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Mobile Food Bargain Formula

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Now we’re finished with the bad guy legal notice, let’s learn about how to start, build and grow a fun and profitable mobile food business!

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Congratulations & Welcome

Welcome to my training on how to get your mobile food vehicle for bargain.

Congratulations on securing your copy and well done for getting started!

You made it here and done what many fail to do…TAKE

ACTION! You’ve taken the first step in learning how to

achieve your dream mobile food lifestyle instead of just

talk about it, so congratulations on what might just be

the best investment you’ve ever made.

You’ve given yourself the gift of a having a HUGE head-start in this business

and using what you’ll discover inside this training, you’ll have gained a HUGE

advantage over the majority of mobile food vendors who are just getting started, so

great job!

Many new vendors screw up. Often finding themselves searching for days, weeks

and months trying to find a suitable mobile food unit to suit their budget, style, menu

and other requirements. They waste hoards of time, energy and sanity and often pay

well over the odds. They discover the initial start-up phase of the mobile food

business is not quite as straight forward as buying your average vehicle.

I created this guide to help you find the right mobile food vehicle for your

upcoming food venture. You see, it was created out of frustration from countless past

experiences of travelling around months on end looking for the perfect catering

vehicle for my mobile food business and being utterly disappointed countless times

after travelling for hours on end to viewings and wading through various vans, trailers

and food units available.

I want to help you avoid the costly mistake of wasting 1000’s of your hard

earned money on the wrong food vehicle for your business and make sure you never

get screwed over. I’m going to show you how to negotiate deals like a pro so you can

become a confident mobile food entrepreneur and truly hit the ground running.

My intention was to give you a clear, concise, simple and actionable bargain-getting

formula that works. I asked myself “what works now and has worked for me and

other food vendors in the past? How can I best translate my thoughts, concepts,

ideas, techniques, and strategies and relay them to you as simply as possible? Can

anyone take this training and use it immediately without feeling overwhelmed or

confused?

I want you to really feel like you are sitting on a couch with me having a simple, easy

to understand conversation with a helpful friend.

In this special new training we’ll go through some of the basic things you’re going to

need to operate your mobile food business. You’ll learn what to look out for when


bargain hunting and the essential checks to do when looking at different mobile food

vehicles, whether it be a food truck, trailer, van, cart or stand.

You’ll learn some savvy negotiation tactics and my favourite places to get super-

cheap bargains too. I’ll walk you through some of my own shoestring start-up

techniques and give you a 7-step formula to get the perfect food outlet for your

business and a truly GREAT price

So far, I’ve had a TON of great feedback and success stories from home cooks,

chefs, caterers, restaurant owners, food vendors and food enthusiasts around the

world who have followed my techniques, systems and strategies and created their

own dream mobile food lifestyle. Each success story continues to surprise and

delight me…

...and I want YOURS!

For the past few years I’ve made it my life’s purpose to share my unique profit-pulling

concepts of our exploding little mobile food industry and help aspiring

foodtrepreneurs like you achieve MASSIVE SUCCESS in your business so you can

live the lifestyle you truly deserve, selling your food and recipes for large sums of

cash to happy paying customers and enjoy life on your own terms.

So let’s get to it. Get stuck in right away as I’m waiting

for your success story. From the bottom of my heart, I

wish you ALL the success with your mobile food

business, I’m truly rooting for you.

Mobile Food Mike :-)


Praise from Foodtrepreneurs Honest Reviews, Opinions & Real-Life Success Stories from my Email Inbox....

“This guide is the best thing I ever purchased...it could save you

thousands, and make you even more...”

“I have a lot more confidence and direction now.”

“...amazed at my good fortune

of stumbling across this”


“we’re in the process of starting...”

“your ebook has been a great help...”

“I’m sure we will use this for references”

“very detailed, informative and a very

important part of the process”


“...gave me the confidence to get going.”

“This is a must have...”

“We’re going to look at our first concession trailer on Friday...”

“Thank you so much...”


Contents Start Up Costs - 9 Anatomy of a Profitable Mobile Restaurant - 10 -Food Trucks -Food Trailers -Food Delivery Vans -Food Carts -Food Stands Essential Equipment - 19 19 Must-Have Low-Cost Utensils, Tools & Gadgets - 23 Choosing the RIGHT Vehicle for Your Business - 27 Planning Your Purchase - 28 Viewings & Crucial Checks - 31 Buying & Renting Options - 34 -Buying New -Buying Used -Leasing -Renting Your Driving - 38 Presentation - 39 Mobile Food Xfactor - 40 Shoestring Start-up Methods - 42 -Money Saving Makeover Method -Risk Free Rental Technique -Easy Import Method Buying & Negotiation Tricks - 48 -12 Jedi Negotiation & Buying Tricks -9 eBay Buying Strategies -The 5 Step Bargain System -The Low-Bid Bargain Strategy Buying From Dealers & Manufacturers - 58 My 6 Favourite Places for Finding Bargains - 60 Sexy Designs that Sell - 61 The Ultimate 7-Step Mobile Food Bargain Formula - 70

let’s get started...


Start-Up Costs

The type of mobile food business we choose to start will vary

greatly in costs. A minimalistic food stand with a simple tent,

cooking equipment, supplies and other miscellaneous bits can be

launched for under $1000 bucks, however food trucks and trailers

when all costs are factored in can be anywhere from $50K –

$200k, it all depends on our budget and the type of mobile

restaurant we are starting.

Also take into consideration most mobile food vehicles can be purchased using

financing, loans & credit and other forms of so our ‘initial vehicle cost’ in many cases

can be spread across monthly payments reducing our upfront start-up costs

significantly.

In terms of how much we should be allocating for each part of our mobile food

business, below is an example checklist of start up costs by percentage. This will

help you allocate your spending so you don’t overspend in certain areas and end up

running out of money because of bad budgeting.

All costs are approximate and by no means finite to your situation, hopefully you’ll

find some great deals and get started on a smaller budget that you actually have,

leaving you some financial room to breathe.

Example Start up Costs by Percentage

Vehicle Costs: 60%

Including initial vehicle purchase, retrofitting vehicle repairs & revamping etc.

Legal Costs: 5%

Including all insurances, permits, license fees, parking fines & fees, accounting etc.

Initial Stock Supply: 5%

Including food, drinks, cooking supplies, packaging, labels etc

Operational Costs: 20%

Including commercial kitchen rental, fuel, gas, all marketing & promotion, staff etc

Miscellaneous: 10%

A crucial financial safety net that must be factored into your starting budget. Things

will almost certainly come up that you did not plan for and budgeting these

unforeseen costs before they happen is vital when starting out.


Anatomy of a Profitable Mobile Restaurant

So here we’re going to identify the makeup and essential parts to a profitable mobile

restaurant. We’ll go through the mobile food vehicle features, facts & price ranges

along with important inspections and checks, and then later in this training I’ll teach

you how to get them at bargain prices.

No matter which type of mobile food vehicle you go for it needs to be: strong, secure,

safe, legal, long lasting, right for your menu and have the capacity to serve to large

crowds in order for us to take good profits daily and build a strong, profitable, long

term mobile food business.

Each mobile food vehicle will of course have different features, so let’s walk through

some of the fundamentals to become familiar with the 5 main mobile restaurant

vehicles and they’re features so you can avoid the common mistake of buying the

wrong mobile food vehicle at the wrong price and instead make an informed smart

decision when it comes time to part with your cash.

Anatomy of a Food Truck

Food trucks, also called lunch trucks, catering trucks, roach coaches, mobile

restaurants, gourmet food trucks etc are quickly becoming the most popular choice

for mobile food vendors, despite being the most expensive vehicle.

1: Concept: The business theme and brand identity.

2: Menu: Big, bold and clear, NOT tiny busy and confusing.

3: Service Window: Where the food orders are taken, money exchanged & food delivered.

4: Main Hatch: Gas strut dampers open & close the main hatch for serving times.

5: Self Service Display Area: Exterior self service display saves the time of handing up-sell

items & smaller products so you can focus big ticket meal items and get more food out the

window, however not all trucks offer this exterior self serve display.

6: Skylights: Vertical opening air vents called ‘sky lights’ give the truck breathing space,

fresh air & natural sunlight.

1.

6.

2.

3.

4.

5.

7. 8.

9.


7: Social Media Marketing: Encourages customers to connect with you, a crucial part of

building a loyal customer following.

8: Private Hire Marketing: Highlighted phone number with a call to action showing you’re

available for private hire.

9: Power: Gas supply & electric generator are usually built into storage compartments of the

truck during the build process.

Other Styles:

Notes:

Internal appliances and equipment will be determined by your menu, most food

trucks are custom built or altered to your menu preparation needs.

Major Models & Manufacturers:

Most food trucks are built by custom fitting used step vans. This is because step

vans are close to the ground and easier to take orders, exchange money and hand

out foods. Diesel fuelled trucks are among the most popular as they tend to last

much longer and have less problems than petrol trucks.

Most popular step van makes & models include: Grumman Olson Stepvan,

Chevrolet P30 Stepvan, Ford P30 Stepvan, Ford E350 Stepvan, Freightliner MT45

Stepvan, GMC P30 Stepvan, Utilimaster Stepvan & the Workhorse W42 Stepvan.

Sizes: The sizes of food trucks depend on the size of what’s called the ‘bed’ of the

truck. The bed is the kitchen area of the truck and not the bonnet or drivers area.

Food truck beds start at around 10ft and go up in increments of 2ft. 14ft and 16 ft

food trucks are among the most common.

Typical cost:

Food trucks are among the most popular and fastest growing part of the mobile food industry, however the start up costs involved with launching this style of mobile restaurant are among the highest. Low End Mid Range High End Vehicle Cost : $12,000 $45,000 $100,000 Legal Costs: $1,000 $3,750 $8,000 Initial Food & Stock Supply: $1,000 $3,750 $8,000 Operational Costs: $4,000 $15,000 $35,000 Miscellaneous: $2,000 $7,500 $15,000

Raised Vented Roof

Smaller Style

Window only

(no self service) Custom


Total Food Truck Business Start Up Cost (approx): Low end: $20,000-$30,000 Mid range: $30,000-$100,000 High end: $100,000-$200,000+

Anatomy of a Food Trailer

Food trailers, also called catering trailers, concession trailers, mobile kitchens,

kitchen trailers, food wagons etc are generally the next stage down in price from

gourmet food trucks and another very popular vehicle used by food vendors around

the world.

1: Concept: The business theme and brand identity

2: Private Hire Marketing: Available for private parties



4: Menu: Big, bold and clear, NOT tiny busy and confusing.

5: Double Wheel Base: Provides a much stronger sturdy catering unit compared to single

wheel base units.


7: Trailer Support Legs: Roots the trailer to the ground when in use

8: Storage Cage: Front storage cage usually used for gas tanks and sometimes generators.

9: Tow Bar: The tow attachment has an adjustable guide wheel for manoeuvrability and

connects up to the tow vehicles tow bar and electrics to power the trailers rear driving lights.

Notes:

Some food trailers are single wheel bases with just 1 wheel either side, others are

double wheel based with 2 wheels either side. Double wheel bases are much

sturdier and highly recommended if choosing to go the catering trailer route.

1. 2.

4.

5. 7.

6.

8.

9.

3.


Other Styles:


Unlike food trucks and delivery vans, towable food trailers are originally built from

scratch by a manufacturer. Major USA food trailer manufacturers include: Food Cart

USA, JRP Concession Trailers, Custom Concessions, Kitchen on Wheels Canada,

Miami Trailer & Portland Food Trailers and many more. Major UK manufacturers

include: Towability, Wilkinson, AJC, Excel Trailers, Tudor Catering trailers & 4sure

Trailers.

Typical cost:

Catering trailers / concession trailers are the next step down in terms of cost to start in the mobile food business, however if this is the style of mobile restaurant you choose, be sure to bear in mind the cost of a tow vehicle to pull the trailer. Low End Mid Range High End Vehicle Cost: $6,000 $24,000 $48,000 Legal Costs: $500 $2,000 $4,000 Initial Food & Stock Supply: $500 $2,000 $4,000 Operational Costs: $2,000 $8,000 $16,000 Miscellaneous: $1,000 $4,000 $8,000

Total Food Trailer Business Start Up Cost: Low end: $5,000-$25,000 Mid range: $25,000-$65,000 High end: $65,000-$100,000

Anatomy of a Food Delivery Van

Food Delivery vans, also called catering vans, food vans, lunch vans, lunch trucks,

fridge vans, sandwich vans etc are very similar to food trucks as they often visit

multiple scheduled stops, however delivery vans tend to only stock pre-packaged

foods and tend to focus on short-term 30-60min stops to business parks instead of

setting up for many hours at one location as with most other mobile food businesses.

Airstream Vintage Trailer

Single Wheel Base

Events Style (flashy)

Custom


1: Concept: The business theme and brand identity




4: Refrigerated Service Areas: Holds

5: Hot Holding Cabinet: Holds pies, pastries and other hot products to keep them warm.

6: Hot Drinks Service Area: Built in commercial coffee machine capable of all types of hot

drinks, not standard in all vans however, many keep it simple and serve cold drinks only.

7: Power: Refrigeration, electricity and any heat components usually draw power from the

vehicles diesel engine however separate electric and gas power sources are sometimes

used.

Other Styles:

Notes:

The onboard equipment you get depends on how big you want your menu and

offerings to be. If serving unpackaged hot foods, most regulations will require you to

have a hand washing sink somewhere on the truck. Many of these catering trucks

will come with a key-out anti drive-away feature that lets the engine run without the

key being in the ignition, so the engine will run and power the vans equipment and

won’t get stolen.


Food delivery vans are custom built by fitting refrigeration and food service

equipment to mid-sized van chassis, mostly pickup trucks. Popular food delivery van

makes & models in the USA include: Ford E150 Reefer Truck, Ford Ranger Truck,

Multi-Panel Fold-Out

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. 6.

