Going self-employed
Cooking the food and running the van you've nailed: get the pricing, pitch and event-booking admin organised before you cook your first paid service.
Instant digital downloads on currently available products · UK-focused templates and guides · Not a substitute for professional advice.
Cooking the food and running the van is the part you're good at; turning it into a business is the part that catches people out. Once you're out trading you're juggling two pricing models at once, per-head packages for events and weddings and per-item prices at a street pitch, paying pitch and festival fees, taking deposits to hold event dates, and keeping on top of the food-hygiene, allergen and unit-safety side while stock and gas get used up by the hour. LaunchKit is a set of UK-focused, downloadable templates and guides to help you think through that setup side and get organised from your first service. It's a practical starting point, not a substitute for professional advice.
What to sort first
Set per-head event packages and per-item pitch prices so stock, waste, gas and pitch fees are all covered, with a minimum spend in mind for events.
Decide how deposits, date-holding and changes work so quotes go out cleanly. It's a starting point to think through, not legal advice.
Registering your food business with your local authority, food hygiene, allergen requirements and the gas and electrical safety of your unit are things to look into and sort yourself before you trade.
Have consistent paperwork to send for events, weddings and corporate bookings so quoting and billing don't eat your evenings.
Get a basic system for tracking takings and costs across pitches, festivals and events so tax time isn't a scramble.
Think through Instagram, event organisers, local Facebook and festival and market networks so events and pitch trade keep coming in.
Cover for a mobile food business is worth looking into early. That's a prompt to look into, not insurance advice.
Recommended LaunchKit tools
Walks you through the practical first steps of setting up a self-employed mobile catering business so you're not guessing what to sort first.
See what’s inside Your paperworkReady-to-use quote, booking-confirmation and invoice templates for the event, wedding and corporate paperwork you send clients.
See what’s inside Your pricingHelps you work through per-head event packages and per-item pitch prices so your prices cover stock, waste, gas and pitch fees instead of leaving you short.
See what’s inside Getting foundContent templates to help you show off your menu and get found and booked on Instagram and local Facebook without staring at a blank caption box.
See what’s inside Your wordsHelps you write event quotes, booking enquiries and festival applications without spending your evening wrestling with the words.
See what’s inside Money adminA set of forms to help you keep deposits, event quotes and pitch and festival takings organised in one place.
See what’s insideNot sure where to start? See everything for mobile catering or browse all LaunchKit products.
Suggested starter stack
The same tools, grouped in the order most people pick them up. You don’t need everything at once — start with the essentials, then add the rest as your business grows.
Common questions
Get the admin side organised so you can focus on the work. Browse the tools built for mobile catering businesses.
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