What Is a Street Food Stall and How to Start One?

Sources indicate that in the UK, the food and drink industry is the region’s largest manufacturing sector. It contributes £104.4 billion to the economy annually and employs 450,000 people.

In short, it makes for a great sector to invest in, whether you’re a novice chef or a budding entrepreneur.

What is a street food stall?

Much like pop-up restaurants, food stalls are a rising trend in the foodie industry.

From Korean to tacos, sandwiches and beverages, hot dogs and fish and chips, the food stalls’ meaning refers to portable food offerings across streets in the UK. Unlike a food court, they can operate from a single site or move around to different locations.

Food stalls offering street food can be found at fairs, markets, on busy streets with high foot traffic, outside office buildings, and many other places.

They not only offer tasty food to food lovers, but also help support families and can be a good source of income.

How to start a street food stall business

A street food stall is a business much like any other. You therefore need to think of the regular business requirements when opening up your street food stall.

These range from having the proper local trading licence (as different municipalities and localities have varying requirements) to having the right gas safety licences, the right water and electricity setup, as well as comply with health and hygiene standards.

You’ll also need to check if you need to be a registered business to undertake this venture.

So, how can you start your own food stall? Consider the following criteria as you embark on this journey.

Develop a food stall business plan

Every small company began with a business plan. 

In this plan, you need to outline every aspect of your business to potential investors or to a banking institution. The aim is to convince them that you have a sound roadmap for your food stall business so that they are willing to lend you the money you need to begin.

Typical elements that go into a business plan include: 

• An executive summary;
• The company structure;
• Ownership details;
• Marketing and advertising plans;
• Financials and projected turnover over the short- to medium term; 
• The anticipated break-even point;
• The number of employees expected to be hired and their expertise.

The document should also include furnishings and equipment, stock quantities, etc.

Define your USP

Whether you intend to offer fresh food stall concessionaires, operate from a night market, or create your offerings from your own house and sell them from your food stall, you need to have a unique selling point that sets you apart from your competitors. 

This means carefully analysing your offering, determining where your business stands out. A unique selling point (USP) is one or several unique advantages that set your business apart from others. This differentiating factor is also what draws customers to you. 

Examples of USPs for a street food stall business may include the nature of the food (e.g. Korean), where and how ingredients are sourced (e.g. organic or sustainably), your price point (e.g. you are more competitive and affordable than others), etc.

Licences

You also need to acquire the right licences and abide by local regulations when you start operating from a street location or a market. 

Examples of the types of licences you will need include: 

• Trading licence;
• Gas safety licence (if applicable);
• Music licence;
• A licence to serve alcohol, and others. 

Each one will depend on the locality you find yourself in because different municipalities have different regulations.

Find a street market pitch

What is your business’ tagline? How will you attract customers? 

You need to create a pitch so that you draw attention and customers to your food stall.

An example of a good pitch is “The best fish soup from London to Manchester.” This is used in your advertising and marketing materials and is what will draw attention to your street food stall while attracting customers. 

You can also add your street market pitch to your business plan (mentioned above). It encapsulates your USPs and presents your offering as standout and unique. 

Brand and logo

Your street food company’s brand is the personality of your business. Something you need to put consistent effort into is building and maintaining it over the long haul. It’s how customers will come to identify you and choose your meat, fruit or other food offerings when they are looking for something tasty to eat. 

For this reason, you’ll need to design a catchy logo with your brand colours that you’ll need to consistently put out in the public eye, whether you’re advertising on social media or on other platforms.

Buy a card machine

Payment methods

The bottom line for any food stall company is the payments it receives for the food it offers. 

With many customers turning to cashless methods of payment such as credit and debit cards or digital wallets, you need to ensure you work with a payment services provider that enables you to accept all types of payments, in addition to accepting cash.

For this purpose, you will need to offer your clientele ease and convenience when making payments. That’s why you can choose from a tap-to-pay alternative such as the myPOS Glass app or choose a point-of-sale (POS) device or card reader that can accept Chip & PIN payments, alongside magstripe, contactless and mobile app payments.

Develop social media to attract more people

To market your food stall, you’ll want to develop several social media accounts on various platforms to emphasise and attract customers. Instagram is highly image-focused and you can use this channel to promote your enticing food offering. 

Focus on what you bring to the table and present it in an attractive way. Make sure you are consistent when you post images, using the same brand colours and the same brand style on each one.

Advantages of food stalls

Running your own street food stall comes with multiple advantages. For starters, it’s an opportunity to be your own boss as you enter the world of entrepreneurship with a low-risk investment. However, there are many other good reasons to get started. Take a look at some of the benefits below.

1. Food stalls can be a good source of income and are a low-risk investment

The startup costs for street food stalls aren’t high. You’re looking in the region of a few thousand pounds to begin your undertaking.

In addition, if your business takes off, you can make some profits and earn a solid income. Just make sure you offer your customers a variety of ways to pay you.

For example, research shows that food trucks in London can earn between £70,000 and £100,000 or more a year, equating to several thousands pounds per month. 

2. Novice chefs can use it for branding 

If you’re a novice chef who doesn’t have the funds to start your own restaurant at this stage, you might consider treating your customers to your tasty dishes through a street food stall.

They’re a great way of introducing your brand to food lovers in your city and you can make a name for yourself when you start out small. 

3. They are portable and you can move your business to high-traffic areas

The other benefit of street food stalls is their portability. For example, you can operate from a hypermarket’s fresh market section on the ground floor or from a street that gets a lot of food traffic. Being mobile will allow you to move around and cater to customers at markets, fairs, events and high traffic streets, among others.

This means you’ll always have a clientele to cater to and you can earn more. 

Challenges of street food stall businesses

Just like any business endeavour, there are certain risks involved in starting a street food stall business. While you may hope that your venture gets off the ground as quickly as possible, you may encounter a few obstacles along the way. For example, you might consider the following challenges to help you mitigate your risks better.

1. Profits may not come so easily at first

Like any business, making it means putting in the effort and ensuring you provide a high quality product for consumption so that your business name will be remembered.

Starting out, you might find that you have more expenses than income or profits and you should be ready and prepared to wait out a few months before you can start breaking even. It is a good industry practice to have operational capital that’s worth around six months of income you would normally receive so that you give your street food stall a chance to take off. 

After all, you’ll have licences to pay and register (especially if selling alcohol as well), salaries of staff to keep in mind, as well as your equipment and produce, among others.  

2. Expect to work long hours

In order to make it in the street food stall business, you need to put in the time.

This could mean waking up early in the morning to set up the stall and getting to bed in the wee hours of the morning so that you’re able to catch the night-time clientele.

The lesson here is that you need to be prepared for long hours of work ahead of you.  

3. It could take time for your street food stall to make a name for itself

Keep in mind that making a name for yourself and earning a reputation takes time.

You’ll also need to consider the fact that your food and drink offering needs to be of high quality each and every single time you serve a customer, so that they keep coming back for more.

That’s why you should be ready to wait it out and be patient when it comes to recurring customers and establishing a brand name.

Start your street food stall today!

We hope we’ve given you enough information to help you make up your mind about opening a street food stall.

When starting out, all businesses are faced with pros and cons, but just because there are cons doesn’t mean that you should give up or not go for it.

Think of a street food stall as the starting point to opening up your future restaurant where you can showcase your culinary talents and treat your customers to delicious food and drinks.

You’ll be able to build a brand and make a name for yourself.

So, think about starting your very own street food stall today!