My First 3 Days Of Mobile Catering Trading

by Tim
(Nottingham)

Hi David,

Just to let you know, today was my first day of trading with a mobile catering trailer. After having a day's delay because the gas pipes needed refitting. More expense that I didn't need.

Cash and carry visit to get produce turned into a farce, after loading everything onto the belt, the tills go down.

So today I wake up, it's raining cats and dogs and very dark.

Load up and drive to the pitch, unhitch, lower legs, it's still raining. Try to open the back door, but couldn't. Eventually got in, very wet by this time, the A board had fallen under the latch which stopped me opening the door, the moral of that story is stack your trailer correctly.

No customers for 2 hours, then I get 4 turn up, family members, all charged for their bacon cobs and coffees of course.

A couple more during the course of the day. A grand total of £19.40 taken over 7 and a half hours trading,

I will be back tomorrow, but more advertising further down the road might help. Anyone starting up, it's hard work but I am sure there are harder ways of making a living.

Day 2 from Tim's Kitchen

A much better day. No rain, but still dark at 6 am. Set up went well, a good clean of the trailer insides before any customers appeared. First customer at 7.10, fantastic, however no more until 8.

Then a steady flow of builders, roofers, electricians and of course the lorry driver. I have found that white van man spends more than the rest. The steady flow turned into a trickle then a drip.

A very positive response from all my customers, most said it was the cleanliness of the trailer and me looking smart that made them buy food.

Great response and feedback about using branded items ie Nescafe coffee, Yorkshire tea and Heinz sauces. I took a grand total of £41.90 and lots of encouragement from my customers.

So, keep everything clean and tidy including your self.

Well day 3 of trading

Still no sign of the highways dept from the council, this is after they were informed by phone, letter and email that I would be trading from my pitch, does this mean that it a rubbish pitch and they know I will move on or they are happy with me trading from there, time will tell.

So this morning was foggy, very foggy, so foggy I nearly drove past the pitch, a little thing inside my head said that if I can't see the turn how can my customers.

Got set up, eventually after fighting with the tow bar to release. All was looking good and ready by 6:45, as was I. Clean chefs jacket and hat. Fridge temps and opening checks all done.

First customer arrived at 7:05, great I thought, it's going to be a good day. And they were repeat customers. Dribs and drabs came and went during the morning, by 11 I had taken more money than yesterday.

By 1:30 I had packed up ready for home as the Friday trickle had dried up, so instead of wasting gas and petrol I decided to call it a day.

Lots of great comments about the good coffee and tea again and it looked very clean as did I. So encouraged I am for next week, however I will be set up and ready to go by 6 on Monday.

Please Note: That having just opened a mobile trailer in Nottingham, you will need LPG safety checks done and signed off before you can trade. You will have to have these done every 6 months now. PAT certificates are required by some councils but not all, however, would you want to kill someone because you didn't get your electrical equipment checked out?

In my opinion get your van/trailer checked out and follow the guidelines that relate to food safety so that you are covered in every way.

Good luck eveyone!