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The Best Place To Purchase Stock?

by Daniel
(UK)

Hello, I have a couple of questions and on looking at your site I can see you offer sound advice and could with a bit of guidence.

Myself and my partner are soon to take redundancy and are using the money we get to start up a burger van business.

First of all do you think 10k would be enough for all the requirements to get us started?

Where would be the best place to buy our stock? We were thinking about Macro but wondered whether it would be worth approaching local businesses.

To let them know we are starting a business and would be interested in buying stock from them.

On a weekly basis if we could come to an arrangement with the cost. i.e. green grocer for salad and mushrooms, bakers for baps and bread.

Not sure about a butchers though because they are pretty pricey these days but then they do provide quality stuff.

What would you say is a reasonable amount of time to expect to get things up and running? We are aiming to be up and running for the very start of next year.

Any help on any of the above questions and any other infortmation you may think helpfull would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Daniel

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Oct 20, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		You Catering Business
by: Anonymous

Hi Daniel,

I think you have covered everything that you need to get started.I would say that when you have your trailer checked by an LPG technician.They will make sure that a flame failure device is fitted and working on any piece of equipment that needs it, so don’t worry too much.

As for renting a trailer I only suggest this to people as another way to start up and test the business out. Rental prices do vary so you will have to find this out for yourselves, but if your interested try www.ajc-trailers.co.uk

Wishing you the best of luck and please do keep us informed of your progress.

Regards
David
Oct 19, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		<<<
by: Daniel

<<< I forgot to add public liability insurance and the cost of a chest freezer to store foods at home.
Oct 16, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Thanks for your reply :o)
by: Daniel

Many thanks for your reply David it is much appreciated. We have been looking through your site which has been very helpful we are drafting up a business/marketing plan this weekend.

We have already been in touch with the local council and luckily for us we dont need a license to trade on public land. As long as we are not causing obstruction and arent on a duel carriage way we are good to go. We would only need permission from the landowner if we wanted to park on private property.

If we get the pitch we are looking for we should get a good amount of custom as its bang in the middle of a shopping centre, we have emailed the planning officer of our local council to see where we stand - until recently a candfloss trailer was trading from the same spot so I dont see why it would be a problem.

Can you advise if we have missed anything out from our expected costs to start up, we have taken into account:

* Trailer cost (fully equipped)
* Food Hygiene course
*Getting appliences LPG checked - if the applicences come with lpg certificates do they still need to be checked again? Do they have to be checked yearly?
* Menus/leaflets
* Stock
* First aid kit, fire saftey equipment

Im worried that there is something im not taking in to account.

My council have also advised the gas would need a flame failure device, have you any idea what the cost of one of these would be and do you think the gas safe engineer checking the appliences would fit them?

We hadnt actually considered renting a trailer, do you know what the monthly average rent is. I suppose we could rent one and once we have raised enough money buy our own. Although it would be nice to have our own straight away for 3-4k we could wait and get a really nice looking one for about 10 further down the line..

Thanks again for your help with this :o)

Dan
Oct 15, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Get Off To a Flying Start
by: Anonymous

Hi Daniel,

£10,000 is more than enough to get started with your own catering business. Let me suggest - you may want to start by renting a trailer to see if the business is for you. This way you won’t have to commit all of your redundancy money up front, and you’ll be making sure that this business is for you.

Secondly with regards to stock you should have a variety of wholesalers at your disposal, Makro, Costco, and Booker to name a few. Also why not approach your local take away and see where they buy there stock from. Normally this will lead you in the right direction. The trick is to buy good quality food as a reasonable price or a cheap as possible.(by cheap I don’t mean poor quality)

Preparation is key find yourself a good pitch or rent one – but before you do this research the market and see if there is a need for your service in that area. Ask people what they would like to see on the menu and print leaflets/menu/phone number to distribute/give out to potential customers.

If you get the right pitch you can get off to a flying start with your business. Just take some time to plan it properly
Best of luck

Regards

David
p.s contact me anytime

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