7.

Back Loading Fridge vans

Custom


Chevrolet 2500 Pickup Truck and the GMC 3500 Truck. Vans from the UK are

mostly made from Citroen Berlingo, Citroen Dispatch, Toyota Dyna, Ford Ranger.

Sizes:

As these food delivery trucks are all made from similar pickup trucks they all have a

similar size of around 14ft in length.

Typical cost:

Smaller sandwich round and mobile food delivery van start up costs are usually the cheapest form of motorised food business, often requiring half the required capital than the larger trucks or trailers. This style of mobile restaurant is most suited for midday lunch rounds and not ideal for most events and shows. Low End Mid Range High End Vehicle Cost: $3,000 $9,000 $27,000 Legal Costs: $250 $750 $2,250 Initial Food & Stock Supply: $250 $750 $2,250 Operational Costs: $1000 $3,000 $9,000 Miscellaneous: $500 $1,500 $4,500

Total Food Delivery Van Business Start Up Cost Low end: $5,000-$15,000 Mid range: $15,000-$30,000 High end $30,000-$50,000

Anatomy of a Food Cart

Food carts mostly called hot dog carts, ice cream carts or whichever food niche the

vendor is in, are again a hugely popular vehicle in the mobile food world, let’s look at

the legendary hot dog cart, it being the 800lb gorilla in the food vending industry.

1.

2.

3. 4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

1: Concept: The business theme and brand

identity

2: Shelter: The Classic hot dog cart

umbrella, not always included or necessary if

the cart is a self contained unit with coverage

from the elements. Double umbrella setup

provides shelter plus higher visibility.

3: Main service area: Food equipment area,

in this case a three compartment steamer

with self service condiment station.

4: Grill Station: Often included on hot dog

stands for fast service.

5: Glassed in Display Area: Great for

display pretzels, snacks and any other add-

ons.


6: Up-Sells: High visibility up-sell area features potato chips hanging from ‘chip clips’ and a

variety of snacks and soft drinks to add to customers orders.

7: Product Pictures: Featuring good quality visual pictures of the high selling items

increases sales.

8: Storage: Most lower parts of food carts should be used as storage compartments for

stock.

Other Styles:

Notes:

The setup of your cart can range a great deal. Food carts come in all shapes and

sizes, some with many more features than others, if you’re looking to feed huge

crowds you’ll need to be prepared with a setup that can handle the orders.


Like food trailers, nearly all food carts are professionally built from scratch by

manufacturers. Popular food cart builders include: Willies Hot Dog Carts, Carts of

America & All American Hot Dog Carts. Most dealers offer worldwide delivery.

Typical cost:

One of the iconic cornerstones of our mobile food industry the hot dog cart is a great super-low-cost way to get started in your own mobile food business, especially on a shoestring budget. Although hot dog carts and other small food push-carts can’t compete with other larger mobile food vehicles size and volume capacity, they can still stock and serve to very large crowds and high volumes per day with no problem. Low End Mid Range High End Vehicle Cost: $1,500 $4,500 $9,000 Legal Costs: $125 $375 $750 Initial Food & Stock Supply: $125 $375 $750 Operational Costs: $500 $1,500 $3,000 Miscellaneous: $250 $750 $1,500

Total Food Cart Business Start Up Cost Low end: $2,000-$5,000 Mid range: $5,000-$10,000 High end $10,000-$20,000

Custom

Motorised Cart Push-Bike Carts


Anatomy of a Food Stand

Food stands, also called food booths, food kiosks, catering stands, food marquee,

food tents etc are by far the most low-cost way to setup a mobile restaurant. Longer

setup times and low manoeuvrability often restrict food stands to temporary events

only, that being said, some of the best money is made at temporary outdoor events.

With such a low price of entry into the mobile food business a food stand can be a

great low-cost high-profit business.

1: Marquee: A basic branded marquee provides shelter from the elements and gives greater

visibility to the food stand.

2: Menu & Signage: Always need to be big, bold and clear, NOT tiny busy and confusing.

3: Tables: Collapsible tables with covers are all you need for a basic setup

4: Cooking Equipment: Your equipment will of course vary depending on your menu

options, keeping it simple is often best with a food stand mobile restaurant.

5: Self Serve Cool Box: A large cool box full of ice provides a great self-service drinks

station for customers.

6: Condiments Station: Separate table for sauces, condiments, napkins, cutlery etc gives a

good customers flow through your operation. Also a great area for additional up-sell snacks

if the main cooking/service area is too full.

Other Styles:

1.

2.

4.

3. 5.

6.

Kiosk Style

Larger Marquee Setup


Notes:

Marquees should be quick and easy to setup, we want to the set up and set down

times to be a quick as possible to reduce workload for everyone. A popular and

highly recommended food stand feature is a wire mesh screen that surrounds the

tent/marquee for improved hygiene.


As each food stand setup is made up of many separate parts, there are no main

manufacturers to this mobile food ‘vehicle’. Apart from a basic marquee, table setup

& high visibility sign displays, the cooking equipment needed will depend on your

menu and products.

With this style of mobile food business the canopy you choose will be the foundation

of your setup, appearance and business. The most popular food

tent/canopy/marquee is the ‘ez up canopy 10x10’ which price in at around 100 bucks

online, often cheaper. There are of course a range of shapes and sizes out there and

‘different’ canopy shapes can make a dramatic difference to a food stands

appearance, especially when trying to create a professional mobile restaurant with

ambience and style.

Typical cost: By far the cheapest option, a mobile food stand

operation can be put together using tables, mobile

kitchen essentials and a low cost tent for shelter. This

style of mobile restaurant does however take a great

deal longer to setup and pack down compared to all

other forms of food vending, but popular at all kinds of

outdoor events nonetheless.

Low End Mid Range High End Vehicle Cost: $250 $1000 $5,000 Legal Costs: $125 $250 $500 Initial Food & Stock Supply: $125 $250 $500 Operational Costs: $250 $500 $1,000 Miscellaneous: $250 $500 $1,000

Total Food Stand Business Start Up Cost Low end: $500-$1,000 Mid range: $1,000-$3,000 High end $3,000-$10,000


Essential Equipment

3 Essential Equipment Checks

1: Reliability: Is the equipment reliable?

We want equipment that will work reliably for us long-term and be suitable for

commercial use, there’s nothing worse than equipment cutting out when you have a

queue of 20 hungry prospects, this scenario can cost you thousands in lost earnings.

2: Knowledge: How exactly does it work?

Knowing how the equipment works is just as important as the first check. If we don’t

know how to operate the equipment safely, we put ourselves, our staff, the public

and the equipment itself in danger. Knowledge such as how it is fuelled? Gas

powered? Electric? How much electric exactly? How is it meant to be cleaned? Do

any parts need replacing? etc. No question is dumb.

3: Legal Requirements: Are there legal requirements for using it?

Each style and area of business will differ here, but running our business legally is

paramount. If using gas for instance you’ll need certification for it as well as sufficient

fire safety equipment. This is just one example. Local manufacturers and sellers of

the equipment will most likely know of legal implications and certification so be sure

to ask.

Here are some common mobile food equipment found in most mobile restaurants.

Take the time to familiarize yourself with these for the purposes of viewing potential

catering units and vehicles. The following equipment is by no means an exhaustive

list, simply the most common equipment in the industry found in most food trucks,

trailers & stands. Each business and menu is different and will of course require

specific equipment suited to your menu.

Gas Supply

The gas you’ll use is either LPG or Butane. Most mobile food businesses use gas tanks in some form to fuel their equipment. Many vehicle manufacturers fit them as standard into the vehicle. Whenever using gas ensure the gas tanks are stored safely inside a secure cage. Also ensure there is a gas safety valve to cut off the gas when not in use and to stop any kind of leaks.

Electric Generator

To run any electrical equipment in your mobile food business you’ll need a generator, diesel being the most popular choice and best for the money as petrol powered ones don’t last as long. Generators like this run for as long as 20+ hours on one tank and often have built-in noise reduction technology plus include wireless remote start for an effortless power-up.


Features like these make them perfect for powering mobile food operations.

To work out what size generator you’ll need, multiply the volts by the amps on each appliance to get the wattage, add up the total wattage of all appliances combined then add another 20% as a safety net.

Griddle / Hot Plate

The griddle is the large rectangular hot plate used for cooking a great deal of food such as eggs, sausages, burgers, onions and tons of other food items. Used mostly to cook meats its usually the foundation piece of cooking equipment for many mobile food vendors. Most are gas powered however more electric griddles are popping up with low prices.

Deep Fat Fryer

Used in around 85% of ALL food service establishments the classic deep fat fryer cook foods such as chicken, fish, breaded vegetables, specialized pastries and of course, the classic French-fries. Fry baskets should be loaded to at least one-half of their capacity but never more than two-thirds. During slack periods, the fryer should be turned off or its temperature turned to a 200 degree standby setting. This saves energy and increases the life of the fat.

Deep fat fryers come in both gas and electric form. Electric fuelled fryers have many advantages such as faster preheating and recovery times, require less ventilation & take up less fat, however gas is an energy form is cheaper to run.

Gas Cooker / Stove / Hob

Many food trucks are fitted with the classic 4 ring gas stove, an essential in most kitchens. Gas being one of the foundation fuels of the entire food industry, it’s no surprise to see a gas cooker of some sort in 99% of mobile food operations. Many food stands use portable gas cookers when working their outdoor events.

Panini Press / Sandwich Grill

One of the most common toys in the mobile sandwich business is the Panini press, also called a Panini grill or sandwich grill/press. Version 1 is an electronic grill which often comes with built-in timers so you don’t end up burning your products.


Version 2 is the press style version which is a simple weighted iron grill press that sits on the griddle to stay hot and products such as sandwiches, Panini’s, bacon and other meats etc are placed on the griddle and pushed down by the iron press weight. Often it’s a cost effective way to cook as it saves on buying electric grills and saves on electricity by using the gas that’s already burning to heat the griddle.

Bain Marie

The bain-marie is a stainless steel hot holding multi-pot container that keep foods hot. Common foods like sausages, beans, bacon, rice, meat, sauces, toppings and practically any other foods that needs to stay hot. Available in both gas and electric they are usually another foundation tool for the business allowing quick preparation of foods and sauces.

Refrigeration, Freezers & Ice Boxes

Refrigeration comes in many forms and is a vital part of many mobile food operations to store food and drinks safely prior to consumption and needs to hold their temperature all day. It’s important to organise and assign different sections of refrigeration to store different food and drinks. You’re fridges also need an outside temperature gauge of some sort that tells you the temperature at all times.

Many vehicles use open self-service style display fridges and ice boxes to hold drinks. These are most common on food trucks, trailers and delivery vans.

Hot Holding Cabinet

Hot holding cabinets also come in a huge range of shapes, sizes and prices. Not to be mistaken by any type of hot food cookers, hot holding cabinets are purely for the display of pre-cooked foods such as pies, pastries & other hot cooked foods that need to stay hot.

Hot Water Urn

One of the most commonly used equipment in the industry used of course to boil water for teas, instant coffees, hot chocolate and any other hot drinks. Beverages like these being some of the industry’s highest selling items often makes a hot water urn an essential to the business.

Most water boilers usually run from gas (LPG/Propane or Butane) however electric powered boilers have recently become popular with caterers as the prices are often much lower than gas (when brand new).


Coffee Machine

Some choose to focus on the one common big seller that is coffee. Depending on the size of you operation and drinks menu options, coffee machines and styles range from small & simple jug styles to large 4 tap commercial powerhouses with all the bells and whistles. Choose one that fits your scale.

Ambient Storage Space

Stock, packaging and everything else needed to run your day to day operation needs to have an assigned area in your vehicle or setup that can happily sit at an ambient temperature, things like snacks and drinks etc. Systemizing storage space should be common practice. Organisation like this greatly increases productivity and output. If not operating from a vehicle low-cost shelving racks can be used.

Hot Water & Sink

In pretty much most countries, any vendor selling unpackaged foods is usually required by law to have running hot water and a sink to wash hands in (usually a multi-basin sink required, one basin for water supply and washing utensils and another for washing of hands). The rules will vary on the type and size of mobile food vehicle you have and the country you’re trading in. The hot water will usually be heated by an electrical water heater in the water system setup.

Custom Equipment

Pizza Oven

Traditional pizza ovens burn logs in a wood-burning fire heated oven. Nowadays electric pizza ovens are available where the pizzas are stacked vertically, there’s also gas fuelled versions that mimic the wood-fire look and style but burn gas instead.

Kebab Grill / Gyro Machine

Many middle eastern and Greek vendors use gyro machines to cook and serve up a range of kebab meats. Usually using 3 or so burners the gyro slowly spins to cook and heat the meat. These come electric or gas powered, gas more often being the cheaper version to run.

Hog Roaster

There’s 1001 ways to cook a pig and hog roasters like these are very popular with outside catering companies. They cook an entire pig on a revolving spit, some use gas, some burn wood and charcoal in the traditional BBQ style. Many large hog roasters get attached to a wheel base for easy towing and


manoeuvrability between jobs, some are of course fitted inside a larger catering unit.

Smoothie Makers / Blenders

Fruit smoothies have exploded in popularity over the past years and are quick, easy and cheap to do. These electric smoothie blenders come in different sizes and powers. Blown motors are a common problem with these so be sure to get a commercial machine with a strong motor that crushes ice with no problem. Noise can also be an issue however some are even fitted with an outer noise-reduction shell so you can still talk and hear your staff and customers.

Soup Urn

Soup urns like this are electric and will keep your soups nice and hot all day long without taking up too much power. Alternatively, we can of course use segments of our gas powered Bain Marie to keep and serve hot soup throughout the day.

Microwave Oven

Generally not the foundation of all cooking but can be useful to speed up the cooking process of some food items like baked potatoes, sauces etc.

