Mobile kitchen on wheels for business. A drive-in cafe on wheels is a profitable low-budget business. Restaurant on a double-decker bus

A restaurant on wheels or a mobile cafe is relatively new for Russian conditions. Establishments of this type are gradually occupying their specific niche among restaurants and cafes and becoming popular among the population. The proposed material details all the nuances of opening such a diner.

Features of starting a business

A restaurant on wheels has its own specific features that must be taken into account both when planning an enterprise and in the process of economic activity. With the correct placement of economic accents, it can bring good profits and represent serious competition for stationary public catering establishments.

Among the main tasks that arise when opening a restaurant on wheels, several important points can be identified, which are covered in detail below.

Composition of visitors

Already at the design stage of such a specific business as a mobile restaurant, it is necessary to clearly understand who its visitors will be. Depending on the focus on certain categories of clients, the concept of the future activity of the mobile snack bar is built.


When designing a restaurant, you need to consider who will be its visitors.

If you count on young people, students and high school students, then you need, for example, to provide affordable prices, youthful modern cuisine with a variety of invigorating tonic drinks. It is advisable to decorate it in accordance with youth tastes - with fashionable music, youth entertainment programs on TV.

If the restaurant is aimed at tourists, as they prefer to do in Western European countries, it is necessary to have a more refined and high-calorie cuisine, and also provide a guide who will tell you about the attractions that the cafe on wheels passes by.

Travel routes

Cafes on wheels are one of the most important factors in the success of this type of business. Therefore, travel patterns around a large city, in nature or along any tourist route must be worked out very carefully.

Tourist routes depend on the theme, duration, time of year and other factors. It is necessary to take into account the condition of the roads and the possibility of stopping. It is advisable to include a tour of historical sights, travel past beautiful natural landscapes, a trip to a picturesque place for corporate events, and so on.

Kitchen

An equally important issue when serving customers in mobile restaurants or cafes on wheels is the composition of the menu.

When the main visitors of a mobile establishment are young people, it is recommended to exclude strong alcoholic drinks from the kitchen. In the main menu, it is better to focus on dishes that do not spill when shaking or turning and are easily reheated without loss of taste. Hot baked goods, sandwiches, and various confectionery products are best suited for mobile catering.

At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the menu always contains some signature dish that is served only in this establishment and would be the calling card of the restaurant.

A mobile restaurant works more successfully if it has its own additional stationary kitchen. Most often, mobile cafes are an additional point of sale for existing restaurants. This option allows you to prepare dishes that are most suitable for your specific needs. In addition, in a stationary kitchen you can quickly prepare a large number of dishes for a large party.

In the absence of a classic establishment with an equipped kitchen, it is recommended to have a permanent supplier who would provide the mobile restaurant with tasty food in the required quantities.

In addition to a special ration of dishes, it is necessary to keep in mind that the dishes for a mobile restaurant must be unbreakable. Disposable tableware is best. It is convenient when it has special lids that prevent spilling.

Equipment

The main thing for a mobile restaurant is the vehicle on which it is installed. To do this, you need to rebuild the bus. There is, of course, a more exotic option, which is to purchase a franchise. For example, the famous Western company TheBus. But this option will turn out to be a trap when any part of the branded double-decker bus breaks down or the franchise expires, and it will be impossible to sell the bus.

Therefore, the best choice would be to re-equip a domestic bus.

To do this, it is necessary to install an air conditioner with a 220-volt voltage converter in the vehicle, as well as a refrigerator and coffee maker. It wouldn't hurt to cover the bus body with a special soundproofing coating. In addition, you cannot do without a high-quality audio system with sufficiently powerful sound amplifiers and, of course, a wide-screen TV. Don't forget to install comfortable tables.

Staff

The team of a restaurant on wheels usually consists of three to four people. It includes an administrator, a bartender, a waiter and a driver. The administrator can combine his duties with the work of a bartender, and the ideal administrator must simultaneously have the knowledge of a good tour guide and the skills of a toastmaster. When selecting personnel, special attention must be paid to the candidacy of a driver who, in addition to professional skills, must have an excellent knowledge of the layout of the city and its environs.

Financial expenses

The inseparable components of the financial side of the mobile restaurant business are:

  • initial costs;
  • current expenses;
  • planned income.

Initial costs include the cost of the bus, the cost of equipment and the cost of creating the necessary exterior and interior. The approximate cost of a mobile restaurant is about 3 million rubles, which includes the cost of a bus - 2.8 million rubles, the cost of installing equipment - 120 thousand rubles, interior design of the premises - 100 thousand rubles.

