Getting a Mobile Catering unit is an excellent idea for a business plan. The flexibility…
Mobile Catering – 4 Great Locations to Maximise Profit Potential
A Mobile Catering Van is a great way to break into the catering industry. They’re not only far more economical than your usual brick and mortar eatery but they provide ideal access to a huge range of high profit locations – including the following four places…
1) Train Stations
A train station is an ideal location for mobile catering vans. Your client base will be largely comprised of commuters, so people who want their products quickly. Due to this type of customer, you’ll have to be quick to react to orders so we suggest having a simple menu of foods that are quick to prepare and cook such as chips, burgers and hot-dogs, canned or bottled drinks and “grab snacks” such as packets of crisps and chocolate bars.
2) Business Parks
It goes without saying that business, or retail, parks are the flagship locations for most Mobile Catering Vans. You’ll have access to a large number of workers and to their customers. Although you may tend to think of burgers and breakfast baps when you think of these locations, we’ve actually heard a lot of people having great success with Fish and Chip vans too! You can contact us for any advice on your menu.
3) Sporting Events
Match days and other sporting events can attract a huge number of people, and a Mobile Catering Van allows you to capitalise on this custom. Similar to Train Stations, you’ll want to stick with “quick” foods in these spots.
4) Festivals
There are many advantages that festivals and events will give you as a mobile catering company, such as:
- Good brand exposure: driving your van around the UK fully branded on the outside, is one of the best forms of traditional advertising. Make sure you get your brand name, website and contact details on the sides and back to give as much opportunity as possible to drum up some business. This is something we can help you with, check out some of the mobile catering vans we’ve produced before in our gallery.
- Reach new audiences: as opposed to a shop, having a mobile catering van will ensure you can go and meet new customers on an everyday basis. This means that your customer base will never dry up!
- Guaranteed business: at events people can only buy from the food outlets available. This will (depending on the location you’re at), almost always guarantee you some form of business on the day, which is great particularly in off-peak seasons.
- Leave the 9-5 world behind: you don’t need to worry about working a traditional 9-5 job. Yes events will be varied early starts or late finishes, but they will be one off’s for you and not a regular everyday scenario. The best thing is you can pick and choose which events you do and negotiate the timings with the event owner accordingly.
- Easy set up: don’t worry about setting up. You can literally drive straight into the event, open the van up and you’ll be away (as long as you’re fully prepped on the food front that is!). The great thing about the vans are the ease of use, so with no heavy lifting required, anyone can use this catering van easily.
Get organised, do your research, understand exactly where your wanted customers are and the type food that’ll sell well in that location. Then get in touch with the location owners or council to understand the set up and start discussing how you could get set up in that location!