19 Must-Have Low-Cost Utensils, Tools & Gadgets

Here are some common utensils, tools and gadgets in the mobile food business that many vendors can’t, wont and shouldn’t trade without. All can be found on amazon.com or by doing a quick Google search and comparing suppliers.

Commercial Knife Set

Having a good commercial knife set that you like the feel of is crucial for day to day work. Most chefs like heavy weighted knives for most of the kitchen work, some however prefer lightweight, be sure to buy knives to your cooking style and taste.

Tongs

A good pair of tongs or a set of multiple tongs is often another essential food vending tool. Whether you get a fancy pair with special grips or just a standard pair makes almost no difference to operations. They’re the go-to tool when moving, mixing and serving nearly all foods and most chefs and vendors are holding a pair every few minutes.


Spatulas Alongside knives and tongs, spatulas are the third sibling in the essential utensil brotherhood. Weirdly, instead of the traditional wood or metal spatula a new silicone breed has evolved and is the most popular choice among vendors and many chefs. These silicone spatulas are used to spread and mix any foods and are cheap, lightweight, durable, come in any colour and can handle temperatures of 500°F without a sweat.

Food Storage Boxes

Another essential to any commercial kitchen is the safe and hygienic transfer and storage of your foods, mostly to and from refrigeration. The range of multi-box sets and the different sizes available are extensive, but all-in-all a pretty low cost essential item. The click-lock seal style is among the most popular choice.

Food Service Gloves

Customers love to see good hygiene when their food is being prepared and nothing shows this better than you and your staff making it a rule to wear plastic sandwich gloves when serving. They keep your hands clean, the food clean and your customers (and inspectors) happy. With such a low cost for a box of 100+ pairs, there’s really no excuse not to equip yourself with them.

Apron

We’ll talk more about the use of aprons later in this module, but for now, just note that we certainly want to include aprons as an essential to our basic day to day vending attire.

Waste Bin

Unless operating a delivery round or trading busy city centre streets with sufficient waste disposal, it’s good ‘karma’ to provide waste bins for your customers, especially when trading at festivals and any outdoor catering events, customers leaving waste packaging and food all over the place never looks good.

Sauce Dispensers / Self-Service Station area

It’s often a nice touch to allow customers the freedom to add their own sauces, who else knows the quantity of sauce they want then the customer themselves. The 2 most popular self-serve sauce dispensers are the normal squirt dispensers and the push down tap style dispensers.


Fire Safety Equipment

In most regions it will be required that you carry fire safety equipment such as a powder or foam fire extinguisher & fire blanket, these are the standard for oil and gas fires in kitchens. Even if it was not a legal requirement I would still 100% suggest having these on board for obvious safety reasons and peace of mind.

Catering First Aid Kit As I’m sure you’re aware, when working in the food industry we’re required to wear high-visibility blue plasters instead of the traditional flesh coloured ones to prevent getting lost in food. These blue plasters along with tons of other first aid essentials are found in any catering first aid kit. If the unit you’re looking at doesn’t have one you can get hold of one for next to nothing. Again these are a legal requirement in most areas.

Food Thermometer

Required by law in most countries, the classic food thermometer allows you to check the core temperatures of your food using a sensor probe, mostly used when cooking meats. Available in both LED display digital version and classic needle style.

Cash Register or Money Box

A secure cash register or money box is an important asset of any mobile food business, some mobile food traders like to use a money pouch which hangs from their waist, this can sometimes be beneficial for a someone like a small coffee vendor however for larger operations a till/cash register will be much faster not to mention more secure. Cash registers can be rented, leased or bought new or second hand from a range of shops online and offline.

Payment Processing Gadgets

With a large selection of simple, quick & low cost devices to choose from, these little payment processing gadgets turn any smart phone or tablet device into a payment processing machine so you can accept card payments from customers. Popular devices include the ‘Paypal here’ device (www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/credit-card-reader), the ‘Cube’ device (www.cubepay.com) and the izettle (www.izettle.com) and each charge around 3% per transaction.


Security Equipment

With huge sums of money invested in our mobile food vehicle, not to mention the equipment and stock on board, it makes sense to invest in some security for our mobile restaurant. A strong wheel clamp and strong locks on any doors and hatches need to be included in your setup, however large or small your operation is, especially when leaving vehicles overnight and out of your sight.

Safe / Interior Money Box

Again, we want to keep our cash and assets on board our

catering units secure. Sometimes just a low-cost money box

with a key will do, however some food trucks prefer a small safe

fitted into the vehicle for extra security.

Tracking Device

Often insurance companies will require you to install a vehicle

tracking device, especially when insuring valuable food trucks

and trailers. Generally, even if it’s not required, I believe it’s a

great idea to have this type of security and protection over such

valuable assets. Tracking devices are often fitted by

manufacturers, if not you can find fairly low-cost self powered

trackers online and install yourself for peace of mind.

Smart phone

Any smart phone with access to the internet is pretty much a

must in this business. Not only will it keep you company in the

quiet hours, it’s the cornerstone of your marketing with direct

access to social media sites and online promotion. Many smart

phones also now have the capability to provide a WI-FI internet

connection, which is a great perk you can offer your

surrounding customers, especially at outdoor events and

festivals.


Choosing the RIGHT Vehicle for Your Business

Without the right outlet whether it be a food truck, delivery van, catering trailer or food stand, without the RIGHT mobile food vehicle for our business…we're dead in our tracks.

In this business, the truck, trailer and other equipment you will use in your day-to-day operations is the single most important investment you will make and will be the core foundation of the entire business itself.

Later in this training we’ll talk about the pro’s and con’s of ownership, and weigh up your options whether to buy new, buy used or to rent your vehicle temporarily. For most vendors however the decision is made…BUY.

I must stress that getting this part right is crucial to our future success. The decision of BUYING your vehicle should be made with some degree of sensible thought as it’s a big buying decision that will affect numerous outcomes in the long run.

For example:

Our vehicle is the CORE of all of our marketing and will be attracting the eye of potential customers from every direction.

The mobile food vehicle we buy represents how customers identify our business, our food products and our brand.

It also determines what food, drinks and other goods we are able to sell when it comes to the internal equipment layout and gives a good indication of the menu options we can offer.

It determines how quickly we’re able to operate at busy times and how effectively and quick we can sell our tasty products through its structure and internal layout. If positioned correctly we can greatly improve our productivity, serving speeds, which of course in turn increase our profits.

Your mobile food truck, trailer or stand will be THE biggest asset of your business proving you with a sustainable income and providing the business with VALUE both on and off paper.

It will probably be the greatest single investment of the business and

depending on the size of your operation and budget can span from a small

outlay of a few hundred bucks in the case of food booths, tents and mobile

food marquees, and head up to the $200,000 range or more with full-scale

mobile restaurant trailers, food trucks etc.

So the mobile food vehicle and the catering gear we use is an essential part of

running an effective mobile food business, therefore it’s essential you know NOW


what to look for, the legal implications involved, how to properly use your vehicle and

equipment and of course how to get the best deals possible when buying.

There are a range of factors that affect the mobile food trade and have a big

influence on your sales. Such factors include the weather, season, time of year,

types of crowds and their tastes etc. Ideally the vehicle and equipment you choose to

buy or rent should be as flexible as possible to deal with such factors.

In summer for example you’ll make more money selling summer products such as

cold drinks, iced fruit smoothies etc, while in winter these items would not sell nearly

as well so switching a few winter product lines to items like hot soup would be a

smart seasonal move. Having flexibility like this in our business allows us to make

much more money as we can adapt our menu and approach to the different crowds,

scenarios and opportunities that come our way.

Planning Your Purchase

So how do we know our investment is being spent in the right place..?

There is huge a sea of mobile food vehicles out there both old and new with a huge

variety of manufacturers that can supply them, so how do we make sure that we’re

making the right decision, how do we make sure we’re not paying over the odds and

how can we get the most for our money?

Here’s the mistakes most new vendors will do

when attempting to find that dream trailer, truck or

cart, or buying anything for that matter.

They get excited at the prospect of buying and

owning their new mobile food vehicle searching

through every advert which might just be in their

price range then find one which seems an absolute

not-to-be-missed bargain buy for them (or so they

think).

After some very poor judgments, choices and a short phone call to the owner they

then travel huge distances often across the country for a viewing to be either highly

disappointed or negotiate like a newbie and let the seller get the best of them. Not

the best start.

Mistake number one is letting emotion blind our vision. The excitement and hope that

we are going into business will often encourage many of us to make rash and fast

decisions which are never a good thing in any business. Often the seller will

encourage a quick sale because of the great interest, don’t buy into it. Buy logically

in your own time and don’t let anyone pressure you. Another primary buying mistake

is to scour through adverts without a clear planned outcome, budget or even an idea


for which type of business model they are looking for i.e menu, concept, colour

scheme etc.

The Rule: Resist Impulse Buying & Delay Instant Gratification

Buying anything is easy. It’s fun and gives us a great

emotional rush that feels great. But instant gratification

purchases are dangerous, especially with big purchases

like this. The best poker players plan their plays and risk

their chips strategically, but most importantly they know

when to fold, and you should too. Don’t buy from

impulse, plan your purchase and execute a smart buy

for the long-term.

I’ve lived and breathed this industry, made and watched

all the mistakes and learnt from firsthand experience the

best (and worst) ways to hunt for the ‘golden goose’

catering units and have found some crucial definitions

that pro vendors use that greatly reduce our financial risk and make for a much

better buying decision when purchasing mobile food vehicles.

Four Crucial Questions Before Buying ANY vehicle

1: What’s Our Concept, Style & Menu?

You’ll most likely have a good idea of your menu items and the style of your

business, but a vague picture isn’t enough, we want to get a crystal clear plan of the

foods and drinks we will be offering and the appliances, equipments and space that

we’ll need to run the operation smoothly. Hot dog vendors, for example, will use

completely different equipment to sandwich vendors, so knowing our menu inside

and out will help us determine the equipment we need.

2: What Type of Mobile Food Vehicle is Best? (Truck, Trailer, Cart, Stand etc)

All mobile food vehicles are NOT created equal. Each mobile food vehicle each has

it own pros and cons. Food trucks are great in many ways but often very expensive

and out of a lot of peoples budget. Food trailers offer the same space as food trucks

often for much less money, however they need a tow vehicle to move around and

not as aesthetically pleasing. Food carts can be super-cheap but their size and

capacity limit may also limit your output & servings numbers and therefore limit your

income. My advice would be to go with what your budget will comfortably allow.

3: What Locations Will We Trade From?

Before spending any money we need to specify who our target audience is and

define a number of possible trading locations we can go to sell to that audience. This


also gives an indication towards the size of unit we need along with types of foods,

color, advertising styles etc and help create the perfect optimized unit for your niche.

BIG TIP: Buy your food vehicle in the state/region you will be trading from. This

ensures it is legally sound to trade where you want and has already gone through all

of the gruelling legal checks and time-consuming paperwork.

(see my advanced training on finding and securing profitable locations here: LINK).

4: What’s Our Strict Total Start-Up Budget? (That We Will Stick To)

We want to determine a budget for everything and I would strongly suggest creating

a business plan that covers all areas in the planning stages. It is surprising how

effective a short business plan can be. Writing everything down in a structured

format like this will give you a good direction and will almost certainly help if you

need financial backing. Having this much precision planning and budgeting using a

business plan greatly reduces our risk, some studies say by as much as 90%.

As a guide, the mobile food vehicle we buy will usually represent 50-75% of the total

start-up funds, remember there are many more expenses that we must allow in the

budget when starting out.

Once we have addressed these four key questions, looking through adverts for

equipment is far easier and smarter as you have a clear defined plan of the menu,

the equipment needed, the locations, the costs and many other factors.

This process of ‘resisting from impulse buying’ and ‘planning your purchase’ gives us

the alignment we need to make a smart educated buying decision that suits us best

and suits the business best for the long term.


Viewings & Crucial Checks

Unless we’re having our mobile food vehicle built for us from new, we’ll need to go to

inspect and view the unit to check it works and suits your business. Many vendors

end up with junk equipment from ‘impulse buying’. Here are some crucial checks to

do before handing over any cash to buy any type of mobile restaurant.

For Motorised Mobile Food Vehicles:

Wheels & Tyre Check

Check the wheels and tyres to ensure they have enough tread to be road legal and

make sure the axle and wheels are generally in good condition with working brakes.

Mileage Check

A good signal for the overall engines health is the mileage.

It’s advised that trucks and vans with 200,000KM or more

should be avoided for the purposes of business use that we

intend to do. Often much of the mileage will be ‘motorway’

miles clocked up from long distance catering jobs,

nevertheless if the mileage is really high and you still want to

buy, be sure to have good roadside cover with a fast

callout/recovery time.

The best mileage to aim for is around 50-125k on the clock, reason being, any lower

and the price tag will be too high, too much higher and you run the risk of mechanical

failures cropping up. Vehicles with 50-125k will usually be the best bargains with

plenty of life left in them (Many trucks and commercial vans go past 300k easily).

Electrical Check

With any type of towable food trailers, check the brake and indicator lights work

when attached up to the tow vehicle. A common problem with towable food trailers is

gremlins in the electrics that cuts out the trailers driving lights and makes them

temperamental, very dangerous and of course illegal when driving. Have someone

show you the indicator lights and brake lights working. The same goes with any other

type of mobile food vehicle, check every light and

Chassis Check

The chassis (pronounced “shassie”) is the foundation of most vehicles with wheels. It

is the metal frame that holds the entire base of the trailer together with the wheels

attached and allows the trailer to be mobile in the first place. For bonus points, look

for a galvanised chassis.

Galvanising is a metal protecting method used to protect metal from damaging

weather elements and is commonly used on strong fencing, outdoor construction

metals, road signs etc and is often used on truck, trailer and food cart frames and

chassis. Best part is, it will never rust.


