Catering Van Guide Draft

Proper Catering Academy | www.catering-van.co.uk Page 1

LEGAL NOTICE:

The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this report, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the business and financial climate.

While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, the Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. Any perceived slights of specific persons, peoples, or organizations are unintentional.

This book is a common sense guide to building a Catering Van Business. In practical advice books, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.

This book is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.

You are encouraged to print this book for easy reading.


Contents

This report is styled as a short booklet and contains information relating to setting up a Successful Catering Van Business. The content can be found on the following pages:-

Introduction …………………………………………………….…………..

The Cost Of Setting Up A Catering Van Business ……………………… Page 4

The Operating Hours ……………………………………………………… Page 5

What Prices Do I Sell Food At? …………………………………………... Page 5

Do I Need A License? …………………………………………………….. Page 5

How Do I Choose The Right Products? ………………………………… Page 6

How Do I Choose Which Customers To Serve? ……………..……….... Page 6

The Catering Van Manual ………………………………………………… Page 6

Catering Van Business Methods ………………………………………… Page 7

Food Preparation …………………………………………………………. Page 7

Sandwich Production …………………………………………………….. Page 8

Bake Off Products ………………………………………………………... Page 9

Food Marketing …………………………………………………………… Page 9

Proper Food Retailing ……………………………………………………. Page 9

The Catering Van Experience …………………………………………… Page 10

Try & Taste ……………………………………………………………….. Page 10

Growing Your Catering Van Business …………………………………. Page 10

Building Your Brand …………………………………………………….. Page 10

Training & Free Website ………………………………………………… Page 11

Corporate Catering ……………………………………………………… Page 11


Introduction

Welcome to the Catering Van Quick Start Guide, in this 10 page booklet you will learn the step by step process that we have used to build a profitable catering van business.

This guide is a short overview of our business building process which has been refined and enhanced over the last 8 years as Catering Van and Food Retailing operators.

Inside we’ll show you how we have operated a hugely successful mobile catering business for over 8 years, with a fleet of catering vans each delivering a very healthy turnover in excess of £110,000 per year and Gross profits in excess of 55%.

This performance is bucking every trend in the UK retailing industry that we have seen reported so far and we believe that this isn’t happening by accident.

We class ourselves as retailers of high quality food, providing remote business employees with the same quality and choice in food that they would expect if they were based in the city centre, where they would obviously enjoy a broad range of choices daily.

We have found that remote businesses are more than willing to pay comparable prices to High Street food retailers like Marks and Spencer, Pret a Manger, Greggs or Subway, just as long as you can deliver consistently good quality food and arrive on time every day.

Many businesses are relocating to remote locations due to escalating rents and rates in City centres, we have noticed that many professional companies are escaping the restrictions of city centres and settling to larger Commercial zones on the outskirts of towns and cities.

We have owned and operated food retailing outlets in many of the UK’s towns and cities and enjoyed great results when times are good…on the reverse of that we have also experienced tough times in a recession when people cut back from spending, stop shopping as frequently as they once did and ultimately don’t treat themselves to food as much as they once did.

The greatest advantage of owning a catering van business is that you can move it around. High Street shops are static and if customers don’t go shopping they don’t pass your shop … this is a catch 22 situation! If you are selling food from a mobile unit then you don’t suffer from this problem, nor do you have the weight of greedy landlords, long leases and rates around your neck during leaner times.

A catering van business offers a great deal of flexibility and is a far lower risk business model.


Experience has proven this to us and continues to do so on a daily basis. The “Proper” approach to mobile catering is the one thing that we attribute our long term success to and this is why we can confidently add more and more catering vans to our fleet as demand changes.

What are the typical cost of running a Catering Van business?

How long is a piece of string? This all depends on how you approach your new business, we always approach everything with a professional approach and with some capital behind us, however we understand that this isn’t always possible.

What we would recommend is that you do your numbers thoroughly, down to the penny. Whether it is purchasing food at the right price, buying the right van at the right price or managing wastage, you need to air on the side of caution every time.

