Washing facilities
UK legislation outlines that a mobile catering businesses must have hand washing facilities, which could be an extra cost to install.
Gas facilities and certificates
If you are going to be using gas to cook, this will be an added cost for your business to install the system and to keep buying gas. You will also need to make sure that you have the correct gas certification, which could cost anything from £100 upwards.
Pitch fees
Unfortunately, you can’t just show up to a site and start selling food. You will usually need to have a licence or agreement to sell food at a particular site, especially if you are going to sell food at festivals or in town centres. Pitch fees can be as little as £7.50 for a small indoor market to a reported £18k for a stall at Glastonbury Festival.
Licences
If you are planning on selling alcohol on your premises, whether it’s at your restaurant or when you’re mobile, you will need to have either a personal or premises licence. You can apply for a licence to sell alcohol here. You will also need to obtain a food operations licence and register every premises where you carry out food operations, including your home, and mobile or temporary premises such as stalls and vans. Find out more.
Wages
As you may be busy running your restaurant, it is likely that you will need to employ additional staff to run your stall. This will of course, create a cost for your business. It depends on how much you want to pay your staff, but try to keep it in line with what you pay staff at your other business.
Stock
Perhaps the most obvious cost that you will have is buying the ingredients or products that you will sell to your customers. If you already have a catering business, you will be able to use your regular suppliers, which should give you the same quality food when you’re mobile as your static catering business.