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Alton, Madison County

Alton Food Truck for Sale

A food truck in Alton is priced on adjusted seller’s discretionary earnings after a buyer compares this book to Edwardsville — not on a statewide rumor multiple. Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). Missouri buyers still close an Illinois company on Illinois notices. The statewide food trucks playbook is on the industry hub; this page is the Alton file. Confidential sale. No upfront listing fee.

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Alton market

Selling a food truck in Alton

A food truck in Alton is priced on adjusted seller’s discretionary earnings after a buyer compares this book to Edwardsville — not on a statewide rumor multiple. Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). Missouri buyers still close an Illinois company on Illinois notices. The statewide food trucks playbook is on the industry hub; this page is the Alton file.

Alton is the Mississippi bluff city in Madison County — riverboats and meeting-of-the-rivers tourism, older industry, and a downtown that faces the river, not I-270’s warehouses.

Flood, bluff geotech, and seasonal tourism belong in diligence. Hospital and river industry are the year-round books. Buyers from St. Louis and Jersey County already know the climb up the bluff. Do not price this like Edwardsville’s SIUE households or Granite City’s steel.

Alton has about 26,798 residents in Madison County, inside the St. Louis area. Nearby markets buyers already compare this book to include Edwardsville, Jerseyville. That comparison changes who shows up: a buyer who will drive from Edwardsville is not the same buyer who will fly in from a coastal platform.

Planning facts

Typical multiple
1.5x–2.5x SDE
Typical timeline
3–8 months
SBA eligible
Usually conventional
County
Madison County
Population
26,798
Metro
St. Louis
Nearby comps
Edwardsville, Jerseyville
Closing clock
Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). Missouri buyers still close an Illinois company on Illinois notices
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Madison County demand

Metro East demand

Madison, St. Clair, and nearby Metro East shops sit in the St. Louis MSA. Some buyers live in Missouri and still have to close under Illinois notices and licenses.

State CBS-1 plus municipal licenses. Do not assume a Missouri process covers an Illinois entity.

Alton demand for food trucks is the customer list and the license path — not the Census population figure. About 26,798 residents is context for who already lives in the trade area. It is not a sale price.

Food Truck in Alton

What a Alton buyer will underwrite on this food truck

Food and liquor in Alton close on the lease and the local board as often as they close on prime cost. Madison County health and — if the room pours — local-control liquor are Alton clocks, not a statewide multiple. Neighbors already compare this room to Edwardsville, Jerseyville.

Food Trucks statewide typically plan around 1.5x–2.5x SDE and a 3–8 months process when books and the lease are ready. That is a planning range, not a price for this Alton shop. Buyers here usually argue route/event contracts, vehicle condition, equipment, social media following.

Closing clock for this Alton file: Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). Missouri buyers still close an Illinois company on Illinois notices. License path: Chicago Mobile Food Vendor licenses (and the associated commissary and parking rules) are famously specific and do not automatically transfer with the truck title. The industry hub teaches the statewide rule. This URL is the Alton application of it.

Alton is a regional market. The first serious call is often an owner-operator from Edwardsville, Jerseyville, not a platform that needs $2 million of earnings to pay for diligence. Financing is usually a conventional bank or private capital.

Buyer pool

Who buys a food truck in Alton

St. Louis capital is as important as Chicago capital. PE and strategics who already buy in St. Louis County will look across the river. SIUE (Edwardsville) creates a campus-adjacent buyer story that Granite City does not share.

Illustration: a single permitted truck working the West Loop and a suburban office park two days a week, commissary in a shared kitchen, seller cooking every service. Not a closed sale.

A food truck whose customers already sit in Edwardsville, Jerseyville is a larger business than one that stops at the Alton city limit. Tell the truth about the route. Buyers will map it.

SDE recast

How a buyer will read the books on this Alton food truck

Food-truck recasts on repeat vending locations and contracted office parks, not a festival weekend. Add back owner-cook hours, then pull event-only spikes and any second truck that sat. Vehicle capex and commissary rent are not optional. A 1.5x–2.5x SDE band is planning language for a thin, operator-dependent asset — not a restaurant multiple.

Illustration only — not a quote for any Alton shop. A food truck whose tax return shows $38,000 of net profit is not worth $38,000 × a rumor multiple.

Add back the owner’s $36,000 W-2 and payroll tax, $9,000 of discretionary benefits, $11,500 of accepted one-time cost, and $13,500 of personal expenses that a buyer will not run. Then subtract $18,000 of replacement labor if the owner still diagnoses, sells, or closes the books.