As a guide we aim to lease a brand new catering van for £100-£130 per week, sometimes we have achieved lower but in this climate we realise that financial institutions are a little more cautious about their lending criteria, we need to reflect that caution in our numbers.

On average our vans sell between £400 - £450 per day, 5 days per week for 50 weeks a year. This calculates out to +/- £100,000 of sales annually

We can show you how to lease brand new catering vehicles for as little as £90 per week! That’s less than 3 hours of gross profit on one of our vans!

What Other Costs are Associated with a Catering Van Business?

This really does depend on how you want to run your business, how much you want to pay for your van, your equipment and how much you want to earn as an owner operator. Our advice to you is to be realistic in your expectations and understand that you are building a business, don’t expect to make fortunes in your first year as this is the foundation year.

When you are creating a business plan for your business you need to take great care in planning costs and forecasting sales. Things to consider for your business plan include:-

• Van Purchase Cost • Salaries • Fuel costs • Insurances • Uniforms • Marketing • Equipment for production (ovens, sandwich sealers etc) • VAT (which products are Vat-able and Non Vat-able) • Cost of purchasing raw materials for food


• What gross profit do you expect to make on your sales mix • Packaging Costs • Van Livery • Maintenance and Servicing of your van • Wastage

These items are in addition to the standard running costs of the business like rent, rates, heating and lighting etc. The Proper Catering Academy training course comes with a copy of our business plan which details exactly how our financial model works. Take a look on the site for more information on how to sign up.

What are the Operating Hours?

Owning a catering van business is not easy! The hours are as flexible as you want to make them to be but we feel that your van must be serving between the hours of 0830 and 1330 minimum. This means that you need to be able to get up early in the morning and prepare your food for the days sales and once you have finished your rounds the clean down process takes place.

To run a profitable catering van business we feel that you need to be prepared to work from 0700 through until 1500, with a clear and consistent routine your business will thrive.

What Prices do I Sell Food At?

This is where many van operations go wrong, they believe that in order to succeed, you have to sell cheap! This is definitely not the case, as with the high street food retailers, if food is consistently good quality, served from a clean branded van, then in our experience people will pay the same price as the High Street.

Many catering van owners fall into the trap of competing at the same level as the ‘Fat Wagons’ who sell at almost cost, these businesses come and go and it is your salvation to serve the clients with quality first and foremost, do this and the profit will come!

We have tested many different price points over the years and experimented with many different “Meal Deals”, we go through this in great detail on the training course also.

Do I need a License to operate a catering Van?

All local authorities require that you have a trading license if you are to operate a mobile food van in the public domain. Licences are very easy to obtain and they are served very quickly, contact your local council for more details. Each license runs for a year and will need to be renewed.


How do I choose the right food products?

This really is one of the key factors to succeeding in the mobile catering business. Customers want something different from week to week, so it is essential that you maintain a fresh and inventive menu.

Whether it is sandwiches, hot dogs or Cornish Pasties, keep the variety moving from week to week. We have found particular success with two very niche product lines which you can learn more about when you attend the Proper Catering Academy.

How do I choose which customers to serve?

Another key ingredient to success is to choose the customers and businesses who vote for your product with their wallets and purses. We have a slogan in our catering van business “Use Us Or Lose Us” and we mean it, we cannot afford to turn up at a business when only two people buy a sandwich and a canned drink...have the courage to move on and find more worthy custom for your business.

A true sign of a successful catering van business is when the customer chooses you, this is where Proper Pasty Company is with its clientele, after serving food to some businesses in a locality, the neighbours soon become intrigued at the queue forming alongside our vans! It isn’t long before you get the call...”Would You Mind Stopping and Serving Us?”...”Gladly” we will always respond.

If you are really serious about starting a catering van business or if you already have a catering van business that is in need of some TLC then we would highly recommend that you come and talk to us, we will walk you through these issues and more, what’s more you receive a full 84 page manual which is an invaluable reference guide.