Operating expenses consist of the cost of fuel, bus and equipment maintenance, and staff salaries. If we take the daily average mileage of a restaurant on wheels to be 100 km, gasoline consumption is 30 liters per 100 km at a cost of 35 rubles per liter, then the cost of fuel per month will be about 31.5 thousand rubles.

Based on domestic experience of such a business, monthly maintenance costs for a restaurant on wheels are approximately 15 thousand rubles, and salary costs are 60 thousand rubles.

Thus, you can take the amount of total monthly expenses in the amount of 100–110 thousand rubles.

The above expenses for creating and running a restaurant business on wheels will pay off within two years if during this period the eatery generates at least 125-150 thousand rubles of net income. Calculations show that such a profit is quite achievable. To do this, it is necessary that the cafe serves at least 120 visitors daily, and the average bill with a 50% markup is approximately 100 rubles.


The restaurant will reach self-sufficiency if the average bill and the number of visitors are maintained

Despite its apparent exoticism, a mobile restaurant is a completely profitable business. And taking into account the fact that this form of entrepreneurship is not yet very widespread in Russia, any entrepreneur has a chance to occupy a free niche.

If you have your own experience of opening a restaurant on wheels, you can tell about it in the comments to this article.

Anyone looking for a business that requires minimal investment cannot help but pay attention to mobile cafes. Your own business - a cafe on wheels - requires minimal costs, since instead of a premises you use a car or a trailer-van.

However, before you open a mobile cafe, you must correctly complete all the necessary documents.

Entrepreneur registration

Registration with the tax office. It is best to run a business as an individual entrepreneur when opening a cafe. In the KVED indicate “retail trade in beverages.” In the column: "Address" you can simply write the name of the city.

Registration of an employment contract. When working with hired workers, you need to draw up an agreement with each of them at the employment center and obtain a certificate from the tax office about labor relations.

Registration of place of trade and vehicle

Permission to place a retail facility. From a legal point of view, a car or trailer is a small architectural form. It is necessary to obtain permission to place it from the Department of Architecture. If the trailer is located on the sidewalk, permission must also be obtained from the local administration.

Obtain permission from the SES. Before opening a cafe, bar or pancake house on wheels, you must submit a list of products and goods to the SES, indicating the type of activity: “Retail trade in drinks.” When inspectors visit, workers must present medical records and certificates for products - coffee and related products.

The fast food business is very profitable. Hundreds of entrepreneurs, including newcomers, have already appreciated this. But in order not to make large investments at the start, you can choose a slightly different area - mobile fast food. This format of public catering in Russia is not yet “famous” for high competition, which means you have a chance to carve out your niche in the market. Fast food on wheels as a business is considered highly profitable - investments with consistently high demand for the dishes offered can pay off in just six months.

Our business assessment:

Starting investments – from 300,000 rubles.

Market saturation is average.

The difficulty of starting a business is 5/10.

Mobile fast food can hardly be called a full-fledged catering establishment. In mobile stalls, people only buy “quick” food so they can go about their business again. The format of a mobile retail outlet can be different.

Analyze your local consumer market. If in the business part of the city and on busy avenues there are no food trucks at all or in limited quantities, you can start your own business. It is better to plan the opening for the spring - there will be greater demand, and you will be able to recoup an impressive part of the investment in one summer season. How to open a fast food on wheels? What nuances will an entrepreneur have to sort out in order to start a business?

Where does a business on wheels begin?

Start implementing a business project by finding the “right” vehicle. An ordinary truck, of course, will not work here - you need a special van designed for a cafeteria. Moreover, it is more profitable to find just such a car, otherwise it will take a significant investment to “remake” an ordinary car. There are many companies on the market that sell and rent vending trailers - there are plenty to choose from.

To minimize investments at the start, you can not purchase a van for personal use, but rent it. In the future, when things get better, just buy the vehicle.

Perhaps the only drawback of this direction is the need to obtain numerous permits from state inspectors. Register your activity and register with the tax office. To prepare all the documents, you will have to wait at least 3-6 months. The “establishment” preparing to open will be inspected by sanitary and fire services. The local authorities of Rospotrebnadzor will have to approve the menu and recipes.

And don’t forget that a fast food car on wheels is still a car that needs full legal registration - it is subject to registration with the traffic police, a technical inspection and obtaining compulsory motor liability insurance.

It also doesn’t hurt to think about the design of the outlet. Let the van attract customers not only with the pleasant aromas of freshly prepared food, but also with its bright design. This way you will create your own “brand name” - who knows, maybe soon you will expand your network of mobile coffee shops.