Mechanical Check

When spending such a big sum of money, its best to have a little ‘mechanical

knowledge’ to give you some confidence the thing won’t fall apart a hundred yard up

the road. Consider bringing along a mechanic friend for a detailed look if you’re not

vehicle savvy. Any faults with the vehicle or equipment should be reflected in the

sale price and the mechanic can give you a rough cost of anything that needs fixing.

Test Drive

Ask to be driven around the block or to be taken for a test drive before handing over

any cash.

Checks for All Mobile Food Units:

Health and Safety Check

Whenever viewing any possible catering unit we need to

put ourselves in a health and safety/ food safety

mindset. It is important not to be distracted by shiny

lights, gadgets and gizmos that the catering unit may

have.

Instead we need to concentrate on the core business

issues and that it complies with the hygiene standards

set by our local Environmental Health department.

Sometimes a certificate will be available to prove that it

has passed an inspection by an environmental health officer.

Equipment Check: Have the seller do a dry run and show all of the equipment

working properly. Check to see if any of the equipment has any manufacturer

warranties and if they come with any certification.

Surfaces Check

The surfaces on the food vending vehicles and catering units for sale must be easy

to clean. This includes food preparation surfaces and the walls of the unit adjacent to

the food preparation areas. Food preparation table-top surfaces are often made from

stainless steel, often the walls will usually be made of the same steel sheets or an

easy to clean white plastic laminate.

Water System Check

An efficient water system with a good pump, working taps and good drainage system

is an important factor when it comes to health and safety. The number of wash

basins required depends on the food you are preparing. Most councils and health

and safety departments will require you have at least one basin for washing your

hands, which cannot be used for any other purpose and one basin for washing food

to washing up dirty crockery and knives etc.


Refrigeration Check

Most food vending requires some type of cold food storage and depending on the

type of food you are preparing, a freezer may be necessary too. When checking a

second-hand vehicles refrigeration be sure to start it up and actually feel the cold

kick in, also make sure the external thermometer is on and working correctly.

Catering First-Aid Kit & Fire Equipment

If the unit you are looking at doesn’t have a first-aid kit you can get hold of them

pretty easily for next to nothing but again this is a must in most areas. In terms of fire

equipment, all that is needed is a mini extinguisher and compact fire blanket and

again these can be picked up for next to nothing at most online and offline shops.

Gas Equipment Check

If there are any gas appliances on board the catering unit a gas safety certificate will

be needed and must be kept up to date and may require a licence too. Check any

hot plates, stoves, Bain Marie’s and other gas equipment are fully working, burning

and heating like they should.

Electrical Equipment Check

If the unit is using electrical appliances an electrical certificate is needed to show that

the appliances have been tested and safe to use at future events. All electrical

appliances must also be connected to a master trip-switch / circuit breaker to ensure

electrical safety.

Some regions may even require electrical sticker certificates on the plugs to they are

safe. Most of the time this has been taken care of my the equipment supplier or

manufacturer. When running electrical items we need to add up all the appliances

output so we know which generator we need, then add another 10-20% for safety.

Durability & Quality Check

The most important factor is how strong the catering unit is and whether it will be up

to the job for our commercial needs. We want equipment that will work reliably, a

mobile food business simply can’t run efficiently if the equipment keeps breaking

down or does not comply with legal standards.

Ultimately it’s a business asset so we want this business investment to last, long

term. Generally commercial food vehicles and equipment have a hard life but with

care and servicing it should give you many years of successful operation. Inspect the

strength and durability of the vehicle inside and out.

Like buying a car make sure the quality is what you expect, check for any damage or

rust on the unit, check for sharp edges, strength of build, dents and scratches. The

quality finish and cleanliness of the unit will have a huge impact on sales later on so

keep this in mind when looking at the wall surfaces and all trimmings and finishes.


Vehicle Insurance Costs

Before even leaving the house, we want to check how much it will cost for us to drive

and insure the vehicle we are planning to buy. Do this check well in advance.

‘Visual Noise’ Check

When looking through used food truck, trailer, carts and stands for sale remember

that ‘FLASH is CASH’. Your mobile restaurant will need to stand out in a crown and

ATTRACT customers at outdoor events and permanent pitches you secure for your

business. Be sure to look for good marketing and signage opportunities on the unit,

this means checking to see if has good space for your branding and concept, any

fold out menu’s, any kind of roof awnings or large signs that extend etc.

Many new and used mobile food vehicles for sale will actually come in blank white.

You’re gonna want to change this fast using some printed vinyl or local sign makers.

Professionally sprucing up the truck or trailer will often DOUBLE the value of it and of

course make a MUCH bigger impact on attracting customers.

‘Nuts & Bolts’ Checks

Check all hatches, doors and locks open and close with no problems. Most hatches

work from gas strut dampers, check these are both working properly and hold the

main hatch open fully and close easily.

Buying & Renting Options

New vs. Used vs. Leased vs. Renting

Whether you decide to buy or rent your vehicle and equipment is really a matter of

personal choice and budget.

Whenever buying any equipment, new or used, we want

to ask ourselves: What is the best Return on Investment

we can get here? In other words there’s no point

spending tens or hundreds of thousands on a new

catering unit if the investment will take many long years

for the investment to break even or make a return.

At the other end of the spectrum, if we go for the

cheapest, oldest, half-working piece of junk available it’s

likely our investment won’t last more than a year, not to

mention will most likely repel customers instead of

attracting them.

Suppliers, manufacturers and second hand sellers will offer a variety of prices and

the difference in price can often be astounding. However try to always think in terms


of return on investment and ask yourself if the investment in the particular catering

unit will be an asset and bring value to the business long term.

Side note: As with all major purchases keep an eye out for anything that may look

like a scam. Never send money to anyone before checking that everything is

legitimate.

There are four main options when it comes to acquiring your mobile food truck, trailer

or cart. The first option is to buy new, the second is to buy used, the third is to lease

your vehicle and the fourth is to rent it. Lets walk through each option so you can

gain a clear head as to what’s best for your business.

Buying New

Buying new will of course be more expensive however consider the size of the

company you are dealing with if you are thinking of buying a brand new unit. A large

company may have much larger overheads and expenses to cover and will often

reflect this in the price with higher priced catering units.

Smaller localized companies however will often have minimal staff and most often

work from a smaller workshops resulting is either a lower price or a similar price but

with higher profit margin for them (which you can negotiate down).

New catering units do have many advantages. They are stronger, more efficient,

look cleaner and generally easier to get into events with because of that fact.

However the prices can often be staggering and sometimes too much for a new

mobile food vendor when just starting out.

The difference in price from new and used can be substantial. For instance, as soon

as a new car drives off the car lot, its value practically halves in price. Crazy, but true

most of the time. The same can be true when buying new mobile food vehicles, the

second you drive it away, it depreciates in value a great deal. Merely signing the

paper and taking possession of the truck or trailer will knock AT LEAST a few

thousand dollars off the re-sale price tag.

Not that this should scare us off buying new. Often it’s part of the creation process

and many suppliers offer financing with monthly payments too.

Buying new is sometimes a necessity. Many manufacturers will custom build the

food truck or trailer to our specific equipment needs and wrap the vehicle with our

concept/design.

Most manufacturers will also help you transform and customize a used vehicle that

you take to them too, so this is another option you can take that turns out a lot

cheaper. When you look at a new mobile vehicle in this light, it's easy to see why

many budding food vendors ultimately decide to purchase a used vehicle.


Buying New Pro’s:

The strongest, cleanest, longest lasting best units available that money can

buy.

Usually comes with a warranty so you have peace of mind.

Fully customizable to your requirements on construction, you have input to the

design and build process to get the vehicle exactly how you need it.

Often the supplier has had the vehicle legally checked so it comes with all

certification and permits.

Often finance options available with easier monthly payments.

Buying New Con’s:

Significantly more expensive than any other option and can take up a

considerable amount of your capital, often out of many mobile food vendors

budgets.

The vehicle will often quickly depreciate in value often leaving you with a

lower price tag if you ever want to sell on.

The interest on any financing options will increase the total amount payable

even more plus financing is subject to credit scoring.

Buying Used

Most vendors just starting out in the business are aiming to keep their start-up costs

to a minimum to ensure profit and return on investment stays high. So it’s no surprise

for buying used mobile food vehicles to be the most popular option. This option

generally offers more in terms of room for negotiation and some mind-blowing

bargain deals can often be found with the right timing and the right approach, as we’ll

explore further in this module.

Most equipment is best bought second-hand in order to keep costs down. There is

however certain equipment which should not be bought second-hand such as knives

and other cutlery.

What you choose to buy and where you choose to buy from is ultimately a matter of

personal choice. You will want to think however of keeping costs down at all times in

order to maximize your profits but remain in the return on investment mind frame.

Buying Used Pros:

Great super-cheap bargain deals to be found out there.

Vendors can increase the value of their unit, instead of let it greatly

depreciate.

Sometimes finance options available with easier monthly payments.

Buying Used Cons:

More hard work to find a suitable vehicle that matches your menu

requirements.


Often time consuming if revamping and cleaning a second-hand unit yourself.

Leasing

Leasing is another very popular option that mobile food vehicle suppliers and

manufacturers offer. When leasing a vehicle you’re essentially renting it with the

‘right’ to purchase it at the end of the agreement. This is great for cash flow and

saves you having to fork out on your vehicle and equipment.

One good leasing benefit is that you can buy multiple items under one lease

purchase agreement, so you can get a food truck, kitchen equipment, cooking

appliance etc as one lease package and pay a simple monthly payment. This option

is popular with restaurant owners who have good credit and business history.

Leasing Pro’s:

Smaller initial outlay usually with small deposit then simple monthly payments.

The option to buy your vehicle at the end of the lease period.

Often the supplier has had the vehicle legally checked so it comes with all

certification and permits.

Leasing Con’s:

You don’t own the vehicle which can often restrict how much customisation

can be done to it.

The interest on such finance options increases the total amount payable even

more.

Lease financing is usually subject to a very good credit scoring, often 3+ years

of business.

Renting

Renting may be ideal for the start-up business, especially if you are still considering

whether this is the right business for you and allows for a much cheaper initial outlay,

the cheapest of all options in fact.

The ability to rent your mobile food vehicle however greatly depends on whether

there is a local manufacturer or vehicle company that offers renting of their vehicles.

Not all suppliers will do, and if they do they don’t often advertise it because it’s much

more profitable for them to sell you the vehicles, so you’ll have to do some hunting

and asking around for rental opportunities.

Most vendors use rental options for temporary events if they already have a truck out

on a job and need a second vehicle to cater for another job, so just rent a second

vehicle for the weekend, however long-term rental opportunities are out there.

Renting Pros:

Low outlay (which is a HUGE pro) allows starting up even on the smallest of

budgets and gives you more financial room for marketing and other costs.

Greatly lowers your financial risk using a short-term rental contract.


Renting Cons:

As you don’t own the vehicle you might not be allowed to make the vehicle

your own style, brand and concept.

Not always easily available and sometimes hard to find mobile food vehicles

for rent.

Price Comparison Chart:

PRICES NEW USED RENT

Low-End High-End Low-End High-End Average

Food Trucks $40,000 $120,000+ $5,000 $80,000 $2,000 P/M

Concession Trailers $20,000 $75,000 $1,000 $50,000 $1,000 P/M

Delivery Vans $15,000 $50,000 $3,000 $20,000 $750 P/M

Food Carts $3,000 $15,000 $500 $10,000 $500 P/M

Booths, Tents & Kiosks $50 $1000 $50 $500 Cheap to Buy

Your Driving

Legal Aspects

Depending on the length and weight of your vehicle, certain states and regions may

require a commercial driver’s license to operate your truck or tow your heavy trailer.

The reason is because towing heavy loads moves you into a new license category.

Be sure to contact your state/county driver licensing authority to see what driving

regulations there are for the size and weight of mobile food vehicle you are

operating.

Smaller trailers, carts & kiosks aren’t usually a problem and can be towed on a

normal drivers licence, however we always want to check with legal stuff like this.

Talking to the supplier of your mobile food vehicle regarding the legal setup is often

helpful and they’ll usually be able to tell you which drivers licence you’ll need.

Something else to consider if towing your mobile food trailer, cart and equipment,

you’ll need to have a powerful enough tow vehicle to pull your food trailer or cart with

no problems. If you’ve never towed any large trailers before be sure to get some

practice as reversing and parking towable carts and trailers can be tricky to

manoeuvre.

Drive & Arrive in Style with Autopilot Advertising

We want to maintain a decent level of professionalism in

our food business. We also want to spread the word as

much as we can and let people know about our food

services. One technique that does both of these is

branding your tow vehicle with vinyl or magnet strip signs.


Many vendors are missing out on this one, and it’s so quick, cheap and easy to do.

Any local sign-maker can do it for you and usually have them ready the next day. I

prefer the magnet strip signs as you can remove them when you want and transfer

them onto a different vehicle.

You can also upload your logo and artwork to online suppliers who often beat most

other prices. Once fitted you have yourself a smart, branded, mobile billboard for

your business that advertises your food and services on autopilot.

2 Golden Rules to Autopilot Advertising

Make it Clear: Be clear and make it obvious what you do, don’t just put a weird

picture and think people will guess you offer private catering services, say it clearly

with words and relevant imagery.

Call to Action: We want to make sure we have a call to action on every sign. Don’t

just put your logo with a gimmick. Put your phone number and/or website address,

ideally both, and for bonus points include your social media. Remember the purpose

of our adverts and signs like this are to encourage an action, which in this case is to

call us to book or visit our website for info.

Quick Low-Cost Magnet Sign Resources:

www.CheapMagneticSigns.com

www.BuildASign.com

Presentation

Let me ask you something. What’s wrong with this

picture? Everything you might say, and you’d be right,

but most importantly is of course is its presentation.

First impressions are vital. On first impression to any

food establishment, mobile or not, customers taste

with their eyes. How does yours taste..?