The Manual clearly details:-

1. The Proper Way! The Secret Methods to Our Success! (perhaps the most valuable section)

2. What the financial model is for a typical catering van business

3. A business plan which you can take to your own leasing / finance company

4. The complete 0700 to 1500 operating instructions.

5. The food costs and suggested profit margins for catering van retailing

6. How to canvas new calls, what to look for, how to dress and what to say!

7. How to use inexpensive marketing tools to keep your van looking professional

8. Food promotion design tips to catch your customers eye.

9. Waste control methods which will save you a small fortune.


10. Optimal Routing to make sure your rounds are as tight as possible.

11. Branding tips

12. Free Design Software to help you design your menus, flyers and promotions.

13. Our “Proper” Promotional Templates to use with the free software.

14. Menu Templates for you to change to your products, your prices and your logo.

15. Flyer Templates for you to change to your products, your prices and your logo.

16. Stock control spreadsheets which automatically calculate your sales and VAT.

17. Call sheets which will allow you to monitor your call efficiency.

18. Purchasing guide...an idiots guide to product sourcing and purchasing.

19. Optimising the Sales Merchandising space on your Catering Van for profit.

20. Scaling your operation to a Million Pound Catering Van operation.

This really is a complete concept for success in the catering van business!

If you are a business owner who feels that they can benefit from a full day of one to one training in our kitchen with our bakers and sandwich production staff and sit alongside one of our drivers en route to serve the city, then complete the application form on our website and we can tailor a course in any one or combination of the following disciplines:-

1. Catering Van Business Methodology

In this session we share our complete experiences with you from start to finish. A six year construction and deconstruction of our catering van business model. We have had many pains throughout our six year growth and in this time have learned from some very expensive errors!

We’ll share all of our van sales information with you including the mix of products and margins that we achieve by product line, so that you can see exactly what products you’ll need to focus upon.

You’ll also find out the turning point for us, just when we were deciding to call it a day with catering vans, something key happened and we saw the light! From that day on our vans have grown from £350 per day to £550 per day! That’s over 30% increase just from taking a different approach! Surely that story of an additional £48,000 a year is worth a day of your time.

2. Food Preparation

Fresh food is a key ingredient to the success of your mobile catering business, portion control is another. You have to get this right or your business is costing you money each and every day. Preparation and production of salads, sandwiches and fruit


salads are a daily routine and it is vital that you maintain your systems and controls so that this just flows each and every day.

Take a look at our production methods and portion controls to give you a better idea of what production entails. You may wish to consider alternatives but you will make more money doing it the Proper Way.

3. Sandwich Production

This is one of our specialities, so much so that we have our own brand of sandwiches! Proper Deli Co produce a range of tried and tested recipes for the catering vans and our 70 seater city centre delicatessen. Our Proper Deli Co range includes:-

Egg Mayonnaise

Tuna Sweetcorn

Rare Roast Beef and Horseradish

Roast Chicken Salad

Mature Cheddar Ploughmans

NYC Pastrami and Dill Pickle

Crayfish and Rocket with Sweet Chilli dressing

Prawn Marie Rose

Tuna & Cucumber

Ham & Cheddar

Turkey, Cranberry & Wensleydale

Tandoori Chicken

Honey Roast Ham Salad

Chicken & Bacon

LA Turkey Club

...amongst many others

In addition to our sandwich range, we also produce a range of flatbreads, jacket potatoes with various fillings, special dishes and more.

We don’t want to sell you the sandwiches, we just want to show you the method!


4. Bake Off production, Pasties, Sausage Rolls, Slices and other Hot Stuff!

Our bake off goods are famous in our region, Cornish Pasties, Sausage Rolls and other pastry goods provide a great hot offer for our customers. A variety of sweet and savoury goods are baked off fresh each morning, producing an aroma that we defy anyone to resist. The ovens on our catering van keep these hot throughout the day.

Spending time together with our bakers will allow you to glean a wealth of experience and knowledge in just one quick bake-off session. Producing the countries very best Cornish Pasties has become an art to be mastered by only a select few...watch and learn!