If there is a financial opportunity, it is better to involve a professional lawyer in “paper” matters - there are important tasks to be solved, which will be problematic for an ignorant person to understand.

Choose a business direction

The business plan for fast food on wheels must necessarily include an item dedicated to menu development. The amount of revenue will largely depend on the range of dishes offered. And here it doesn’t hurt to analyze the activities of competitors - what they sell, what customers are more willing to buy from them, what service they offer.

Mobile fast food can specialize in selling only one dish, or it can offer customers a full range of “fast” food. Our compatriots prefer the following menu:

  • shawarma,
  • pizza,
  • hot dogs,
  • pies,
  • pancakes,
  • confectionery.

It would be great if the mobile cafe would additionally sell hot and cold drinks - there is always a demand for them.

When developing the menu, pay attention to the franchisors' offers. A fast food franchise on wheels will save the entrepreneur from developing the concept and design of the future establishment - all data is provided by the parent company. But there are few offers of this kind on the market, they cost a decent amount, and the rules of cooperation are sometimes simply impossible to implement. Therefore, it is sometimes financially more profitable for a novice entrepreneur to open an establishment from scratch.

Be prepared for the fact that inspection authorities will periodically visit your fast food trailer. Everything here must be kept clean and tidy. And the highest demands must be placed on purchased products for cooking! If representatives of sanitary services reveal any violations during an inspection, the sale of fast food on wheels will be suspended. To avoid this, use products only from trusted suppliers - this is clearly not worth saving. It is better to establish connections with local food factories and vegetable sellers - then you will not have to overpay for the delivery of “raw materials” from afar.

Location of the outlet

Buying a mobile trading kiosk for fast food is half the battle. Now it’s time to decide on its location. And here, too, a number of problems are possible. Even though your cafe will be on wheels, you can’t just stand anywhere on the side of the road and start serving people “quick” food! You will need to “settle” somewhere.

Mobile fast food carts and food trucks must be installed in accessible areas. Sleeping areas are not your option. Here the dishes will not go out as quickly, which will significantly reduce revenue.

A fast food van on wheels can be installed:

  • close to major markets,
  • on the territory of large shopping centers,
  • at train stations,
  • in the business part of the city,
  • on busy streets.

Many entrepreneurs change their location during major city holidays, installing a fast food car in amusement parks and squares. On one such day you can make a month's income.

To install a mobile stand at the selected location, obtain permission from the local city administration or from a private tenant. You will enter into an agreement with the specified rental amount for the plot. Experts advise not to enter into a long-term contract for the use of land at first - it is important to first understand whether there will be a decent income in a particular place. If you fail, you can always move to another place.

RV Equipment Costs

Equipment for fast food on wheels can be purchased inexpensively. The exact list of necessary kitchen equipment, utensils and appliances will depend on the chosen specifics of the business. In any case, it is quite possible to meet even 200,000 rubles.

As a rule, a fast food machine is equipped with the following equipment:

  • microwaves,
  • grill ovens,
  • coffee makers and juicers,
  • cooler,
  • heated counters,
  • fridge.

If you do not have sufficient finances, you can think about purchasing used equipment. But be careful when choosing it - sellers may simply be selling illiquid goods.

To work with kitchen equipment, you don’t have to look for experienced employees - even beginners can handle the tasks. Hire at least two sales associates to work shifts. Please note that each employee must have a health certificate!

How much can you earn from a food truck?

To buy a fast food van on wheels and all the necessary equipment, you will need at least 1,000,000 rubles. If you rent a vehicle, the starting investment can be reduced to 300,000 rubles - the best option for beginners!

Do not expect huge profits in the first months of operation - the auto shop will gain popularity gradually.

When setting up a business, pay attention to pricing. The cost of the dishes you offer should not exceed the level set by your closest competitors! Customers will not buy expensive hot dogs if there is a diner with more attractive prices literally 100 meters away.

A mobile cafe is an excellent alternative to a stationary catering outlet. It is unusual and has low prices, which can be explained by the low costs of organizing a business. The establishment claims to be a serious competitor to ordinary food outlets, such as cafes, restaurants and canteens. This business format is unusual, which will certainly attract the attention of visitors. They will have access to an additional option - travel at the client’s request. How to organize such a business, what are its nuances and how much money should be invested in the project?

Specifics of a mini-cafe on wheels

When opening a cafe on wheels, you should decide in advance on the number of visitors. The format of the institution determines its target audience in the form of students, schoolchildren and children. To attract their attention and stand out from other similar and stationary establishments, you need to think about the design of a mobile cafe. To prevent its visitors from being disturbed by extraneous sounds from the street, care should be taken to ensure sound insulation.