Adjusted seller’s discretionary earnings are $90,000. At the planning range 1.5x–2.5x, enterprise value is $135,000 to $225,000. Mid-range 2.00x is $180,000 before debt, working capital, holdback, and tax. A Alton buyer will argue the multiple after they ride with the staff and read the lease.

At 2.00 times $90,000 of seller’s discretionary earnings, enterprise value is $180,000 before debt, working capital, holdback, and tax. That is the planning conversation. It is not a listing-site guess.

SDE line items

  1. Reported net profit (tax return, not the marketing P&L)
  2. + Interest expense
  3. + Income taxes (not payroll, sales, or property tax)
  4. + Depreciation and amortization
  5. + Owner W-2, bonuses, and payroll taxes on the owner
  6. + Discretionary owner benefits that a buyer will not keep (auto, personal travel, family on payroll with no role)
  7. + Accepted one-time or non-recurring expenses
  8. − Market-rate replacement labor for owner work that will not transfer
  9. = Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE)
Illustration recast for a Alton food truck — not a quote
Net profit$38,000
Owner W-2$36,000
Benefits$9,000
One-time$11,500
Personal$13,500
Replacement labor (subtract)−$18,000
Recast SDE$90,000
Planning EV at 2.00x$180,000

Recast Seller’s Discretionary Earnings, then apply a planning multiple for food trucks. Replacement labor is subtracted. This is a planning tool, not an appraisal.

Recast SDE—
Planning enterprise value—

Before debt, working-capital peg, holdback, and tax. Educational only.

Enter your annual Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) — your net profit plus owner's salary and any personal expenses run through the business — to estimate a range.

$
1x 3.0x 8x
Estimated Value Range — to —

This is an estimate for planning purposes only. Actual value depends on lease terms, asset quality, customer concentration, and current market conditions. Request a professional valuation for a precise number.

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Madison County closing

Licenses and closing steps for a Alton sale

Madison County (Edwardsville, Alton, Granite City, Collinsville, Pontoon Beach) uses Illinois CBS-1. Metro East businesses often have Missouri customers, employees, or landlords. Granite City industrial and Alton riverfront add environmental and flood diligence. No Chicago 45-day notice.

Chicago Mobile Food Vendor licenses (and the associated commissary and parking rules) are famously specific and do not automatically transfer with the truck title. Suburban and downstate towns each issue their own mobile-food permits. County health stickers sit on the truck and the commissary agreement. The truck title, fire suppression, and propane certifications are part of the license stack.

Labor and lease

What has to keep working on Monday after close in Alton

For a food truck in Alton, the first labor question is: Contracted weekday slots, not festival luck.

I-55, I-70, I-270. Cross-river labor and licensing (Missouri contractor or professional licenses) must be mapped. Granite City steel-adjacent books are not Edwardsville professional-service books.

Illinois side of the St. Louis MSA. Price in St. Louis buyers, Illinois licenses, and a river.

Diligence

What a serious food truck buyer will open

Levers that move the multiple in this vertical: Contracted weekday slots, not festival luck; A transferable Chicago or municipal mobile license; Truck mechanical and suppression condition; Commissary that a buyer can keep; A concept that is not only the seller’s personality.

Have these ready before anyone hears the name of the Alton business: Title, mileage, hood suppression, generator, and propane file; Commissary contract assignability and health stickers; Chicago or municipal mobile-food license transfer path; Standing office-park or brewery slots versus festival-only income; Social following that is the seller’s face versus the concept; Whether a second permitted truck is real capacity or a parts donor.

Sale steps

How to prepare a Alton food truck for sale

  1. Recast this Alton food truck. Start with the tax return. Add owner pay. Subtract replacement labor if the seller still does the work a Alton buyer must hire. Do not treat a spike year as the new normal.
  2. Name who can operate on Monday. List every credential that lets this food truck pull a permit or see a patient in Alton, and whether that person stays. Personal licenses do not transfer with the assets.
  3. Tell the truth about the Alton trade area. Map customers against neighboring towns. Buyers will. A book that already covers those towns is larger than a book that stops at the Alton limit.
  4. Open the lease and the labor file. Remaining term and assignment in Madison County. Whether the crew can run without the seller living eight minutes away.
  5. Calendar the notices that apply here. Illinois CBS-1 (10 business days). Missouri buyers still close an Illinois company on Illinois notices. Start them at letter of intent, not the week of funding.
  6. Read the statewide playbook, then talk. The Illinois food trucks hub is the statute and recast teaching. This page is the Alton file. Confidential consult — no upfront listing fee.
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