catering trailer

CAENMATT

Hi ALL
I am about to take the plunge into a new business. I am purchasing a catering trailer over the next couple of weeks. I have secured a decent trailer with certificates so this is something i will not have to worry about. I do need some advice though
1. Can anyone suggest a firm that provides public liability for a catering trailer? And how much?
2. 2 will be working the trailer and both have first aid and food hygiene certificates, what other documentation is needed. Such as risk assessments, COSH sheets, temp control sheets.
Any advice you can give me would be great
Matt

paddyrg

I can't answer #2, but any business insurer will offer a range of insurances from PL and Employers Liability through cash and stock and all sorts. PL and EL are essential. It'll be a few hundred quid a year for those.

Savvy_Sue

I know nothing about the logistics of catering, but if you are employing staff I'd suggest you need timesheets and a whole raft of paperwork covering their terms and conditions of employment. You'll need to register as a new employer with HMRC, there's a link on the site and they are usually very helpful. I'm sure there's also a link from the new employer's bit to the government site which covers the legal bits of employing staff, or take a look at businesslink.

Remember that even part-time staff are entitled to paid leave (5.6 weeks per year, pro rata), and that you may need to cover for sickness etc. As a paying customer, I think it's important to be open when you say you'll be open. If you're not, I'll go elsewhere and I may like elsewhere better.

badmumof1

http://www.allsafe.org.uk/allsafe/index.html
for food certificates and HACCP, timesheets info
http://www.cmtia.co.uk/index.html
you could try these people for insurance but if they dont it for catering van they will put you in touch with who will do.
These are far cheaper than the http://www.nmtf.co.uk/index.php?id_cpg=1 as you dont end up paying for a quarterly magazine which youwill probably never ever read.

paulwf

OP please don't rush into anything, better to do things right and take your time.

The Safer Food Better Business pack forms the backbone of your food hygiene compliance:

http://www.food.gov.uk/foodindustry/regulation/hygleg/hyglegresources/sfbb/

The best thing to do is ask your local environmental health department for help now as requirements differ by authority. You'll need to give 28 days notice when registering anyway.

Usually in your SFBB folder you'll keep twice daily temperature logs. You may also want to do a form for daily healthy and safety checks...just a simple list of tick boxes checking for trip hazards etc.

You'll need your health & safety poster, a cleaning rota poster, a health & safety policy (and log of who has signed for it) and fire procedure. For any products that are high risk or have special handling requirements you might want to get covering letters from suppliers.

Make sure you have an HSE compliant first aid kit and accident book.

Put a training procedure in place and get your employees to sign for every step, that way you know they've been trained properly so will give better customer service and will work in a safe manner to a high standard - better for everybody.

You're going to need tight cash handling procedures and regular stocktakes otherwise expect half your sales to not go through the till and half your stock to go walkies. Seriously, it's easy to let procedures slip but if you do all your profit will go missing.

paulwf

Forgot to add you'll probably want LOTS of clip & lock storage tubs or something similar. Combine this with day dots so you have a good food storage policy.

Make sure all fridges and freezers have a thermometer (these don't cost much) and get a digital temperature probe for spot checks when deliveries come in.

Don't get sucked into paying hundreds of pounds for useless folders and charts, just about everything you can create yourself - or borrow from another caterer if you ask nicely - and you shouldn't have to pay for any of your compliance forms.

redned_2

Have a look at https://www.ncass.org.uk there is a fair amount of information on there. (You can if you wish pay an annual membership fee of £197 for them to give you all your paperwork but most of it can be found for free as paulwf says). Also dont expect too much from the work opportunities if you do join:D

You can also go through them for PL or try Giles Insurance for a quote.

Another useful site is https://www.villagefetes.co.uk