Audio and video equipment will be needed to entertain visitors. When planning special events, you should take care of developing an entertainment program and the possibility of preparing dishes for the banquet menu.

You should think about the routes of movement of the establishment on wheels in advance. In this case, you need to take into account the location of the city’s attractions, as well as the time of the greatest concentration of people in them. To ensure that the cafe does not stand idle, citizens of the city should be notified about the trajectory of movement. It is better if the cafe moves along one route, which will allow its customers to plan their visits. It is better to save information about clients, as well as their dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses, in your database, which will allow you to issue advertising mailings with promotional offers dedicated to holidays.

Cafe menu on wheels

When creating a menu, you should take into account the specifics of the establishment. It should not contain alcoholic beverages. It is allowed to include low-alcohol cocktails in the menu if the target audience of the subject belongs to the adult category. Since it is impossible to provide full cooking in a mobile establishment, most dishes should be presented in the form of semi-finished products, the preparation of which does not require a lot of time and great effort. They should be cooked to such a degree that they can simply be reheated and served to the client. The menu can include baked goods, soups and side dishes.

Interior design of a cafe on wheels

To bring semi-finished products to readiness, you will need an oven or microwave. As an alternative, you can formalize a contractual relationship with a stationary institution in which the food preparation process has been established. However, it should be taken into account that if you purchase a ready-made meal in an elite restaurant, it will be difficult to sell it at the same price in a mobile cafe. For this reason, it is better to negotiate the supply of freshly prepared food in canteens.

  • Location is everything to us!
  • Land question
  • Which franchise to choose
  • OKVED code
  • Staff
  • Suppliers
  • Which taxation system to choose for registering a business when opening a snack bar
        • Similar business ideas:

When talking about food trucks, we primarily mean mobile kiosks, carts and auto-buffets. For the most part, it is “mobility” that attracts many beginners to this business. It didn’t work in one place - nonsense, the snack bar on wheels moves to a new retail location without much difficulty. Small investments in business, a relatively “easy start”, low market saturation and a large selection of franchising solutions make street fast food on wheels a very attractive business...

Kitchen on wheels where to start

Before planning the placement of a point and drawing up a menu, you need to go through competing food service outlets and look at the range of their products. As a rule, it is not very wide, but includes various delicious foods and baked goods. You can offer visitors:

  • Shawarma
  • Hot dogs;
  • Pizza
  • Samsa

Hot dogs and shawarma are always in demand. It will be good if you can offer a wide range of hot and cold drinks. You can also open a snack bar, for example, in the format of a pancake or national cuisine. If you decide to work as a franchise, you will already be offered a ready-made set of dishes.

Basic concepts of fast food on wheels

What types of eateries are there and which one is best to open? Snack bars can be quite varied in format. There are mixed-type eateries that sell a wide range of fast food: pies, donuts, pancakes, hot dogs, etc. Or a snack bar can be based on one product: pancakes, pie, donut, dumplings, tea, grilled chicken and shawarma.
The type of products sold depends greatly on the location of the eatery. For example, in residential areas of the city, it is more advisable to open grilled chicken or dumpling eateries for those who do not have time to cook at home. But on central streets and train stations this type of product will not be in demand, since it is not possible to consume chicken or dumplings on the go. Pies, shawarma, pancakes and hot dogs - this is what is best sold to “pedestrians”. At the same time, in residential areas, pies are not so good, since most people prefer to eat nutritious food at home.

Location is everything to us!

A lot in this business depends on the location of the outlet. The assortment, design of the diner, and polite staff will not play the same role as the right location. It happens that a snack bar in one place earns several times more than a similar point 50 meters away.

If you plan to open a 24-hour retail outlet, then the issue of choosing a location becomes even more important. For such a point it is necessary to have a continuous flow of visitors at any time. The best option in this case is to locate the snack bar near the highway. In this case, the main clients at night will be taxi drivers and young people.

Land question

You should start a “snack business” not by purchasing equipment, but by agreeing on the location of the point. Just because your cafe has wheels does not mean that it can park in the same place as regular cars and freely sell fast food. Such an action will certainly attract the attention of regulatory authorities, district administration and police officers. An administrative fine may be imposed for such a violation.

To avoid such persecution and gain a foothold in one place, you should contact the owner of the land with a request to rent a trading place, or obtain the appropriate permission. If the land plot belongs to the municipal authorities, then regarding rental issues you should contact the city (municipal) property management committee. As a rule, it is this department that deals with concluding lease agreements. In addition, the administration’s trade department can present you with a layout diagram for non-stationary retail facilities, that is, those places where it is possible to place such facilities without any “administrative delays.”

