Hungry patrons line up all day to sample their favorites from L.A.’s popular food trucks, but how can a truck operator recoup his losses when the produce goes bad or a tire pops on the way to the lunch crowd?

Veteran insurance broker Matthew Carlson has an answer: specialized food truck insurance.

Carlson, vice president at the L.A. office of Risk Solutions Co., has carved out a niche for himself in the growing market. Last year, he started CateringTruckInsurance.com, a marketing site dedicated to the product, and he’s been so successful that this month New York insurance giant American International Group Inc. became the exclusive underwriter.

“I have always had an interest in insuring various things on wheels” is how Carlson, a self-proclaimed foodie, put it.

Carlson came up with the idea after sampling his initial bite of mobile cuisine a few years ago from Kogi BBQ, one of the first L.A. gourmet trucks. It became his first account and paved the way for more than 100 other food truck accounts nationwide.

The comprehensive insurance includes business interruption coverage in case of a collision, crime coverage since trucks carry a lot of cash, mobile equipment insurance for items such as deep fryers and spoilage coverage.

Usually all that costs about $500 annually if a truck averages under $200,000 in gross sales, he said, with the big savings coming from packaging it with workers’ compensation and standard auto coverage, assuming the truck is not leased.

Rosa Graziano, the founder of Rosa’s Bella Cucina, an L.A. Italian food truck, recently switched to Carlson’s program. Graziano, who owns her truck, had been paying $7,000 for auto coverage alone, and now pays less than $6,500 for everything, including auto and workers’ compensation.

“It’s so different from what I was insured for and paying before,” she said, noting she didn’t even have theft or business interruption coverage.

However, Fred Needling, who is president of McMurtry & Bell, a San Jose insurance brokerage that counts truck fleet owners among its clients, believes the insurance will remain a niche business because it’s hard to verify claims.

“Most insurance carriers that I have experienced who have written a substantial amount of accounts are not crazy about getting involved in this type of business,” Needling said. “It’s just too hard to keep track of them.”