You see, the link between the cleanliness of your

outlet and the cleanliness of your food is VERY strong

in your customers mind.

The days of the dirty old burger van with nothing more than a chalk board to attract

some customers are dead and gone. Today’s market is very competitive with no

signs of slowing down. Any food vendors that don’t raise the bar and present their

business to be outstanding are going to have a hard time getting anywhere in today’s

What’s wrong with this picture...?

http://www.cheapmagneticsigns.com/

http://www.buildasign.com/


fast paced mobile food industry. There’s just no room for inadequacy like this.

Smarter, savvier and more serious food vendors are on the way up (you).

Good presentation means not only having a clean mobile restaurant, it also means a

tidy one. Way too many vendors have piles of paperwork, packaging, litter, and a

whole hoard of other stuff that just makes their operation look like a total mess

inside. So clean AND tidy inside and out is a MUST in this business.

Great presentation in the mobile food business has a fairly simply trend too. The

mobile food vendors with the cleaner, tidier and best presented mobile restaurants

simply make more money than those who don’t care. Simples!

Mobile Food Xfactor

The problem with many food vendors presentation….is THEMSELVES! Too many

mobile food vendors, even guys with 10+ years in the industry don’t take themselves

and their business seriously enough.

Who Would YOU Rather Be Served By?

Vs.

Which style of vendor do you think makes the most money? As a customer, which

one deserves your money? As a festival organiser, location owner or event

organising panel, which vendor would you want selling food and representing your

event?

Exactly! It seems simple but many vendors, both pros and start-ups, fail to present

themselves as a clean, professional, responsible food vendor.


How to Look Like a Franchise…on a Tiny Budget

For best all-round results we want to unify the whole business with the same colour

code and branding: The mobile restaurant itself, the tow vehicle (if applicable), the

staff uniform, the signage, the online marketing...everything.

Unifying your mobile restaurant like this is one of the fastest ways to add tremendous

value to your business. When you do this right it looks so professional you might just

be mistaken for a franchise. This is a great compliment. If we can look like food

franchise that has spent a fortune on image, styling and branding, but we’ve done it

on a tiny budget, then go team!

One of the quickest, easiest and low-cost ways to look super-professional and have

the mobile food Xfactor is to customize our uniform. So we want to add our logo and

concept design to:

Aprons

Caps

T-Shirts

Fleeces, Jumpers & Hoodies

And any other uniforms you plan on having.

It’s just my professional opinion here, but unless it really fits your business brand,

avoid using loud colours as the base colour for your shirts, aprons and branded

uniforms.

Bright oranges, turquoise, yellows etc are examples of loud colours. Loud & vibrant

colours are great to attract customers to your outlet, but once they’re with us, we

want to make them feel welcomed by clean, hygienic, responsible & professional

staff, of which credentials aren’t usually represented by crazy colours, so I tend to

use solid plain base colours for uniform with . By no means a rule to stick by,

2 Great Low-Cost Uniform Branding Resources:

www.CorporateClothingWear.com

www.VistaPrint.com

My $15 Dollar Branding Method

Sometimes, commercially printing your uniforms isn’t the cheapest way

of doing it, especially if you only need a handful and want to stick to a

small budget.

My favourite way to give the business it’s ‘Mobile Food Xfactor’ (not to

mention quickest, simplest and cheapest way) is to use iron-on transfers.

http://www.corporateclothingwear.com/

http://www.vistaprint.com/


Simply jump on to Amazon and search for “iron on transfers” or “iron transfer kits”.

These are simple kits that enable you from any home printer to print your logo,

name, slogan or anything you want onto special transfer paper which you then iron

on to any blank clothing.

Doing it this way you can brand pretty much anything but the family dog with your

logo, concept and branding and make your mobile restaurant look like the

outstanding, clean-cut, valuable, presentable, ‘franchise-like’ mobile restaurant that it

deserves to be, but on the super-cheap!

Resource: DIY it with iron on transfers at: www.Amazon.com (kits for around $15)

Shoestring Start-Up Methods

The Money-Saving Makeover Method

Some new vendors choose to build their catering unit on their own from scratch in

hope of saving some money. Though it’s a nice idea and can be done, I’d strongly

suggest against it as no matter which country you live in, there is always a barrage of

red tape and certification to go through and problems and legal issues can often

arise.

Instead, here’s a simple three step method I call my Money-Saving Makeover

Method that saves you getting your hands dirty having to custom build and fit your

own mobile restaurant and results in a fancy looking, branded mobile food vehicle for

your business at a much lower price than any manufacturer, seller, or custom-build

company can offer.

Finished Business Value: $30,000+

Signage Company Design,

Vehicle Wrap & Application

Cost: $2000

Used Vehicle Cost: $10,000

http://www.amazon.com/


Money-Saving Makeover Method Action Steps

Step 1: Locate Potential Vehicles

Look for a blank used mobile food vehicle that’s in good condition but has decreased

in value due to the fact that it’s had previous owners. (It’s the same as the ‘new car

theory’ we discussed earlier, being that as soon as a new car drives off the car lot its

value is depreciated by 25%.) Were looking for a unit that has all of, if not, most of

the equipment we need for our menu, business operations and food niche we’ll be

going into.

Step 2: Get Quotes for a Revamp

We now want two great quotes. Once we’ve found our potential food vehicle, we talk

with the seller stressing we’re on a limited budget and ask for the lowest price their

willing to possibly go, this is our first ‘quote’. Then, we contact some local sign

makers or vehicle wrap professionals and show them pictures of the blank food

vehicle. We give them as much information as possible: menu, colour scheme, logo

ideas, concept ideas, design preferences etc and get a quote for a complete

overhaul with any extras that need doing too. For best results, prepare a quick word

document with all these details including the vehicle picture and send it around

multiple local sign makers to get the lowest possible price.

Step 3: Put it all Together

Now remember, we haven’t spent a dime yet, we’ve simply master-minded an

awesome deal, now it’s time to put all it together. After negotiating a good deal with

both the vehicle seller and the sign makers we put the two together and do the

necessary purchasing. Wham! We now have a solid mobile restaurant that looks the

part, has the right equipment we need, attracts customers, will last a long time and

increases the value of our business by thousands right off the bat due to the huge

jump in value we’ve just accomplished by professionally revamping the vehicle, and

we’ve done it HANDS FREE!

Examples: Here just a few examples of the Money-Saving Makeover Method,

(pictured vehicles aren’t the identical before and after pictures, just here to illustrate

the significant difference a makeover can have on your business). This method can

be used with any type of mobile food vehicle be it food trucks, catering vans,

concession trailers, hot dog carts, food stands etc.

Hot Dog Cart Example:


Catering Trailer Example:

Food Truck Example:

I’ve used my Money-Saving Makeover Method for years to create valuable

businesses from scratch. In one case, I acquired a used concession trailer priced at

just under $1000 (ebay) and had a signage company do the makeover. After trading

from the unit during the busy summer season I sold that very same food trailer for

$11,500 (back on ebay!) just a few short months after buying it. Powerful stuff!

Using the Money-Saving Makeover Method has repeatedly saved me thousands

when starting and building new mobile food businesses. It provides a great return on

investment and best of all its all risk free and ‘no-money-down’ while you mastermind

the deal so you don’t have to spend a dime until you’re happy with everything.

The Risk-Free Rental Technique

A great way to dip your toe in the mobile food industry without getting too wet or

risking a ton of money is what I call the Risk-Free Rental Technique. You see, as the

popularity of our mobile food industry continues to grow, so does its resources,

suppliers and equipment manufacturers. This gives us vendors more and more

options as times goes on.

Years ago it was very hard to find any supplier willing to ‘lend’ or ‘rent’ their mobile

food trucks, trailers and vehicles out, as its much more profitable for suppliers to just

sell them.

Today however many mobile food vehicle suppliers around the world are opening up

their options and offering both new and experienced vendors the opportunity to rent

their mobile food vehicles for a daily, weekly or monthly fee. This can be a great way

to get started in the mobile food business, not to mention low risk and affordable.

Yours Truly!


The trick to the Risk-Free Rental Technique is to borrow the credibility of the vehicle

itself to get ourselves into gigs and locations without spending any money up-front.

It’s essentially a ‘fake it till you make it’ model, and there’s nothing wrong with that, if

you have any cooking experience, a menu idea and a vehicle too cook it from, then

there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be the one catering at the locations, events,

festivals, street corners or private parties that you want to.

Once we find some good locations to trade from and have a clear idea on our menu

& concept/business theme, we look for a rental vehicle that will support our menu.

Once we find an available mobile food vehicle, and with the owner’s permission, we

use the pictures (the credibility) and other credentials (health & food safety checked

etc) of the vehicle in our applications to our selected trading locations and events.

Risk-Free Rental Action Steps:

Step 1: Find Locations

You probably have some ideas of locations to trade from already. Wherever you

want to sell your foods from there will be a decision maker you have to please in

order to get permission. The first step is to get the details of the gatekeeper/decision

maker for the events and locations you wish to trade from. (For specific proven

location-getting templates & scripts check out my advanced training here).

Step 2: Find a Rental Mobile Food Vehicle

Find a mobile food vehicle supplier that offers rental options. A simple Google search

for terms like “rent food truck”, “catering trailer rental” should give you some results.

Once you have a vehicle that will suit your menu and budget, ask the vehicle

company for permission to use their pictures in your applications to your locations

and events, they’ll rarely be against the idea as they want you to rent the vehicle

from them, but ask for permission just in case, a simple email should suffice. They

may even have some action-shot photos of the catering unit at other events that

they’ll happily let you use for your applications.

Step 3: Apply for Locations using The Rental Vehicle

Now we have permission, we can use the pictures from the vehicle company’s

website, along with its credentials such as health and safety certifications, to start

applying to the decision makers. Combine the rental vehicles credibility with your

tasty menu and your own chef credentials or food story (X years as a chef, special

Location Getting

http://www.mobilefoodcourse.com/


family recipe, a new twist on seafood? etc) and you have a great application worthy

of getting locations.

If the day, the weekend or the month of rental was a profitable success, rinse and

repeat for future events and trading periods.

The Risk Free Rental Technique can also be used when looking to buy or lease your

vehicle or mobile food equipment. Again with the sellers permission, we can use the

vehicles credibility to get into trading locations and events BEFORE we fork out any

cash. This gives us some assured income for when we do buy, instead of having a

‘dead horse’ vehicle sitting in the yard, not making any money while we scour to find

locations to trade from.

The Risk Free Rental Technique allows us to actually get into locations and events

before we spend any money up front, we don’t have to buy any expensive vehicles

or equipment up front, we do the location-getting groundwork up-front, then as soon

as we get a ‘yes’ and get the go-ahead to trade at a location we then buy or rent the

vehicle for the job.

Easy Import Method

Importing your food vehicle from another country

altogether can be another super-cheap way to bag a

bargain for your business. Importing takes advantage of

the difference in currency where workforces are a great

deal cheaper than in wealthier countries such as the

US, UK, AU etc, which of course enables the exporting

county to offer much lower prices for such goods.

Alibaba.com is the leading ‘hub’ online for finding worldwide companies that will build

and sell pretty much anything at wholesale prices. Most items when bought

wholesale have a minimum order requirement as to make it worthwhile for the

manufacturer. The great thing about wholesale mobile food vehicles is their SIZE.

Because food carts, kiosks, trucks and trailers are so big to produce (compared to

other wholesale items like glow sticks with a 1000+ minimum order) they have a

minimum order of just ONE.

These manufacturing companies (mostly from Chinese mainland) build to North

American standard, European standard and many others so many of these suppliers

will build the vehicle to your specific countries legal standards.


Compared to the prices of USA suppliers, as you’ll see, the prices can be

unbelievably low. At the time I write this I’m seeing brand new hotdog carts, food

booths and kiosks for around $500, large food trucks and trailers for $3,000, again all

brand new from the manufacturer. If you like the look of any units alibaba.com lets

you talk directly to the supplier via a simple email contact form so they can answer

any questions, negotiate and make deals.

The downside is if you’re importing a motorised vehicle, they don’t come with

number plates so you’ll need to register the vehicle and file the correct legal papers

which can be time-consuming, this of course will vary on which country you’re in, the

supplier on Alibaba should be able to answer all of your importing questions.

Going back to the Money-Saving Makeover Method, after choosing which unit we’re

going to import and before even placing the order we can go to our local sign makers

and get quotes for a custom vehicle wrap job using the Alibaba pictures, dimensions

and your design/brand/concept ideas.

Thus making the Easy Import Method another great super-cheap way to get brand

new mobile food vehicle at virtually HALF the price by importing from abroad then

wrapping and branding the unit at home.


Buying & Negotiation Tricks

Very few people really know how to negotiate and get a truly great deal at the lowest

price, most people get it wrong, waste money and fall flat on their face. Many new

vendors head into big money mobile food vehicle deals like a dear in headlights and

pay well over the odds for their unit. I’d like to share with you everything I’ve learned

when it comes to negotiating and buying so you can arm yourself with some savvy

negotiation and bargain-getting techniques and get your mobile food vehicle for the

lowest possible price.

12 Jedi Negotiation & Buying Tricks for Getting

Super-Cheap BARGAINS

1: Make Your Mantra “is it Negotiable?”

Before even arranging a viewing to see any catering unit, always ask if the price is

negotiable. I will almost never view or buy something that will cost me many

thousands if the seller is not willing to work with me and negotiate on price.

Never be afraid to negotiate. In any

food business, you’re entering into a

jungle of deep-pocketed competitors,

expensive costs and a world of

suppliers and sales people that will be

out to take your hard earned money.

Simply put, you need to be savvy, you need to step up to the bar and negotiate hard

on EVERYTHING, especially when making any large purchases or signing any long

term leases or contracts.

