Food truck commissary checklist: water and waste tanks, propane, generator and a daily log
The commissary visit is where a food truck's day starts and ends. Fresh water goes in, wastewater comes out, grease goes in the right bin, propane and fuel get checked, and the truck is ready for tomorrow. It's also the part of the day nobody writes down, until an inspector asks when the wastewater tank was last emptied.
Our food truck opening and closing checklists cover the whole service day, with Florida's mobile vehicle rules. This post is narrower and works in any state: the commissary run itself, the rules behind it from the FDA Food Code, and a daily log with numbers in it.
This is general information, not legal advice. Your state or local health department decides whether you need a commissary, how often you must report to it, and what records it wants. Your fire marshal and your propane supplier have the final word on gas.
What the Food Code says about water and waste
Most states base their retail food rules on the FDA Food Code, each on its own edition. These quotes are from the 2022 Food Code, and the 2026 edition keeps all of them, with only capitalization changed in one.
The drinking-water system (tank, pump and hoses):
- Dedicated. "a water tank, pump, and hoses used for conveying DRINKING WATER shall be used for no other purpose" (§5-304.14(A)).
- Sanitized after a break. "A water tank, pump, and hoses shall be flushed and SANITIZED before being placed in service after construction, repair, modification, and periods of nonuse" (§5-304.11).
- No backflow. "A PERSON shall operate a water tank, pump, and hoses so that backflow and other contamination of the water supply are prevented" (§5-304.12).
- Capped when not in use. "If not in use, a water tank and hose inlet and outlet fitting shall be protected using a cover or device as specified under § 5-303.12" (§5-304.13), which lists "A cap and keeper chain, closed cabinet, closed storage tube, or other APPROVED protective cover or device" (§5-303.12).
Wastewater:
- Dumped at an approved place. "SEWAGE and other liquid wastes shall be removed from a mobile FOOD ESTABLISHMENT at an APPROVED waste SERVICING AREA or by a SEWAGE transport vehicle in such a way that a public health HAZARD or nuisance is not created" (§5-402.14).
- Flushed each time. "A tank for liquid waste retention shall be thoroughly flushed and drained in a sanitary manner during the servicing operation" (§5-402.15).
- Bigger than the water tank. The sewage holding tank must be "Sized 15 percent larger in capacity than the water supply tank" (§5-401.11(A)).
The tank math
That 15% rule is why a full fresh tank and a half-full waste tank don't go together. Hypothetical truck: a 40-gallon fresh tank and a 46-gallon waste tank (40 × 1.15). If you leave the commissary with the waste tank still a quarter full (about 11 gallons), you only have room for about 35 gallons of wastewater, which is less than the water you're carrying. On a busy day, the waste tank fills before the fresh tank empties, and the hand sink stops working.
So the checklist below has two rules: the waste tank leaves the commissary empty and flushed, and both tank readings get written down, morning and night. After a couple of weeks the log tells you how much water a normal day uses and whether your tanks are big enough for your busiest one.
The commissary checklist
Morning: before you roll
Group | Task | Who | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
Water | Fresh-water hose taken from its cap or storage tube, not from the floor | Lead | Checkbox |
Water | Hose used only for drinking water; no other hose on the inlet | Lead | Checkbox |
Water | Fresh tank filled; reading in gallons | Lead | Number |
Water | Hose drained, capped and stored | Lead | Checkbox |
Water | System flushed and sanitized if the truck sat unused or was repaired | Owner | Checkbox |
Waste | Waste tank reading (should be empty from last night) | Lead | Number |
Gas and power | Propane cylinders secured upright; valves closed for the drive | Lead | Photo |
Gas and power | Generator oil and fuel checked; hour meter reading | Lead | Number |
Gas and power | Fire extinguishers in place, gauge in the green | Lead | Checkbox |
Food | Food loaded from the commissary cooler at 41°F or below | Cook | Number |
Supplies | Ice, single-use items, sanitizer and test strips loaded | Cook | Checkbox |
Night: back at the commissary
Group | Task | Who | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
Arrival | Checked in at the commissary | Lead | GPS |
Waste | Waste tank reading before dumping | Lead | Number |
Waste | Waste tank emptied at the commissary's waste servicing area | Lead | Checkbox |
Waste | Waste tank flushed and drained | Lead | Checkbox |
Waste | Waste hose rinsed and stored apart from the water hose | Lead | Checkbox |
Water | Fresh tank reading (what's left) | Lead | Number |
Grease and trash | Grease into the commissary's grease container; trash and recycling out | Cook | Checkbox |
Cleaning | Utensils and equipment washed, rinsed, sanitized at the commissary | Cook | Checkbox |
Food | Leftovers cooled or thrown out; cooler at 41°F or below | Cook | Number |
Gas and power | Propane valves closed; generator off | Lead | Checkbox |
Truck | Photo of the waste tank gauge at zero | Lead | Photo |
Keep the hoses apart. A waste hose and a drinking-water hose that live in the same bin will, one day, get swapped. Use different colors and different storage, and label both.
The daily commissary log
Print one per week and keep it on the truck. An inspector who asks "when did you last service the tanks?" gets the page.
Truck ________ Commissary ________ Week of ________
Day | Time in | Fresh tank AM (gal) | Fresh left PM (gal) | Waste before dump (gal) | Waste dumped and flushed | Grease out | Generator hours | Initials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mon | ☐ | ☐ | ||||||
Tue | ☐ | ☐ | ||||||
Wed | ☐ | ☐ | ||||||
Thu | ☐ | ☐ | ||||||
Fri | ☐ | ☐ | ||||||
Sat | ☐ | ☐ | ||||||
Sun | ☐ | ☐ |
Water used is the morning fill minus what's left at night. If the waste reading before the dump is ever near the tank's capacity, that day's service ran close to stopping the hand sink.
At the bottom: Water system sanitized on ________ (after downtime or repairs) by ________. Generator serviced at ________ hours.
Weekly and monthly add-ons
When | Task |
|---|---|
Weekly | Hoses inspected for cracks; caps and keeper chains on |
Weekly | Propane hoses and regulator checked by someone trained to do it |
Weekly | Generator service per the maker's hour schedule |
Monthly | Commissary agreement, permits and your health department's reporting rules checked for changes |
Monthly | Tank level sensors compared with a known fill, if your gauges drift |
Propane and generator details depend on your equipment and your fire authority. Follow the manuals, and ask your fire marshal what they inspect.
Where Mays fits
- The two lists on the crew's phones. Build the morning and night lists as templates under Tasks → Templates, one task per line, and set each task's answer type to match the Proof column: Number for tank readings and temperatures, Photo, GPS for the commissary check-in, or Checkbox. The GPS answer records where the phone was when the task was done. Set the Frequency to Weekly with your operating days ticked. See Create a checklist template and Task response types.
- Photos from the camera in the app, so the gauge at zero is from tonight.
- The daily log as a form. For a log with columns, build a custom form under Tasks → Types with Number fields for the tank readings and generator hours, Yes / No for "dumped and flushed", and a Temperature field for the cooler, which shows In range or Out of range against the range you set. The crew fills it in the app, and Export CSV on its Task Data page gives you the week. See Custom form task types and Task data export.
Know the limits: a Number task on a checklist can carry a minimum and maximum, but Mays doesn't check answers against them yet, so put "should be 0" in the waste reading's task name. If the morning and night readings are on the same form, a Computed (formula) field can work out the day's water use; readings split across two checklists have to be subtracted in the CSV.
Every day you roll
Fill and log the fresh tank, leave with the waste tank empty, dump and flush it every night, and keep the two hoses apart. The log takes a minute a day and answers the one question every inspector asks about a truck.
Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll load your commissary lists with you.