How much money does it take to open a food truck?

The advantage of such a business is relatively low start-up costs, in contrast to opening a stationary catering outlet. A canteen or trailer equipped as a snack bar will cost an entrepreneur no more than $20,000. The supported version will cost even less - from $10,000. Plus, some costs may go towards creating a corporate identity for the eatery, organizational costs (business registration, approvals and permits) and purchasing the first batch of products.

Which franchise to choose

Opening a franchise business will help reduce the risks of a bad start. In some cases, this may turn out to be a slightly more expensive solution, but a businessman, opening under the wing of a well-known network, receives a lot of advantages. Firstly, you don’t need to worry about the design of the outlet, equipment, technology and range of goods sold - everything is provided by franchising.
Secondly, the franchise company will train your staff absolutely free of charge, give recommendations on how to increase the income of the diner, and will support your business in the future. Thirdly, by opening under a well-known brand, you begin to sell a well-known product that does not need to be further promoted - the consumer already knows what he is buying. Therefore, there is an almost complete guarantee that your point will be profitable, all that remains is not to make a mistake with the location. The only disadvantage of working with a franchise network can be described with this phrase: if you use someone else’s brand, be so kind as to work by its rules!

OKVED code

After purchasing a car buffet, you must register your business activity (individual entrepreneur or LLC) with the local tax service. When filling out the application, you must indicate OKVED code 55.30: “activities of restaurants and cafes,” which also includes the activities of eateries.

As a tax system for a snack bar, the special regime most often chosen is UTII, which sounds like “imputation” in business language. This is the most profitable type of taxation for a given business and the amount of tax largely depends on the area occupied by the facility (and it is usually small) and the mitigating coefficient k2 established by the regional authorities. The auto buffet itself, since it is a vehicle, must be registered with the traffic police.

What documents are needed for a car kitchen?

After registering a business and installing a snack bar, the facility will need to be approved by regulatory authorities, namely Rospotrebnadzor and Pozhnadzor. To approve the operation of a snack bar, Rospotrebnadzor must provide: an agreement for disinfection, an agreement for cleaning clothes, an agreement for examining ventilation systems, an agreement for garbage and solid waste removal. In general, for general information, you can study SanPiN 2.3.6.1079-01 - “Sanitary requirements for public catering organizations.”

Staff

To ensure the smooth operation of one eatery, the employment of at least two sellers will be required. Work schedule - 2 through 2. It is better to pay wages according to the principle of salary + percentage of daily revenue, but not less than a fixed amount (for example, at least 400 rubles per shift). Thus, staff motivation increases significantly.

The image of the ideal snack bar worker: a woman between 30 and 50 years old with at least 5 years of experience in catering or retail. Finding such a person is not easy, but it is such employees that make the diner truly successful.

Suppliers

A separate issue is the search for food suppliers for the snack bar. As a rule, some time after the opening, suppliers will make themselves known. Depending on the type of fast food, these may be local producers. For eateries in the “grilled chicken” format, the main suppliers are local poultry farms, for the “snack and pie” format – local bakeries. In addition, you can order semi-finished products (for example, puff pastries, pancakes), and bake the finished product directly at the point of sale.

How much can you earn at a snack bar?

You shouldn’t expect a lot of income in the first months of operation, since the point is still just gaining a regular clientele. It is also not recommended to set high prices and engage in dumping. Ideally, prices should be slightly higher than at the next counter with grandma, but lower than at McDonald's.

A well-promoted outlet with good service has revenues of up to $600-800 per day in the spring and summer. In winter, income drops somewhat, since eating “fast food” in cold weather is not always convenient, so many people prefer to eat in stationary establishments.

As for competition, you shouldn’t be afraid of it. Wise businessmen reason like this: “You don’t need to be afraid of competitors, you need to analyze them.” In general, street fast food has one feature. When a snack bar is located near well-known food chains, for example “Kroshka-Kartoshka” or “Stardogs”, revenue does not fall, but on the contrary, it increases. This is where the “food zone” effect comes into play, when the consumer knows that in such and such a place you can quickly have a snack. And therefore all the eateries in such places have a high income.

Step-by-step plan for opening a diner

Before drawing up a business plan, you need to understand the features of a food truck on wheels and how it differs from restaurants and cafes. First, decide on your pricing policy, since you will have to work with low-income people: students, schoolchildren, public sector employees. Secondly, do not skimp on the quality of products - find good suppliers. The next step is choosing the location where your establishment will be located and the vehicle. After this, you need to start purchasing equipment and recruiting personnel. About the work of snack bars on wheels.

 

It might be useful to read: