Street Food aboard “Food Trucks” is the new trend of business related to food and catering in the United Kingdom.
A new and ancient way of selling take away products that is increasingly present especially on the main streets of the British capital.
London has seen exponential growth in the presence of food trucks, vans set up for the sale of ready meals, especially in the streets and squares that attract a greater number of tourists, with innovative street food proposals increasingly linked to the typical cuisines of the entire world.
But what is needed to activate a food truck and start a street food business?
The main legal and bureaucratic issues related to the sale of street food products in the United Kingdom are linked to obtaining the Street Trading License. Each “Council” (Town Hall) has its own regulation with formalities to be dealt with on average in a short time.
First of all, however, it is necessary to establish a legal entity in the various forms available, company or Sole trader (individual contractor), to meet all the requirements as well as to benefit from tax advantages for those who start commercial activities in the United Kingdom.
Having established the legal form with which we intend to work, as already said, we must obtain the STL. Particular attention must then be placed in the rules governing public hygiene. To this end, in the United Kingdom there is the Food Standard Agency which assigns a hygienic quality rating to all businesses.
It is worth pointing out that the Street Trading License is not required if you operate as:
- Street vendor (Pedlars Act 1871, 1881);
- Newspaper stand;
- Merchant in a public market already provided with autonomous authorisations;
- Merchant on private land.
What are the benefits of Street Food on food trucks?
The main benefit of starting a street food business is mainly the enormous savings in terms of fixed costs due to the absence of a physical commercial location and related costs such as rent, utilities, furnishings, etc.
Indeed, whoever wants to do business in London, the largest shopping site in the world at the moment, must be aware that to set up a business in the most famous central districts, it is necessary to consider a budget of about 200,000 pounds. With street food on food trucks, these costs are significantly reduced.
For example, food trucks can be hired, bought second hand on countless websites and customised as desired.
Before starting a street food business in the United Kingdom, however, it is recommended to request the assistance of expert legal professionals who can guide the entrepreneur along the entire technical-bureaucratic-commercial path aimed at starting up the business.
Leave a Reply