Food Van / Trailer Help...

[TheSamuraiSaloon]

Hey all,

Just made a new account seperate to my other business, I have always wanted to have what I call a "Good Food Shop" with sandwiches and burgers made for real samurai...

With the overheads being too high for a resturant I was looking into having a burger/Sandwich van/trailer. I will be opening a shop in the future but that requires more capital than I have access too!
So this is a stepping stone to a future in a shop, I have a variety of amazing recipes which have also had good feedback from family,friends,private events.

I have around 20k working capital to invest for everything from NCASS memberships, insurance, training, van, licenses etc.

Anyone had any experience with this?

I already have my Level 2 hygiene, Personal License & First Aid if that is any relevance!

So I need to contact the EHO to inspect a van/trailer
What about finding out about pitches? My local Council is Kirless, I personally want to sell anywhere in my town center - Not fussy Footfall is even and near the nightclubs on a night.
I have read through the NCASS website.
Would you go for electric equipment or gas? and Why?
I only really want a Griddle & Fryer Might possibly use others to make pulled pork and the likes.
Salad Icetray to keep salad fresh
Any reputable wholsalers for ingredients?
Took me ages finding a wholesaler for my E-commerce website, it's the main thing I struggle with at all parts of any business plan. Pricing witht eh wholesalers and finding them...

Anyone who has been in this industry, Any information on your day to days would be great.
Or if you think theres better business to spend my 20k on then by all means give me a shout. I already Manage a E-commerce website in one of the hardest sectors for getting leads.

 

[Ally Maxwell]

Don't wish to be rude here dude, but you want to open a burger van and you can't find where to buy wholesale ingredients from ? (At least I think that's one of the things you said, your post is generally in another language).

I'm assuming they don't have Google on your planet.

 

[Mitch3473]

These amazing recipes....are they just recipes or have they been transformed into actual food.
And good feedback from friends and family isn't worth a light, you need it off the paying public.
You're going to need both gas and electric, gas for cooking, electric for lighting and fridges.

 

[TheSamuraiSaloon]

@Ally Maxwell Google doesn't point you to a reputable company, I'm looking for recommendations.

@Mitch3473 The recipes have been perfected, in my eyes over 5 years. I previously worked in a restaurant for 2 years. My previous headchef actually opened a burger restaurant in another town.

I know the fridges run on electric however you can buy equipment which runs on electricity or gas.

 

[Newchodge]

What is/are your questions?

 

[TheSamuraiSaloon]

@Newchodge

Everything in bold.

 

[Scalloway]

My local Council is Kirless

Do you mean Kirklees? Their community and street licensing page is here

http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/business/licensing/communityStreet.aspx

Would you go for electric equipment or gas? and Why?

I have never heard a chef suggest anything other than gas for commercial cooking. If you go for an electric fridge etc you will need a generator as well.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

First you will need to talk withe the local planning office informally to see what their requirements are and any possible site locations you suggest

You would need a large generator which would probably be noisy at night to power your cooking equipment so probably better with Gas

No Half drunk person is going to notice a fancy burger or whatever, so just keep it simple

Ever town has a number of cash and carry for trade sellers

Any butcher with a nice display of meet and plenty of customers will meet your expectations but will come with any recommendations as expensive as most people don't want to pay for good meat but like tesco cheapest

 

[Mitch3473]

Surely, if you've worked in a restaurant for 2 years you would have enough contacts to get your basic menu sorted. Dont get me wrong but its a burger van you're opening not El Bulli.
Yes there are fridges that run on gas but you'll need large leisure batteries or a genny for your lights at night. The gas fridges are the ones found in campers or caravans which are minute. Not to sure about larger ones here in the UK although they are readily available in sunnier foreign climes for use in rural areas.

 

[boo_kong]

I have had burger vans my self No: 1 is to keep it simple, if you start making foods using all kinds of recipes you might as well stop before you even start.. If you want to make any kind of money you want to keep it as simple and as fast as possible.
Making a burger or a hot dog takes about 40 to 90 seconds selling at anything from £1.50 to £3.50. If you want to make real money wasting 5 minuets on one customer is just going to break you not to mention piss off the line behind him or her lol.
I tried my self to give the customer a bigger range to chose from but soon found that 9 times out of 10 it just don't work. If you want to make a living out of it just sell things like burgers, hot dogs, chocolate, crisps, tea and coffee and so on, Easy and fast.

You will need gas and electric, The more gas the better because a generator just gives you a headache.
I managed to have mostly gas in the last one I built and things like microwave, fridges ect: I set up so it run off of 4 car battery's. I used x3 2500W inverter's and used the van to charge the battery's. So basically I could have the van working with out any noise what so ever for about 4 hours before I had to start the van to maintain the battery life.

Finding a pitch is simple. As long as your not stepping on anyone's toes. Find a good lay-by and just open up. You said you had your level 2 So your good to go. With in the first two weeks sometimes longer will will have a member of the cancel come visit you. you can call and ask for someone to come look but most of the time they just turn up. they will look at your van and give it the ok. (if it's ok and clean) give them a coffe and carry on as you was. ~Burger vans are very simple things to do. If you want events just call them before hand. I always had public liability insurance. Hope this helps.