All of our products are award winning and we like to boast about it! Our bakery won the Bakery Industry Award in 2008 and this is something that we like to shout about...the highest accolade in the baking industry...what else would you expect from a Proper Pasty?

5. Proper Food Marketing & Design

By producing your own point of sale or using our templates you can keep the product offer fresh and promote product lines when you receive supplier support. Images sell food! That’s a fact and we ensure that our food images are an appetising sight so that the customer knows exactly what they are going to get...consistently each and every time.

We’ll provide you with a full range of labelling and promotional templates, together with the software that you need to adapt, brand and create freely.

6. Proper Food Retailing

Our High Street brand has been built upon employing the very best staff, this extends to our catering van business also. This area of your business deserves the very best sales person who has a service manner that you would gladly use within a city centre retail environment...why should it be any different? Service, punctuality and a pleasant manner are vital in your growth. Employ wisely and incentivise fairly.

We will show you how our business works from start to finish. Our MD is frequently requested to tell the Proper story, which spans 10 years, by local agencies and Business Link organisations. This is because it is a great story to hear and Business Link have used John to tell his story to some highly regarded members of our society...including royalty!

The Proper Retailing story will be recalled with a view to guiding you through the pitfalls of retailing and motivating you towards the opportunities of building a recognised and respected brand.


7. The Proper Catering Van Experience!

It is vital that you experience an hour or so together with one of our drivers en route. By accompanying our training driver on his round, you will experience the routines and methods that we operate within first hand.

After spending early morning in the bakery and prep. You will assist the driver in merchandising and replenishing his/her van before taking to the streets to serve on your first call, the ‘breakfast run’ is a roller coaster ride and will open your eyes to the potential of a Proper Catering Van business.

The Proper Catering Van experience will last one and a half hours at which point you will be collected and taken back to the Retail Academy for more hands on and theory.

Once you have attended the course and decided that it is a business which you are fully committed to we extend the following services to you:-

1. Try & Taste, take a Proper Pasty Company style van for a test run in your area before you take the plunge!

Working together with our van manufacturer we will arrange for you to operate a Catering Van in your area. This Try & Taste session will allow you to get a feel for how the business operates before you go ahead and invest.

The Try & Taste session is provided at a cost of £250 per week plus delivery and collection costs.

2. Growing your Catering Van business to a catering Van Empire

Where do you want to be in 5 years time? We ask this of ourselves and set out our goals accordingly. There is no problem with staying with one or two vans and keeping a tight control over the growth of your business. However, by scaling your catering van business to five or more vans you can make your business run far more efficiently.

This element of training will show you what to consider if you aspire towards a fleet of catering vans. Take a leaf from our book and grow your business in a controlled manner, one step at a time.

3. Building your brand

The power of your brand plays a large part in your growth and aspirations for scale. If your path is to grow to a fleet and incorporate other elements of catering services then

your brand should be protected and considered through each and every step of your development.


Thinking forward with your brand strategy is another element of our training, mixing in the right circles and keeping your brands nose clean are paramount to your overall long term success.

4. Promoting your business online (Free Website)

An online presence is becoming more of a pre-requisite rather than just a necessity. With people turning away from traditional methods of finding services and instead just Googling what they seek, it is imperative that your online presence is serving the search.

Our extended package will include a 4 page website under your own brand, which will be optimised for your local area and brand. By incorporating a blog into your website, we will place you in control of how people perceive your business, shout about your catering vans through the digital network!

5. Corporate Catering for efficiency and profit!

As you grow you will need more staff and expertise. This expertise can be utilised in many different areas for development and brand building. Corporate Catering and buffets are a great bolt on and growth opportunity for your catering van business.

Use your facilities more efficiently by building a corporate catering service, we’ll show you how and why.

For more information regarding the Proper Catering Academy read through the following pages and then make a call to us on 0114 243 8130 for more information or to book yourself on the next available session.

BOOK YOUR SUCCESS TRAINING NOW

Catering Van Guide Draft

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