? Just ask us ›We have found no official count of food trucks across Europe. Eurostat counts them together with restaurants: 969,933 enterprises in restaurants and mobile food service in the EU in 2024, with 6.1 million persons employed. Since 2025, national versions of the revised classification have given mobile food service its own code.
There is no official count. The CSO counted 8,372 enterprises in restaurants and mobile food service activities in 2020, without separating food trucks from restaurants.
The registers suggest so. In Italy, street food businesses rose from 2,271 in 2016 to 4,286 on 31 March 2026 (Unioncamere). In Norway, 104 of the 355 entities in the food truck class were registered on or after 1 January 2025.
For the first time, food trucks are being counted separately in the statistics, the number of street food businesses in the registers keeps growing, and three countries have cut VAT on food: Ireland, Finland and Sweden.
Only from official sources: Eurostat, the CSO, Statistics Norway and the Brønnøysund Register Centre, Statistics Finland, Statistics Denmark and the Italian chambers of commerce (Unioncamere). Anything we could not find, we have left out.
By Romain, founder 