It boggles my mind the amount of people that accept prices as they are. In my mind

everything is negotiable, prices can be reduced and terms can be flexible, so don’t

ever be afraid to negotiate. It’s your money, your business, no-one cares more about

your money and success than YOU, plus the very worst that can ever happen is a

replied “no”...big deal.

Every time you speak to any seller on the phone make your mantra: “Is the price

negotiable?”

2: Find MOTIVATED Sellers

Not all sellers are created equal. The trick to finding real bargains is finding

MOTIVATED sellers. These are people who need a quick sale for whatever reason,

whether it’s the need to raise cash quickly, the need to move their large catering

vehicle because its taking up too much space on the drive, whether the units been

sitting on the manufacturers lot for years and needs to go, the reasons behind a

motivated seller are plentiful.


3: Use a REASON WHY

Ellen Langer carried out a famous study in 1978 to see if they could get people to let

them go first to use a photocopier. In this study, the researchers tried a few different

approaches for getting people to let them go first to use the copier.

One group used a Request Only: “Excuse me, I have

20 pages. May I use the xerox machine?”. The other

group used a Reason Why and gave a variety of

irrelevant reasons why they needed to use the copier:

“Excuse me, I have 20 pages. May I use the xerox

machine, because I’m in a rush?”. The results..?

The group using the Reason Why achieved a 94% compliance percentage vs a 60%

compliance for those without a reason to skip the queue. The difference in

percentage and success rate was HUGE and proves the true psychological

negotiating powers of the ‘reason why’.

So the secret to getting any bargain is to have a reason why you are asking for a

discounted price. A limited budget reason usually works best. I use the ‘I’m on a

limited budget’ reason all the time, whether it’s asking for a discount when buying a

guitar, a lawnmower or indeed mobile food vehicles. Here’s how I do it...

Limited Budget Negotiation Script:

“We’d really like to buy the catering truck however we have a maximum budget of

[75-90% of your real budget] and we really can’t go any higher. If you’re able to bring

the price to [desired price] we can [offer fast/favourable payment terms] for a quick

sale and collect in the next few [hours/days].”

4: Always Talk to the Person in Charge

If you’re dealing with any type of dealership or

manufacturers, haggling prices and terms with sales

reps or anyone else but the owners or people with

authority to actually give major discounts or favourable

terms is a waste of time. The same goes for buying

second-hand mobile food vehicles, you may find the

seller is a friend or family member who is selling the

truck/trailer as a favor while the owner is away.

Personally I wouldn’t bother viewing. Re-schedule to

when the owner can make it to a viewing so you can

talk to them direct and negotiate a great deal.

5: Find Faults but DONT Exaggerate Them

Many people when trying to negotiate on price will find as many faults as possible

with the unit and use this as their sole negotiation strategy. They slate the thing that

they are trying to buy and attempt to de-value the vehicle every which way possible. I

don't know about you but doesn't this concept just sound and feel...wrong?


Leo Reilly in his book “How to Out Negotiate Anyone (even a car dealer)” teaches

that we need to let the person keep their self esteem, in doing so they’ll be far more

likely to cut a good deal for us.

I've found highlighting and exaggerating tiny faults hardly ever assists in any

negotiating scenario and most of the time tends to cause friction between the buyer

and seller. It offends the seller by offending their ‘baby' that they're most likely to be

emotionally attached to, it attacks, as Leo Reilly would say, their self esteem.

Think about it, this used catering trailer or truck has most likely been paying their

mortgage and feeding their family for a long time, so slaying the thing is not always

the best thing to do here.

When negotiating for used mobile food vehicles I find it has always been useful to

come across as a friendly person who has some interest, with a strictly limited

budget but happy to buy if we can do a fair deal.

Be friendly but firm. You're more likely to get a result if the seller empathises with

you. If you're polite, charming and treat the whole process with humour, you'll get

much further.

6: Beware of Emotional Over-Valuing

Like we just discussed, many vendors selling their beloved catering unit have often

attached their emotional value to the catering unit, often subconsciously.

It’s completely normal and understandable

too. Remember, that catering truck has been

supporting them financially, paying their bills,

supporting their cooking lifestyle, offering

security for their family and bringing in a

good deal of money and profits often for

many years.

Because of this they don’t want to let it go cheap and add on what I call ‘emotional

value’. Most of the time you can spot this from just looking at an advert and

comparing prices.

Make sure that you spot this early on and remember to asses prices based on real

business value such as the age of the equipment, the collective price of the

equipment when new, the size and space etc and judge by return on investment.

Sellers who have spent a good deal of time fixing up and building the food unit

themselves will often also over-value their food unit, so again take note of this if

looking at a custom build.


7: Find Out the Reason for Selling

Remember ideally we’re looking for a motivated seller, whether it’s an entrepreneur

who desperately needs to raise cash fast for another project or the salesman who

desperately needs your sale during the slow months. Uncovering their reason behind

why they’re selling reveals if they are a motivated seller and gives us an advantage

when negotiating.

8: Encourage Them to Throw Something In

If possible, get them to throw something in for free, remember they want the deal to

happen more than you do, we want to leverage that. This can be literally anything,

this can be extra equipment like a generator, gas tank, cash register, or can be an

upcoming trading spot at an event, there’s usually always some more value we can

add into the deal.

This is usually the best tactic when the seller won’t budge on price at all or won’t go

any lower. When you think you’ve hit their bottom price, we can then put the deal

even more into our favour by saying “ok, its’ a little more than I had budgeted,

however if you can throw in [item/service] then I’m happy to do a deal today”.

9: Plan to Increase Value

10: Play Manufacturers and Suppliers Off Against Each Other

To really up the pace of your haggling try to play off a number of suppliers against

each other. This prods seller’s competitive instincts in your favour, as they want to

prove they're better than the opposition. We’ll go into this strategy in further detail in

a couple of pages time under ‘Buying from Dealers & Manufacturers’.

11: Patience! Don’t Get Too Excited

Search around & compare deals. Even if you are interested, don’t show

too much eagerness, this reduces our changes of negotiating down

prices. Don’t be afraid to walk away, there are many vehicles out there.

As a Rule: Find Locations first spend your hard earned money later.

Opportunity to

Increase Value

Current Vehicle

Value

Opportunity to

Discount Price

$50,000-

$30,000-

$20,000-

$15,000-

$10,000-

$5,000-

$2,500-

$0.00-

The perfect deal is one where we can

drastically add huge value to the

vehicle by discounting the price and

then adding huge value to it in the way

of signage, colour, branding, look &

feel, locations, reputation and other

business value we can add.

It speaks back to the ‘Money Saving

Makeover Method’ and lessens our risk

too as we can most likely sell the unit

on for a large profit if things don’t go to

plan for any reason.


12: Buy Out of Season

Companies are more open to negotiation at slower times of year. Whether new or

used, buying items out of season will always result in a bargain buy. Lawnmowers

when it's snowing, heaters in July, you get the picture. My favourite time of the year

to shop for mobile food business bargains is the winter season. It’s by far the best

time to negotiate and it where you’ll find the best deals.

Not only is much of the mobile food industry ‘out of season’, the Christmas related

expenses and activities ‘hit’ most sellers around this time, and the cold winter

weather distracts and discourages a great deal of potential buyers from shopping

during this period, especially for such big purchases like food vehicles, this is true

with most big purchases, whether buying a car, a house or any type of catering truck,

hot dog cart, ice cream van etc. Buying out of season = Bargains.

9 Ebay Buying Strategies

1: It’s All in the...Timing

Best times to buy are midweek daytimes when

very few competing bidders are online to bump

up the price. In terms of time of year November,

December & January are best months to buy.

Knowing this, be sure to check the end time of any equipment you might be buying, it

gives a great indication of how the last few minutes will play out.

On the flip side, the best way to sell anything is to time the end of auction between

7pm and 9pm, Sundays to Thursdays. I prefer selling on Sundays when ebay is at its

highest visitor volume and bidding gets crazy. If listing an expensive item, you can

also check TV listings to ensure you don't clash with any big TV events (sport events

etc).

2: My Secret Robot that Wins Cheap eBay Auctions

Spotted a mobile food vehicle or equipment you want to buy? The last

thing you should do is bid on it. When we bid early the competing

buyers will bid back, forcing the price upwards. Instead, we want to

sneakily win auctions by swooping in and delivering a killer bid just

seconds before the deadline, leaving no time for others to bid back.

You may have had this happen to you before, you’re the winning

bidder for an item on ebay and some scallywag swoops in and steals

the last bid seconds before closing. Damn!

The solution: Goofbid.

Goofbid is an automated bidding service (also called sniping) that

does it all FOR YOU for free.


Sniping websites automatically bid on your behalf, usually in the last 10ish seconds

to steal the last bid for the lowest price. Simply sign up, enter an eBay* item number

and the maximum price you're willing to pay. This also stops you getting carried

away in the heat of a last minute bidding war.

Free Sniping Tool: www.Goofbid.com

You simply register a free account then enter the eBay item number, your eBay

username and password, the number of seconds before the end of the auction that

you want your bid placed and the maximum amount you are willing to pay. Job done!

Goofbid also features other free tools such as a Misspell Search tool, Local Search,

Feedback Checker and more, all FREE!

Paid Sniping Tools: www.AuctionSniper.com & www.AuctionStealer.com

Auction Sniper has a free trial with three free snipes. After that, you need to sign up,

which costs one per cent of the final auction price, with a minimum of 25 cents and a

maximum of $9.95 per won auction. Auction Stealer is free, but there is a priority

option that costs. It snipes within 10 seconds of the auction close, and acts on up to

22,000 auctions every day with a success rate of 97 per cent.

If you're serious about bagging the bargains, upgrading to the priority account could

be a good tip – costing $8.99 (£5.58) a month. This means Auction Stealer bids with

only three seconds to go from the end of the auction and success rates are also

boosted to a barely believable 99.9 per cent.

3: Succeed with Seller Slip-Ups

This one is simple. Find Bad Adverts. Bad adverts? I hear you

ask. Yes, finding bad adverts is a VERY profitable game. A

common mistake ebay sellers make is leaving out key details:

size, fuel type, dimensions, age, features etc. At this point,

many buyers give it up as its too much hassle.

So contact the seller to fill in gaps, but don't ask the question via the item's listing

page. That way, when the seller replies, eBay lets them add their reply to the main

listing with one click. So all buyers will know the important facts.

Instead, ask the question via the seller's profile (make it clear which item you're on

about). They probably won't bother adding these it to the listing, so you'll be the only

one in the know.

One of my early entrepreneurial stints was a car purchase from ebay. The seller of a

beautiful black 5 litre BMW had advertised his car for sale with a measly sentence or

two of description and…without ANY pictures!

I contacted the seller and had them email me some pictures and a better description.

The car was fine. Great in fact, but no-one could see it because of the BAD advert

the seller had put up.

http://www.goofbid.com/

http://www.auctionsniper.com/

http://www.auctionstealer.com/


I purchased that car for just £795 and after enjoying it for a while sold it on for around

£2000 (on ebay again) with a little better description and some nice pictures of the

car. A 170% (£1250) profit just from a badly advertised vehicle, it sold in the exact

same condition as it was when I bought it, I had done no improvements whatsoever.

That experience taught me something invaluable. Don’t be so quick to pass up on a

lazy seller who hasn’t taken much time on their advert, it can often land you a VERY

good bargain.

Ebay sellers often slip up by leaving out key details, making the vehicle less

desirable to other onlookers and selling at a lower price. When you contact the seller

to fill in the gaps to their bad advert, don’t do it through the items listings page.

Instead, ask the question via the seller's profile (make it clear which item you're on

about). They probably won't bother with the extra work of adding the new info to the

listing, so you'll be the only one in the know.

Auctions would come under the category of ‘bad adverts’. Many mobile food trucks,

vans, trailers etc pass through vehicle auctions and get sold at rock bottom prices.

They aren’t advertised online or polished up in a showroom, they’re simply sold to

the highest bidder. A quick phone call to a few local auction houses asking if they

have what you’re after, is sometime all it takes to grab a super-cheap bargain.

On the flip side, good adverts shouldn’t be avoided as we can always negotiate the

price down, plus lazy sellers with ‘bad adverts’ won’t always be easy to find or

available locally, but it’s certainly a rule to keep in mind.

Other common mistakes by sellers are messing up the title. Things like spelling

mistakes in the title and not putting the correct keyword in the title leads to the item

not showing up in the results. For instance if the seller listed “food turck” (which

actually happens) it wouldn’t show in the food trucks listings and therefore get very

few views giving us buyers a bargain opportunity. The same applies to items not

featuring the actual keyword in the title e.g. listing “mobile restaurant” instead of

“catering trailer”. Goofbid.com has free search tools that search finds these ‘bad

adverts’ so you can succeed with seller slip ups.

4: Multiple Search Trick

As sellers can describe an item in several ways, you can make eBay search for

several terms at once. Just place (( at the beginning and enter different phrases

within quotation marks, followed by commas.

So for example, type...

(( "food truck", "food trailer", "burger van" , “bbq trailer”, “barbecue trailer”

...and it will bring up all listings that contain those words, instead of just one search

term. Neat!

5: Use ‘Save Search’

If you want something very specific or hard to track down, set a 'favourite search'

and eBay will email each time a seller lists your desired item. This is a great feature


if you like buying on eBay so you don't have to spend your life hunched over the

computer searching for your item every day.

Simply type a product in eBay's search bar, such as "spin magic candy floss

machine", and click 'save search'. Be as specific as possible for the most accurate

results. Then, when someone clears out their garage and lists one, an email pops

into your inbox alerting you that your niche item has just been listed by someone.

6: Bid a Few Cents More

When bidding, you enter a “maximum bid”, and eBay makes automatic bids on your

behalf up to your limit. Don't enter a round number. For example, if something is

currently selling for £100, and the most you are willing to pay is $170, enter a

maximum bid of $172. If someone tries to outbid you by entering $170, they will

receive an outbid notice. eBay will favour your bid, even though it's two bucks more.

