Food vans have been a big part of North American cuisine for a number of years now. While this trend is continuing to expand across the United States and Canada, it has recently started to become a huge trend across the UK as well. The growth in popularity for food vans is making them new yearly as profitable as many restaurants in the UK area. With a low cost of startup as well as ice huge potential for sales, food vans could represent the future trends in popular UK cuisine.
So how do we know about this trend?
Street food vendors in the UK have seen an increase in search engine volume between the year 2014 in the year 2016. More users through top search engines like Google are searching for the best food trucks in their area and many business professionals prefer to eat food via food trucks almost every day. It’s estimated that around 2.5 billion people are eating their food from street vendors on a daily basis around the world and the numbers are growing in the UK.
Van Monster has outlined a number of the costs of street food then vendors in the UK with a recent info graph. The used van company to help users to sort out almost any make or model van that can easily be converted into a Food van.
How much would it cost to pick up a street food van?
The average costs for setting up a restaurant are at minimum £50,000. A small catering trailer can cost between £5000 and £10,000. As estimated by Van Monster, a new food van of a smaller variety might cost between £10,000 and £20,000 and a luxury food van might cost between £20,000-£50,000. This means that you could own a luxury food van for the same price as you would a very small restaurant or stall. Even if you purchase just a regular van the cost per conversion can total into £10-£15,000.
Pros and Cons of starting this business:
Pros:
- Startup costs are low
- Flexible Hours
- Low rent for spaces
- Fun job where you meet many new people
- Success can be expanded into other trucks
Cons
- Not a guaranteed success
- Initial payback can take time
- Hours can be unstable
- Finding spots to work can be a challenge with UK parking/vendor laws.
Some of the basic elements that you will need to convert a regular van into a food van include:
- Extractor fan
- Dish washing and hand washing sink
- Quality Lighting
- Storage for utensils
- Fridge/freezer
- Grease traps
- Water heater
- Ordering area
- Electrical outlets
- Prep areas
- Garbage area
- Stove/cooking equipment
- Fire extinguisher
There have been many successes for food vans in the UK including scream for pizza in New Castle as well as Laurdos a taco restaurant located on Whitecross street in London. Successful businesses like these have attracted the attention of UK foodies and receive regular business from the same customers who look for them in their standard parking spots. By starting up a business and maintaining the quality of the food, you could join the food truck revolution and match your success story with these entrepreneurs.
