Wanting to sell food on market stalls, but unsure about street food license etc.

[Fountain guy]

Hello everyone, I'm trying to set up as a sole trader operating on a market stall, selling freshly prepared marshmallow and fruit skewers dipped in chocolate fountains. I've got all my HACCP done, I'm level 2 food hygiene certified, bought most of my equipment, and now I'm just at the application stage, but I'm unsure how to categorise myself as most of the advice and guidance I've been able to find online is geared towards people with food trucks rather than people like myself who would be preparing food on a covered market stall or occasionally under a gazebo. While we are more niche, we do exist. I grew up helping out on markets, fairs and shows and am very familiar with how they operate in practice, only we never sold food in my family business, so I'm not familiar with the legal stuff here. Every market I ever worked on though, I always noticed all the food vendors raking it in compared to artisan crafts, so I wanted to step a little out of my comfort zone, while still avoiding high risk meat products and such. I know it won't be plain sailing but I've thought through how to protect the fountains, and keep myself compliant, but it's the legal side that's feeling like a minefield, so I have a few questions I was wondering if anybody could help with.

1. I've done the food business registration and registered a domestic address as the establishment (As a storage facility pretty much, I'll do the food prep on the stall), and am waiting for the 28 days to pass so I can officially be open, at least in theory. The council weren't very helpful when I phoned though to see if I could at least get a vague window for the inspection. I don't live there, and it's not my local council so an unannounced visit isn't very manageable. They said I can amend my opening times, so I'm wondering if I say I'm now only open on Friday afternoons, will that be ok? Even though I'm not open Friday afternoons, as a market trader, listing the hours I'm actually open and trading somewhere else is obviously counterproductive for someone trying to inspect my establishment, so will they mind that this technically isn't true? I can't see how else I could make it work. Does anybody know how soon it usually is after the official opening date that they might inspect me? If they're not happy with me after the inspection, what happens then if I've already been trading? I'd rather not to be on the safe side but they won't inspect till after I've opened and I can't wait forever.

2. Do I need a Street food licence? I'm unsure because technically, yes I am street food I think, yet the application asked for pictures of my vehicle, So I'm wondering does this just apply to food trucks? Or was it asking for pictures of a vehicle I'll be transporting my equipment in even if I'm not selling directly out of that vehicle? Does it matter if I don't own that car and am not the driver? Or do I not need this licence and will NMTF membership alone be enough for me as a sole trader simply serving chopped fruit and marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate from a covered stall?

Sorry for the long post, thanks so much in advance to anybody with any wisdom or advice, I'm new to being a sole trader or even self-employed and I'm paranoid about messing up the paperwork here, so it's really greatly appreciated.

 

[ecommerce84]

Hi Fountain Guy and welcome to UKBF!

I also run a food based business which is usually set up on a market stall so will try and help as best I can.

1. Your initial inspection date can vary depending on the council and business. When we had a cafe for example, we were inspected within 2 months of opening.

Our current business though which is considered lower risk and along similar lines to yours wasn’t inspected for about 14 months. We operate from a unit rather than a domestic address and we weren’t there all the time either. The council rang us when they were ready to inspect and booked an appointment to come and visit our unit - we haven’t had a full inspection on the stall but as we travel out of our own council area quite often we have often had an EHO approach the stall, give it a quick once over and go - sometimes without saying anything.

My advice to you would be to email environmental health if you have any dates lined up for trading then let them know where you’ll be and when - if you’re only using the domestic address for storage it’s likely they’ll want to see you in action, so the fact it’s in a different council area may not matter. However, there is also a chance that the Environmental Health department that covers the area where your domestic property is will want that property registered separately so I would clarify this sooner rather than later.

Ideally you want to get inspected as soon as possible as some events will only want traders that have scored a 4 or 5, but many are also happy to you to have a hygiene score of ‘Awaiting Inspection’ - it should show as this on https://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/ once your 28 days have passed, if not sooner. Once the 28 days have passed, you are good to trade and it is up to the council to inspect you - at some point they will likely contact you to arrange an inspection if they haven’t been able to within a certain amount of time.

As I say we were waiting 14 months for our initial inspection and it didn’t affect our ability to trade at any markets or festivals, but that’s not a guarantee that you won’t.

2. For the street food licence the general rule of thumb is that if you are trading as part of a larger event, say a food festival or arts and craft market then the organisers will have all of that covered.

If you are looking to trade ‘on your own’ say in a town centre or on the side of a road then you’ll need a street license.

We’re at around 600 events and we’ve never needed a street licence as we only trade as part of larger, organised events such as markets and festivals.

Try not to worry too much - you sound like you’ve done your research - are you using the Safer Food Better Business HACCP? It’s ideal for a small catering outlet. Make sure you keep your logs and diary up to date, show how you’re managing pests and most importantly how you are preventing cross contamination and keeping people safe who have allergens.

 

[Deleted member 361708]

@Fountain guy I was managing director of MSD Markets Ltd, a street food market operator. As @ecommerce84 says, the operator should have the license sorted and you will simply just pay for your pitch.
Usually, operators will have to update the local authority of all the traders on their market and the food teams will come out and inspect each stall on a periodic basis. Our traders were inspected twice a year.
If you have your own premises, such a a commercial kitchen set up in a business park, you will need to book an inspection with the food safety team in your area for that. As part of compliance checks when registering with an operator, you will be expected to provide evidence of your food and hygiene certification, your food safety inspection (if cooking off site) and business insurance.

If you are focusing on events only, then it will be a completely different kettle of fish but I would expect similar compliance checks to be carried out by the organiser.

If you are in the London area and you are looking for a operator to work with, you can reach out to MSD Markets Ltd (www.msdmarkets.co.uk).

Hope this helps.