BURGER VAN

[Skribble]

Just wondered do any MNetters run or have ran a burger van of any kind looking for hints and tips, as this may be a not to distant possibility. Ta

Keep an ear to the ground for little events that men will attend - school footy matches. Also, scour the factory areas and find out what time they have their lunch break. Then be there! Again you will have more luck selling to men, they buy more burgers and they buy them more often.

One of my mates had one.

Yes, if you live near an industrial estate, factory workers will think its great.

Will it just be burgers or will you sell other things - sandwiches, soup, crisps, choccies etc.

We used to have a sandwich van come round (worked on a big industrial estate) and it seemed to do really well. We used to joke about how they probably made more money than we did, didn't have to answer to the boss etc etc and could knock off at 2.30 after everyone had had lunch

I hadn't actually thought about getting a weekday spot. I would have to get a street traders license for that, if I got a good lunch time spot I might consider it. I wonder if I would need a street traders license mind you if it was on private land?

I want to do sandwiches, sweets, pastas and homemade soups too. I have the chance of a good deal with a large employer of event staff to provide catering for them, for them it would be subsidised but I could sell to all the other staff too, so plenty scope for profit.

Bump

good luck! there are alot around here parked on the road, outside offices and are really popular

Good thing is we would be at lots of events and gigs.

it sounds like fun, hard work though. who are you doing it with?

How do you mean doing it with ?

are you going to work on your own

I will hopefully have at least one assistant at events and my friend is going to help run it when we have to do 24 hrs, hope she realises she will be nights . We will have some early starts and days that I won't be able to do so I will split that with her too.

I was thinking about a van type one instead of a trailer to make it easier to get in and out of the drive by myself and to park up on site. Plus if other people are driving it, it might be easier for them too. I know twin wheeled trailers are a pig to move into position once off the tow vehicle.

I have started looking into this as well skribble. Have searched my local councils website for information on how you would go about getting permission to park up on the road and cant find it. Have you had any luck?

I think each council has there own slightly different policies. Most require you to have a srett traders license and planning permission for to use the actual site, plus anyone working in the van has to have a street traders employee license. Also require a enviromental health certificate and a gas safety certificate. Plus public liability insurance

But where I am nort sure is if you are set up on private land with landowners permission, you might not need the traders lisence but probably still the planning permission, (so all the local cafes can object).

I will be mainly at events on private land where the planning and buildings permission should cover catering units.

One good way if you are new to it all is to buy an existing business not just the van, ie you take over their plot. This can be more expensive so make sure the plot is good for making money, they might be selling up due to bad turnover.

Try your local council site again for info, under permits or planning perhaps. Try searching neighbouring councils site they might have more info and should be fairly similar, I found the environmental health dep were very chatty and helpful and should be happy to go through the basics to look for in a van, might even have a specific leaflet.

Here is info from birminham city council