Part 2 · audioscript
Good evening everyone. My name's Jon and I run Veg Out, a street food business selling vegan food. Since 2012 I've been travelling all around the country cooking vegan food in my converted van and selling it at all kinds of outdoor events. I'm here to give you some advice based on my experience.
The good news is that there's never been a better time to start your own street food business. Street food continues to grow in popularity. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that street food is a reaction against fast food. Street food ranges from high quality burgers to vegan curries and everything in between. But while fast food is cheap and easy to find, it's not particularly good for you. It's also the same everywhere. What you get with street food on the other hand is something different. People like the idea of trying something they can't get anywhere else. They also like seeing food prepared in front of them and which hasn't come straight out of a freezer.
You need to think about the best place to sell your street food. People always think music festivals are an obvious place to start but the cost of renting a space can be huge. And there's always a lot of competition. Food markets, on the other hand, are great because customers are always really interested in food and give great feedback. And if you can get a spot in your local park – fantastic. Usually very relaxed but with lots of customers passing by. Once you get established you'll start getting asked to do parties – which can be really challenging but lots of fun. Having street food at weddings has become quite fashionable too – but you need to really know what you're doing as everything needs to be perfect.
Setting up a street food business costs a lot less than opening a restaurant or café but you'll have to buy some basic equipment. I'd try to get things like hobs and fridges second hand if you can. You can replace them with better quality stuff if your business takes off. Renting is another option but you'll end up spending more money rather than saving it.
You've probably got a good idea about the food you're planning to sell. I expect you've done some research to find out if anyone else is selling a similar product. And you'll have thought about any possible allergies to nuts or eggs etc. But there's one thing people don't always think about and that's how you're going to serve it. On a plate? In a bag? Will you provide a fork? Will it all be easily recyclable or reusable? It's got to be easy to eat and look attractive or customers won't come back.
Once you get started, you should be prepared for things to go wrong. Every business faces problems and here are a few examples from street food businesses that I know.
My friends who run Thai Basil started by juggling their street food business with their day jobs in a restaurant. Their work-life balance was non-existent as they were working til midnight in the restaurant all week and then took their food truck to markets on their days off.
The owners of Basque found it was hard to make a profit because the price of fish – essential for some of their dishes – was so high. And it was hard to charge customers a lot more for those dishes. So they had to stop focussing on fish dishes and include more vegetarian food.
The owners of Lou's kitchen were making salads to order from their van and some of their dishes were quite complicated. At one of their first events they ended up with people standing in a long queue for more than 15 minutes – and many of them lost patience. So make sure whatever you offer can be served quickly and efficiently.
The owners of Chip Chop had found a perfect venue near a beach where there weren't any other street food trucks. But what they hadn't realised was that they'd need a special licence – which individual businesses don't need at markets or festivals. It was a complicated process and in the end they gave up.
So I hope that's given you a flavour of....