Mobile Catering - small businesses

Moshe Gariani · Sep 2, 2016

Mrs G is contemplating a career change in the direction of some sort of self-employment in the catering industry...

Her current favourite idea is to purchase a trailer/cart/van from which to sell real coffee and cakes, pastries etc - mainly at "events" but possibly at some more regular sites/locations as well.

Does anyone on NSC have experience in this sector?

To replace her current income (+ pension etc) would require something like £14K net profit annually. 8 weeks holiday (inc. BHs) means earning around £340 per week net - how feasible is that? How many hours? How many events?

All advice welcome.

Fignon's Ponytail · Sep 2, 2016

Not done it myself, but a friend of ours jacked in his job as a builder last year due to back problems & started his own mobile pizza business. Has gone from strength to strength & now doing some big events (Eg: Pride) as well as weddings / football tournaments etc all over the South....After the initial outlay for the van & oven etc hes turning over some pretty decent money each week & is loving life.

Good luck to your missus if she decides to go for it!

BigGully · Sep 2, 2016

Moshe Gariani said:
Mrs G is contemplating a career change in the direction of some sort of self-employment in the catering industry...

Her current favourite idea is to purchase a trailer/cart/van from which to sell real coffee and cakes, pastries etc - mainly at "events" but possibly at some more regular sites/locations as well.

Does anyone on NSC have experience in this sector?

To replace her current income (+ pension etc) would require something like £14K net profit annually. 8 weeks holiday (inc. BHs) means earning around £340 per week net - how feasible is that? How many hours? How many events?

All advice welcome.

It seems your major investment would be the trailer/other and you might need to sell 6 months of cakes and pastries to cover that cost.

Assuming the baking isnt done within the trailer, could you find another more cost effective means to store and display your goods at events, you could then monitor likely future sales before spending money effecting your cash flow and profitability.

Good luck.

BensGrandad · Sep 2, 2016

One of my sons looked into a mobile snack bar in a lay but then we did the maths. Average lay by will take 3 or 4 lorries who stop for their tacho break and buy 1 or 2 teas and a sandwich so that is approx £5 per head. The tacho break is about 30 mins so there would be a change over of no more than approx 8 vehicles per hour = £40 per hour max. I mentioned this to a lady running the one by Wickes in Burgess Hill and she said I had over estimated. She said, I dont how true it is, the busiest one in the area on the A27 near Shoreham fly over doesnt take that much. So son scrappd the idea.

Springal · Sep 2, 2016

BensGrandad said:
One of my sons looked into a mobile snack bar in a lay but then we did the maths. Average lay by will take 3 or 4 lorries who stop for their tacho break and buy 1 or 2 teas and a sandwich so that is approx £5 per head. The tacho break is about 30 mins so there would be a change over of no more than approx 8 vehicles per hour = £40 per hour max. I mentioned this to a lady running the one by Wickes in Burgess Hill and she said I had over estimated. She said, I dont how true it is, the busiest one in the area on the A27 near Shoreham fly over doesnt take that much. So son scrappd the idea.

I'm not sure the OP's wife has a greasy burger van on the A27 in mind....

My brother in law looked at doing a mobile coffee and cake thing but settled for a shop instead. Much more predictable and lower outlay. Also quite a lot involved in the actual logistics of a mobile thing.

BigGully · Sep 2, 2016

BensGrandad said:
One of my sons looked into a mobile snack bar in a lay but then we did the maths. Average lay by will take 3 or 4 lorries who stop for their tacho break and buy 1 or 2 teas and a sandwich so that is approx £5 per head. The tacho break is about 30 mins so there would be a change over of no more than approx 8 vehicles per hour = £40 per hour max. I mentioned this to a lady running the one by Wickes in Burgess Hill and she said I had over estimated. She said, I dont how true it is, the busiest one in the area on the A27 near Shoreham fly over doesnt take that much. So son scrappd the idea.

Although a great insight, it seems that their 'pitch' would be more at events etc. selling cakes and pastries, rather than lay-bys.

BensGrandad · Sep 2, 2016

A friend of ours does catering at weddings funerals etc and makes a very good living with very little overheads just really the initial purchase of food for the freezer and then the spend replenishes her stocks.

BensGrandad · Sep 2, 2016

BigGully said:
Although a great insight, it seems that their 'pitch' would be more at events etc. selling cakes and pastries, rather than lay-bys.

Just buying a van/ trailer and pulling into a layby etc seems a very easy and cheap way for somebody without a job. not the OP obviously, but it isnt so rosy.and cash productive as it appears.

Moshe Gariani · Sep 2, 2016

BigGully said:
It seems your major investment would be the trailer/other and you might need to sell 6 months of cakes and pastries to cover that cost.

Assuming the baking isnt done within the trailer, could you find another more cost effective means to store and display your goods at events, you could then monitor likely future sales before spending money effecting your cash flow and profitability.

Good luck.

Thanks. Yes, start up costs could easily run to £10-20K+ if not controlled and as you say that is a lot of coffee and cake to make back. A "gazebo" type pop up is an alternative to a van but obviously comes with pros and cons.

Positive news from the guy who swapped building for doing pizza at events is encouraging.

I am pretty sceptical myself and see a lot of downside compared to the security of regular employment. However, our target income seems quite modest so maybe it is doable without having to worry about putting cold/dark early morning shifts in for only a few quid profit...?

Anyone actually do it themselves? Probably not as NSC is more the preserve of employed loafers...!!!!

Colossal Squid · Sep 2, 2016

Beyond the initial outlay on the van/trailer your next biggest expense is going to be for the pitches. Get yourself on the festival circuit and you can make a killing, but festival operators know this hence the pitches don't come cheap, especially for the prime spots. We're talking over £10,000 for a big festival like Glastonbury.

Have you ever been down to the food market in the church garden off Queens Road on a Friday? The regular traders there are always busy and with an average price of about £8 a pop it's easy to see them going home very happy at the end of a shift. I'd love to know how much it costs to get in the regular rotation there

AmexRuislip · Sep 2, 2016

Moshe Gariani said:
Mrs G is contemplating a career change in the direction of some sort of self-employment in the catering industry...

Her current favourite idea is to purchase a trailer/cart/van from which to sell real coffee and cakes, pastries etc - mainly at "events" but possibly at some more regular sites/locations as well.

Does anyone on NSC have experience in this sector?

To replace her current income (+ pension etc) would require something like £14K net profit annually. 8 weeks holiday (inc. BHs) means earning around £340 per week net - how feasible is that? How many hours? How many events?

All advice welcome.

https://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/startingup

Hope this helps

BigGully · Sep 2, 2016

delete

BigGully · Sep 2, 2016

BensGrandad said:
Just buying a van/ trailer and pulling into a layby etc seems a very easy and cheap way for somebody without a job. not the OP obviously, but it isnt so rosy.and cash productive as it appears.

I was sincere when I said it was a helpful insight, but without any outlay of a trailer and then getting a pitch at certain events might offer a greater opportunity to make a few quid and makes it easier before any further outlay to accurately forecast sales.

Is an expensive trailer necessary to start to sell cakes, pastries and coffee ?

One thing that can be slightly frustrating and I am guilty of here, is how suddenly everyone becomes the expert on your initiative

Titanic · Sep 2, 2016

Interesting idea... started a bit of Googling... very mixed messages... but I am sure some nuggets of good advice!

http://www.mobcater.co.uk/should-i-invest-in-a-mobile-coffee-van-cost-14000.html

BensGrandad · Sep 2, 2016

BigGully said:
I was sincere when I said it was a helpful insight, but without any outlay of a trailer and then getting a pitch at certain events might offer a greater opportunity to make a few quid and makes it easier before any further outlay to accurately forecast sales.

Is an expensive trailer necessary to start to sell cakes, pastries and coffee ?

One thing that can be slightly frustrating and I am guilty of here, is how suddenly everyone becomes the expert on your initiative

I am not an expert on this but as son was looking into it wife and I, with time on our hands, had a ride around the area Shoreham, Newhaven to Eastbourne Rd Near Newmarket between Lewes and Falmer and other sites to gauge how busy they were and the expected return and in our opinion wasnt as good as it seemed. Had he continued with the idea I would have suggested renting a shop and doing it, as many are now doing with coffee shops springing up when ever a shop is empty.

Moshe Gariani · Sep 2, 2016

BigGully said:
I was sincere when I said it was a helpful insight, but without any outlay of a trailer and then getting a pitch at certain events might offer a greater opportunity to make a few quid and makes it easier before any further outlay to accurately forecast sales.

Is an expensive trailer necessary to start to sell cakes, pastries and coffee ?

One thing that can be slightly frustrating and I am guilty of here, is how suddenly everyone becomes the expert on your initiative

Not at all. It clearly is not rocket science we are discussing and all views/thoughts are very welcome.

I think gaining experience/market knowledge through some sort of trial run activity is a very good idea. Challenge is that the central pitch of the business will be to offer proper coffee from a decent machine set up - without tackling this aspect of the business it will be hard to really gain the most relevant experience and forecasting data.

FatSuperman · Sep 2, 2016

A friend of mine (and a group of his mates) do very well by parking up near building sites and selling sandwiches and other lunch items to the people that can't be arsed to make their own. You also see similar services driving around small / medium-sized employers (ones without canteens) in rural areas (where shops are too far to walk). Possibly another angle.

Moshe Gariani · Sep 2, 2016

Titanic said:
Interesting idea... started a bit of Googling... very mixed messages... but I am sure some nuggets of good advice!

http://www.mobcater.co.uk/should-i-invest-in-a-mobile-coffee-van-cost-14000.html

Yes, there is a wealth of information out there and lots of mixed experience. I like Tony's comment from August 2016 on your link but obviously have no idea of the detail involved in achieving those sort of numbers...

My view is it is probably roughly as hard as you'd think it would be to make money from selling coffee and cakes/pastries etc at events and other locations. Not straightforward and no route to riches. Anyone trying to replace even £25K employed salary might find it incredibly hard to achieve.

However, it might be possible to make £5-10K a year or so fairly comfortably from it - as part of a wider income generation plan (perhaps including room letting to foreign students or some house-sitting, pet feeding etc) that allowed Mrs G to merrily jump off the employment treadmill and still keep the cat in nail varnish...??

Moshe Gariani · Sep 2, 2016

FatSuperman said:
A friend of mine (and a group of his mates) do very well by parking up near building sites and selling sandwiches and other lunch items to the people that can't be arsed to make their own. You also see similar services driving around small / medium-sized employers (ones without canteens) in rural areas (where shops are too far to walk). Possibly another angle.

Yes. I think the "dream" is making a killing in the sunshine at lovely summer events - and then feet up the rest of the time. But including a bit of graft around the type you describe seems more realistic...

Birdie Boy · Sep 2, 2016

I work in a rural ish location, to far too walk to any shop. There are a few hundred workers on site and we have 3 mobile vans round everyday. There are big queue's for them everyday. The biggest queue is one that sure drink/soup, sandwich/baguette, crisps/choccy for £3.70. There is one that is about £5 for the same items and his queue is smaller but probably makes the same money. Obviously they also have other sites they go to, so if you can find somewhere like where I work to go daily, I am sure it would cover the £14k comfortably.

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