It's worth being aware of bid increments, the steps by which prices rise. It varies from

5p to £100.

7: Outbid? Don't Give Up

Missed out on a desired item by pennies? Don't give up hope. As every seller knows,

sales sometimes fall through when buyers change their minds. So send a friendly

message such as: "Hi, I was looking to buy your food trailer but just missed out on

the auction. Please let me know if the sale falls through."

They may send a second-chance offer, which are sent out by sellers to unsuccessful

bidders if the winner fails to pay up. If you forgot to bid and the item didn't sell, ask

them to relist at an agreed buy-it-now price.

8: Tool to Track down Crazy End Times

Listings that finish at anti-social times often get fewer bids, so therefore sell for less.

To locate auctions that finish in the dead of night, use BayCrazy's Night Time

Bargain search: www.BayCrazy.com

Don't fancy burning the midnight oil? Combine this trick with Goofbids auto-bidding

service to seal low cost deals. Other BayCrazy tools include 'unwanted gift' and

'ending now' searches, Goofbid.com also offers a late night auction tool along with

many other search tools so may even be the better option.

9: Pay by Paypal

Sellers may suggest you do a deal outside eBay for a

cheaper price. But buy this way and you'll have less

protection if things go pear-shaped. Another common

ploy is for a seller to say 'before bidding, contact me'

and request a money transfer. Scammers who hijack

bona fide eBay accounts often use this tactic.

Alarm bells should ring if you're asked to pay by an instant money transfer service

http://www.baycrazy.com/search.php?page=nightowl

http://www.baycrazy.com/

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/ebay-protection#snipe

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/ebay-protection#snipe


such as Western Union or MoneyGram. Instant money transfer payments cannot be

traced at all in cases of fraud, and are highly popular with scammers. So when

buying through ebay avoid sending cheques and never use money orders. It's much

harder for scammers to vanish with your cash when you use eBay's online payment

system, PayPal, even if it’s just the initial deposit.

Paying this way costs the same as paying by cheque, but means you're covered by

eBay'sBuyer Protection Scheme. If an item is faulty, counterfeit or non-existent, you

are far more likely to see a refund.

EBay Jargon Buster

Here's the most commonly used eBay jargon. BN: Brand new. BNWT: Brand new

with tags. BNIB: Brand new in box. BIN: Buy it now. VGC: Very good condition.

5-Step Basic Bargain System

Travelling to numerous viewings to look at mobile food

vehicles can take up a ton of your valuable time (ask

me how I know). Before we go out and drive 100’s of

miles looking for the right outlet that suits our needs

and our budget we want to make sure we’re getting a

good deal. Here’s a bargain scoring system to use

before even setting off that filters out and qualifies the

good deals from the bad ones.

Poor Average Excellent

How Good is the Price 1 2 3

What is the Condition 1 2 3

How Legally Sound is it To Trade in Your Region 1 2 3

How Motivated is the Owner Needing to Sell 1 2 3

How Much Value Can You Add to the Unit 1 2 3

Total Score_________

Use this bargain-scoring system for every mobile food vehicle you find. Whether

you’re calling the seller on the phone or looking at their advert online, determine the

5 factors on the above score-chart and score each with an answer between 1 and 3.

If a mobile food truck or trailer is below the normal market value compared to most

others, score it an excellent with 3. If the price is just ‘reasonable’ score it average

with a 2. If it seems expensive compared to others on the market score it poor with a

1. You get the picture.

http://www.paypal.co.uk/

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/ebaybuyerprotection/


Each score is just a basic ‘informed guess’. If the score total is 10 or less, you’d best

move on. If the mobile food vehicle scores 11 or higher, only then should you go take

a look. If after inspection it still scores well consider negotiating a deal that works for

your budget.

The Low-Bid Bargain Strategy

This low-bid bargain strategy can be used in real estate buying, used car buying and

of course mobile food vehicle buying. By nature this technique makes sure that we’re

not impulse buying and also ensures that we get the lowest possible price.

The Low Bid Bargain Strategy Works in Three Simple Steps

1: Look through around 100 listings and refine your choice to an ideal top 5 to 10.

This may sound tiresome however it prevents us from impulse buying and trains us

into properly finding and analysing good food vehicles.

2: Make ‘low-bid’ offers on 1-10 of the ones you like the

look of. Make your low bid offers using a limited budget

reason and let them know you’re also looking at other

units too. This can be done in person, over the phone

or by email.

E.g. “Hi there, we’re interested in your BBQ trailer however we have a maximum

budget of $x.xx, would you consider this for a quick & easy cash deal? Please have

a think and let me know asap as we’re currently talking with a few other sellers”.

Demonstrating that you have many options is a powerful positioning tool and shows

you’re in control of the deal and could take it or leave it. When sellers sense you

have limited options or that you’re desperate or overly keen for the unit, it puts them

in control and greatly lessens your bargaining power.

Letting sellers know you are looking around at other units positions you beautifully as

a serious buyer with limited time which often motivates the seller into accepting a

quick low-bid sale and it also works as a great ‘get out clause’ when multiple low-bid

offers are accepted as they know you are talking with other sellers.

3: Aim to get a “yes” from 1, 2 or 3 sellers but ideally no more, and then do a deal

with one of them, letting the others know that unfortunately they were too late and

you went with one of the other sellers that you mentioned in your last

communication.

If the final number of ‘accepted offers’ is higher than 3 showing a 30% acceptance

rate, it means you offers are too high and you’re not fully utilizing your negotiating or

buyer positioning, remember sellers want the sale more than you do.

100 > 10 > 1


The beauty to using the Low-Bid Bargain Strategy is that it makes you become the

ultimate negotiator. It allows you to send out super low-bid offers on multiple catering

units then sit back and wait for just 1 or 2 to agree to lower their price that suits you.

Using the simple 3 step strategy ensures we get the right food vehicle to suit our

business, it makes sure we don’t buy on impulse, it motivates sellers into reducing

their price for a quick sale and it helps us get the lowest possible price.

Buying From Dealers & Manufacturers

Buying New? Make THEM Bid for Your Business

Shopping around for bargains can take up a great deal of time and energy. Hunting

around online can take months and travelling to competing manufacturers and

dealers to negotiate can suck the life out of anyone. Consider this alternative

method…

How to Get Dealers to Beg For Your Business and Give You Their REAL

Lowest Price

I found this technique from the book ‘the millionaire next door’ where a frugal

entrepreneur set out to get the best deal possible for his new car purchase and used

it as a way of avoiding countless hours visiting competing dealerships. The idea was

to play the car dealers off against each other and make them compete for his

business.

He sent out a simple fax to competing car dealers in the area asking them to

respond with their BEST quote possible (instead of being sold to in person or over

the phone with sleazy sales tricks from car salesmen). Three sales managers

responded immediately by faxing their very best bids for the man’s business, who

accepted one of them.

Here’s an altered version of his fax (which you would email these days) which can be

easily applied to our mobile food industry to get ourselves a bargain from any mobile

food vehicle manufacturer or dealership:


This technique of getting dealers to ‘bid’ or compete for your business can be used in

almost all areas of your business, whether it’s getting the best price from local food

suppliers, sign makers, equipment dealers and any other items where you can play

multiple dealers off against each other to find the lowest possible price.

Custom Builds: Don’t get taken for a ride

If you’re paying a manufacturer or anyone to custom you a mobile food unit, be sure

to pay in instalments and not upfront. Alarm bells should ring if they want the entire

sum upfront. 25% payment increments are often common for custom builds, so one

payment upfront, two at set-out designated specific benchmarks of the build and the

final payment on final delivery. Payment in thirds is also common.

The lesson here to make sure you’re not taken for a ride is to never pay more than

50% upfront and to set out specific build benchmarks with a deadline.

Also make sure they are building to your state/regions legal codes and regulations.

This one’s a biggie and can cost a FORTUNE if you have to rebuild for legal issues.

TO: ______________ ‘sales manager of catering vehicle dealership’

FROM: ____________ ‘You’

RE: Request for Quotation

Hi there, my name is _______ and am looking to buy a new catering truck.

If you are interested in earning my business please reply to me by email at

[email protected]. This is a cash purchase (no trade), subject to sales tax in _____

county. If you do not have this type of vehicle in stock or on order, I am in no rush and can

wait for delivery. Specifications are as follows:

‘Details of vehicle’ (this can be size, make, model, equipment you need, new, used etc. Be

as detailed as possible)

Your quotation should detail the price by line item including tax and any other fees. I look

forward to receiving your best price possible by email. Please do not call me. If you have

any questions, please include them in your email reply. I will call you if I have any

questions.

Many thanks

‘Your name’

mailto:[email protected]


My Top 5 Favourite Places for

Finding BARGAINS

1: Local & National Classified Ads

USA: www.Craigslsit.com UK: www.Gumtree.com

TIP: Search classified ads sites nationally (not just locally) to find the best bargains

possible. Use the bargain getting techniques from this training to negotiate down the

price.

2: Ebay

Good ol’ ebay. King Kong of the auction world! Remember to use the 9 savvy eBay

buying strategies from this training to truly get the best deals on there.

www.ebay.com www.ebay.co.uk www.ebay.ca . www.ebay.com.au

3: Auto Trader

USA: www.Autotrader.com UK: www.Autotrader.co.uk

4: Local used car dealers and vehicle auctions

Local used car dealers and vehicle auctions can be great sources of super cheap

mobile food vehicles. Simply notify some local dealers and auction houses of the

make, model or style of vehicle you’re after and to contact you as soon as anything

comes in.

5: Dealers mentioned in my ‘Food Vendor Fast Track Rolodex’

Included with my home-study course is what I call the Food Vendor Fast Track

Rolodex containing some of the best dealers and most trusted manufacturers of

mobile food vehicles in the world. Be sure to use the buying & negotiation strategies

from this training when getting quotes and negotiating down prices and terms.

It’s My Easy Reference Guide to the Trusted Low-Cost Mobile

Food Dealers, Services & Suppliers around the World.

Found inside the members area ;-)

http://www.craigslsit.com/

http://www.gumtree.com/

http://www.ebay.com/

http://www.ebay.co.uk/

http://www.ebay.ca/

http://www.ebay.com.au/

http://www.autotrader.com/

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/


Sexy Designs That Sell

Design & Vehicle Wraps

One of the biggest parts of our marketing is the appearance of our mobile restaurant itself. Bright vibrant colours are often used for maximum impact and visibility.

Most food trucks and trailers use vehicle wraps, also called vehicle decals, to brand their mobile restaurant. The vehicle wrap is made of a thin vinyl film that is professionally printed and applied. Cast vinyl is the most durable form of vehicle wrap and used most often on the custom built gourmet food trucks.

For all other types of mobile food vehicle decals and exterior signage, most local sign makers will be able to design and print you off some vinyl film fairly cheaply. A great way to save money is to cut and apply the vinyl film yourself as application is fairly easy to do, however the easiest method is to negotiate for free application/fitting by playing multiple sign makers and printers off against each other for the best price, then giving the job to whichever supplier will include application in with their quoted price.

Finding Design Professionals

A common mistake to make is trying to design everything yourself and ‘cheaping out’

on professional design expenses. Your concept and brand design has a HUGE

impact on the attractiveness of your outlet and entire business, so unless you’re a

professional designer, avoid trying to design your concept and design elements such

as the logo, vehicle wrap (if applicable), leaflets, website etc and hire professional

designers who are great at what they do.

That being said, if you just want to some early planning and design mock-ups done,

here’s two awesome low-cost design guys on fiverr who will design your vehicle

wrap (along with other design bits) for just $5 bucks!

Guy #1: Gary P

http://fiverr.com/tunsfish/create-a-vehicle-wrap-design-for-your-car/

Guy #2: Josh Chretien

http://fiverr.com/joshchretien/make-you-decals-for-your-company-car/

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 202.618.9165

These guys can get the ball rolling for you as you start to get design ideas together.

Big design firms and graphic design companies with large overheads will usually

charge a lot more than an independent artist/graphic designer. So to save money,

most of the time, look for individuals like students and sole designers rather than

large teams and design firms.

http://fiverr.com/tunsfish/create-a-vehicle-wrap-design-for-your-car/

http://fiverr.com/joshchretien/make-you-decals-for-your-company-car/


You’ll find thousands of talented individuals for graphic design, art, web design and

tons more on site like: Elance.com, freelancer.com, Designcrowd.com

and 99designs.com.

With Elance and freelancer you simply upload your spec sheet outlining the job, deadline and a rough budget and designers from around the world bid for the work showing their previous work and designs as examples.

With 99designs however you pay a $200-300 bounty and designers from all over the

world compete to create your perfect logo, concept or design piece, thus resulting

usually in 50-100 gorgeous designs from pro designers in which you award a winner.

Design & Display Concepts the Savvy Vendors Use To ‘Steal’ All the Attention

Here I’ve listed out some successful mobile food businesses with the designs they’ve

used to stick out, draw attention and build a strong brand and following.

Avoid copying anyone’s design, you’ll get in trouble and we don’t want to copy others

anyway, we want to come up with our own original concept and design that looks

great, peaks people interest and attracts paying customers.

So use this swipe file as a guide of what successful vendors are doing out there and

the gorgeous graphics, wraps, artwork and designs that are possible.

Colours to avoid: Of all the colors in the spectrum, blue is an appetite suppressant.

Weight loss plans suggest putting your food on a blue plate. This is because blue

food is a rare occurrence in nature.

There are no leafy blue vegetables, no blue meats, and aside from blueberries and

a few blue-purple potatoes from remote spots on the globe, blue just doesn't exist in

any significant quantity as a natural food color.

Consequently, we don't have an automatic appetite response to blue. Furthermore,

our primal nature avoids foods that are poisonous. A million years ago, when our

earliest ancestors were foraging for food, blue, purple and black were "color warning

signs" of potentially lethal food.

