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Just Brought My Catering Trailer

by Louise
(Wakefield West Yorkshire)

Hi, I picked up my trailer last weekend. It was quite dirty so am busy cleaning it up at the moment before I can think about trading.

I have started buying things I need to start trading and have sent in a form to my local Council to register my business, and am not allowed to start trading after 28 days of becoming registered.

I have a lay by in mind where I am going to trade from and have been told I can trade in any lay-by but can be moved on if I am causing an obstruction or making a mess.

At the moment I only have gas bottles so need a generator for my fridge freezer and water pump to work. Can anyone advise what sort of generator to get?

Also do I need to get a gas and electricity certificate before I can trade and who should I contact to get these?

I am quite scared but also excited about setting up my business.

Any advice at all is very much appreciated!!!

Thanks Louise

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Apr 22, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		first day of trading
by: Louise

It is getting closer to my first day of trading and I am starting to get quite nervous!!! What if I make a mess of everything and it all goes wrong!! Any tips to a successful first day?
Apr 16, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		Brought My Catering Trailer
by: David

Hi Louise,

Good to hear from you and how exciting! If you intend to make use of a generator then you must make sure it has enough power to run all electrical appliances.

If you are mainly working on your own then the generator should be light enough for you to carry. It should also be a silent type or as quite as possible, you don’t want to encourage any noise complaints.

As for certificates you will need them for both LPG and Electrical appliances. Depending on your location you can contact one of the following engineers here:


Mobile Catering Engineer Stroud Gloucestershire

LPG Engineer van North Wales Flintshire


Engineer-Great Yarmouth

or

Search the Gas safe register

For electrics, you should contact a suitably NICIEC qualified electrical engineer, if you have small appliances like kettles, toaster or microwaves you will also need a P.A.T. test.

Of course if you can negate the use of a generator by using only LPG equipment this will save you the extra expense of using a generator.

Hope this helps,

Best of luck, and do keep us updated.
David

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