Is a Mobile Sweet Shop Classed As a Catering Van?

by Joanna
(Bradford)

selection of sweets

selection of sweets

Hi David, I am planning on setting up a mobile sweet shop to use at weddings, events and festivals etc. Do I have to have any basic food hygiene certificates and are there any other legalities I might have to take into account?

It will be sweets in jars that I would weigh out and bag up plus pre wrapped items such as lollipops. I would also be doing wedding favours and offering a sweet buffet service too. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Joanna

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Oct 15, 2013
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by: David

Hi Joanna,

Good to hear from you!

I don’t have any personal experience with this type of catering business, but will try my best to help you.

From my understanding this is mostly a low food risk business, where no food is cooked, stored or sold.

It mainly comprises of selling loose sweets (and in wrapper) from a jar where your only contact is at the point of sale, when taking sweets out to be weighed and sold.

This part of the process will involve some handing where I’d think you will be using some type of tongs to move the sweets. Where this is not possible you’ll need the use of gloves and should also have access to cold/hot water washing facilities to comply with basic food hygiene laws. With this being said, I would probably think that you should acquire a basic Level 1 food and hygiene certificate, do of course confirms this with the local council.

It’s then just a matter of keeping the trailer clean and tidy and having a basic food safety management system in place as part of good practices when selling to the public.
I wouldn’t class this as a mobile catering food business, but that you are simply using a mobile vehicle to sell your goods. You will also need the usual vehicle insurance and liability insurance.

Once you have this in place it’s then just a matter of contacting event organisers, wedding organisers, wedding shops etc and making them aware of your services. There a few people doing this type of business so there must be demand for it.

I hope this information is useful as a starting point. Do let me know how you get on.

You may also find this post helpful: Pick and Mix Cart Business

Best of luck,
David


PS. Get my free guide on Starting a Mobile Catering Business Guide

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