Generally its best to avoid heavy off-putting colours that don’t represent your food

niche. Your main colour should ideally represent the food you are selling. But as

you’ll see, breaking the ‘design rules’ is common place in the mobile food business.

http://elance.com/

http://freelancer.com/

http://www.designcrowd.com/

http://99designs.com/


Food Truck Designs


Food Delivery Van Designs


Food Trailer Designs


Food Cart Designs


Food Stands


The Ultimate 7 Step Mobile Food Bargain Formula

So finally here’s my summarised 7 step formula to finding

your ideal mobile food vehicle for a bargain so you can

started on a shoestring budget and hit the ground running

in your mobile food business.

Step One: Plan

Resist Impulse Buying

Instead of ‘impulse buying’ and diving in with all guns blazing, we want to plan our

purchase and have a strategy from the beginning. Commit to make your mobile food

vehicle purchase a logical and smart one and not an emotional impulse decision.

Have a Clear Answer for These Four Crucial Questions

So we don’t end up buying the wrong type of mobile food vehicle, and to avoid other

bad costly mistakes, remember to ask yourself the 4 simple questions to align

yourself for a smart purchasing decision:

1: What’s our concept, style & menu?

2: What type of mobile food vehicle is best? (food truck, trailer, cart, stand etc)

3: What locations will we trade from?

4: What’s our strict total start-up budget? (that we will stick to)

Find Potential Locations & Iron Out the Specifics of Your Business

Before laying down ANY cash for our new mobile food unit we need to find locations

first and have multiple potential locations and trading spots we can trade from. Other

specific details that will alter our purchasing decision are the legal implications

involved, who and where our target market is and how we will attract them, the menu

items we will be offering and the specific equipment we'll need to operate. We also

need to start planning the funding of our operation and get the capital or financing in

place.

Put It All into a Business Plan

Prepare a quick, short, summarized business plan that includes all of these details

along with some financial projections. This will provide you with great structure and

direction and also drastically help you with any financing you might need.


Step Two: Refine Your Search

Narrow Your Search and Only Look at Units That Align With Your Business

Now you know precisely what type of vehicle and equipment you need, the size, the

design, the legal aspects, menu, possible locations, budget etc you can now make

an informed and refined search.

Your menu will require certain types of equipment, if you’re doing burgers you’ll need

a hot plate or ‘griddle’, if selling cold drinks you’ll most likely want a fridge, ice box or

cold display unit, you get the picture.

Knowing this stuff, you can narrow down your search from the masses of mobile

food units available for sale and focus on the ones that already come with the

cooking equipment you actually need.

Plan to Increase Value

Look for the perfect deal. One where you can drastically add huge value to the

vehicle by discounting the price and then adding huge value to it in the way of

signage, colour, branding, look & feel, locations, reputation and other business value

once you’re up and running, this is truly the perfect deal.

Step Three: Inquire

Talk to the Seller

Interview the dealer or seller by phone or email and ask the key questions before

going for a viewing such as:

Ask the reason for selling.

Ask the ‘nuts and bolts’ questions such as the condition of the wheels, tyres,

frame and chassis, if the unit has any rust, mileage, certifications etc.

Ask what’s included in the sale and are any bonus items included like stock or

signage etc.

Ask if the unit is clean and presentable or do parts of it need work.

Ask if all of the appliances can be DEMONSTRATED working when you go

for a viewing.

And be sure to ask is they are willing to negotiate on price or terms.

Remember, the trick to finding real bargains is finding motivated sellers. These are

people who need a quick sale for whatever reason. Uncovering the reason behind

why they’re selling reveals if they are a motivated seller and often gives us an

advantage when negotiating.


Speak Directly to the Decision-Maker

When inquiring, remember to always talk to the owner of the vehicle or the person in

charge if dealing with manufacturers, and not a friend or family member. This avoids

any kind of Chinese whispers and allows us to deal directly with the decision-maker

rather than a sales rep or friend of the actual owner.

Step Four: View

Go for a Viewing

Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a final few units and made an initial

enquiry with the seller you’ll now want to arrange a viewing. When viewing potential

mobile food vehicles, place yourself in a health and safety mindset. Check that all

gear is operating and legal and make certain any certificates are valid and are up to

date.

Look at the unit with a business mindset, remember, you’re making a BIG purchase

here. Asses the unit and its equipment as a company asset and think in terms of

return on investment not a social status toy.

Do the Essential Checks

Remember to go through the crucial checks we discussed earlier...

Motorised Mobile Food Vehicle Checks: Wheels & Tyre Check, Mileage Check,

Electrical Check, Chassis Check, Mechanical Check, Test Drive.

Checks for Virtually All Mobile Food Units: Health and Safety Check, Equipment

Check, Surfaces Check, Water System Check, Refrigeration Check, Catering First-

Aid Kit & Fire Equipment, Gas Equipment Check, Electrical Equipment Check,

Durability & Quality Check, Vehicle Insurance Costs, ‘Visual Noise’ Check, ‘Nuts &

Bolts’ Checks

If you’re not mechanically minded or technically savvy be sure to bring along

someone who is so you can avoid any bad costly buying mistakes.

Step Five: Negotiate

Use Your New Negotiation Skills to Get the Deal You Want

Once you’ve found a mobile food unit that ticks all the boxes, it’s time to negotiate for

the purchase. This means haggling for price, favourable payment terms and any

other extras that could be thrown in.


Use as many of the negotiation tricks we’ve discussed in this module such as finding

motivated sellers, find out their reason for selling, ask for a discount using the limited

budget reason, talk to the owner directly, find faults but don’t exaggerate them,

beware or emotionally over priced units, encourage them to throw something in, if

buying from dealers play them off against each other and if possible be patient and

buy out of season in the slow winter months.

Be Friendly but Firm

Negotiate like a pro by conversing a little with the seller. Express your interest (but

not too much) and attempt to negotiate as a serious buyer with a limited spending

budget who's looking at other catering units and is simply concerned with the overall

asking price, but will maybe do a deal if their willing to help out on the price.

It’s MUCH easier to negotiate when you use a ‘budget’ as the reason you need to

lower the price, instead of trying to haggle aggressively and tell the seller that their

vehicle isn’t really worth that much, people hate that. Be polite, friendly and create a

little common ground for much smoother negotiation.

Avoid coming across too overly interested, desperate or in a hurry to buy. Give the

impression that you are looking around at similar units to what they have for sale,

and you could take it or leave it.

Step Six: Seal the Deal & Prepare for Launch

Acquire Your Mobile Food Unit

Make the necessary financial arrangements & close the deal. Be sure to avoid

anything that looks like a scam, any instant money transfers or deposits via Western

Union or MoneyGram should be avoided, they can’t be traced and are popular with

scammers.

Get Some Practice & Prepare for Trading

You’ll now want to familiarise yourself with your newly purchased mobile food vehicle

and the equipment. Do a dry run with friends and family and celebrate the opening of

your new mobile food business.

A dry run with friends and family is a great way to get use to your new equipment

and help you to organise the systems, procedures and speed up your serving times.

It’s important you and your team get comfortable with the overall setup of your new

operation, so you’re not thrown off balance when serving to the bigger busier

crowds.


Step Seven: Commit

Make a Commitment to Make Your Food Venture a Success

Learn how to ‘swim’ before diving from the top board. The number one reason for

failure in the mobile food business is the lack of knowledge.

Lack of fundamental business building knowledge is really the primary cause for so

much public failure, struggling and time wasting, it’s sad. It’s the reason why the

overwhelming majority of people new to street food and mobile catering will fail in

achieving their dreams even if they have great cooking skills and work extremely

hard.

Most food vendors I meet and talk to are doing a great job of operating their

business, cooking good food and so forth, but they lack the essential knowledge &

skills of finding profitable locations and attracting a steady flow of customers to their

outlet that keep them coming back...

Without these essential mobile food business skills you'll go out of business

FAST...

There was a time when you could start a mobile food business and concentrate on

serving good food with a friendly service and the world would form an orderly queue

to your mobile restaurant. Today of course, is a different story with more local

competition than ever...

Listen, screwing up in business and having public failure SUCKS. And I DONT want

that to happen to you...

You see, I’ve taken years to figure this stuff out. It took me years of trial and error to

find out what really WORKS in the mobile food business...

Repeat: it took me YEARS. Years of trials and error.

Every time I found something that DID work, I took the idea, refined it, and wrote it

down, then worked on it some more. I collected and organised it all into when we

now call the Mobile Food Profit Formula

The training & tools you get inside will transform your business whether you’re and

experienced chef, current food vendor or you’re just getting started, and will make

sure you don’t screw anything up or get shut down.

It's truly a world-class education & toolkit for EVERY aspect of your mobile food

business. In other words, a complete FORMULA to start, grow & scale your dream

lifestyle business.


Over the next few modules I’m going to share with you the secrets that thousands of

my readers all over the world are using right now to start up quickly from the ground

up and get into all sorts of profitable locations and events with their food trucks,

trailers and carts.

You’ll get everything you need to start and grow your business so you can get

started IMMEDIATLEY. It’s time for you to finally ENJOY your work and make a

GREAT income for you and your family from something you actually enjoy...

I Want Your Success

I truly want your success. You see, I was once starting out on my own and it felt like

all odds were against me. I would have given almost anything to have someone give

me the support & guidance that I’m sharing with you.

Most food vendors unfortunately avoid helping other new food vendors at all costs.

They don’t want you to succeed because they fear you as competition. I on the other

hand truly believe there’s room for us all and that there are TONS of profitable

unclaimed locations and catering opportunities. That’s why I truly mean it when I say

“I want your success”, because I do. I want you to create the dream mobile food

lifestyle you deserve. So USE what you’ve learned in this training and get out there

and kick some butt.

To finish up here I’d like to share some of my favourite quotes that keep me

motivated and inspired...

True success is doing what you love.

Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

If you commit whole-heartedly to your dreams, they

are MUCH more likely to come true.

Failure comes when you quit. If you are trying then you

are succeeding.

Find an opportunity and you are already half way to

success.

Success begins when you believe that something is

possible.

There is very little difference between success and

progress


You become successful by DOING, not dreaming.

When opportunity knocks at your door, invite her in.

She is a close friend of success.

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what

you’ve always got.

Man is born to live. Not prepare to live.

Follow your bliss.

Listen to your heart rather than the disparaging

remarks of others.

Everyone has their own place in the world, If you find

where you best fit, you are more likely to succeed.

There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible

to achieve: the fear of failure.

Good things come to those who try, and try again, and

again, and again.

Failures are finger posts on the road to success.

You are successful if you add more value to the

world, than the world gives you.

Difficult can be transformed into easy with the right

mindset.

Smell the roses rather than complaining that it has

thorns.

Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary

greatly in their abilities. They vary in the desires to

reach their potential.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our

deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond

measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most

frightens us. We ask ourselves: ‘who am I to be

brilliant, gorgeous, talent and fabulous?’ Actually

who are you not to be? – Nelson Mandela

Success in life and in business comes from taking

hundreds of small steps.

I've never been poor, only broke. Being poor is a

frame of mind. Broke is a temporary situation.


Don't criticise others for not working hard enough.

Lead by example.

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.

Success is always a work in progress, so don't feel

dispirited if you sometimes feel you are not succeeding.

Every minute that you truly believe you can become

successful brings that success a minute closer.

It takes just one positive affirming thought to overpower

an army of negative thoughts.

Refine your dreams every day until they shine like

diamonds.

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow

talent to the dark place where it leads.

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

Those who don’t set their own goals usually end up

working for someone else’s.

If fortune smiles on you, pass that smile on to others.

If you can grab an opportunity then it will lead to many

more opportunities.

Whether you believe you can, or you believe you

can’t, you’re right.

Failures tend to believe in luck – the successful believe in

cause and effect.

Love your work rather than the success it may or may not

bring you.

What you practice in private you are rewarded for in

public.

Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.

Only the deluded think they know everything. Embracing

the fact that you have much to learn will help you

succeed.


Most of the successful people I’ve known are the

ones who do more listening than talking.

Write a list of successful people you respect, be they

friends, mentors, neighbours or celebrities. Learn

from their example and listen to their advice.

Set daily goals for yourself and remind yourself of

what they are every couple of hours. It’s all too easy

to get sidetracked and lose focus.

Study successful people: you can’t win unless

you know the rules of the game.

Write thank you letters to those who have helped

you, it strengthens your relationship with them and

makes you feel good too.

Never let inexperience get in the way of ambition.

Value the input of those more experienced than you.

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run

over if you just sit there.

A big shot is just a little shot who kept on shooting.

Get outside of your comfort zone. It doesn’t matter

what you choose to do, but push yourself to try

something new now and then. Taking risks is

necessary in order to achieve success.

He who dares, wins.

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take

the first step.

When it comes to getting things done, we need fewer architects and more

bricklayers.

Nobody ever found success without taking chances.

Lots of people have good ideas – it is learning how to turn those ideas into

actions that leads to success.

You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.

Don’t wait for your ship to come in. Swim out and get it.

Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we

should make up our minds to walk boldly through them.

Life is not a rehearsal. We only get one go. Make sure your dreams are centre

stage.


Action Steps:

1: Pick out a few success quotes and write them out prominently somewhere in your

physical environment.

2: A goal is a dream with a deadline. Write out your 90 day goals in fine detail, define

what your goals are and specifically how you’re going to achieve them with

numbered action steps in a to-do list style with a realistic timed deadline.

Enjoyed this training? Let me know your thoughts...

1: Send me your comments & feedback to my email here:

[email protected]

2: Connect with me here:

www.facebook.com/mobilefoodmike

3: If you enjoyed my ebook training don’t forget to spread the good word online via

social media to your friends, cooking forums, chef hangouts & food websites!

Wishing you all the success, I’m rooting for you!

Mobile Food Mike :-)

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.facebook.com/mobilefoodmike

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