How to start a mobile pizza business: Top tips from Peddling Pizzas

Adam Atkins of Peddling Pizzas has amassed over 185k followers on Instagram and 83.5k followers on his YouTube channel. The entrepreneur began his business back in 2016 on the back of a two wheeler and little bike trailer and has gone on to build a hugely successful business, alongside providing masterclasses to new starters in the UK and USA.

Adam’s recent YouTube video delves into what you need to do to become a mobile pizza operator doing street food in the UK. Here’s a quick snapshot of what you can expect to learn from the video.

Perfect the art of pizza making

Once you’ve got menu items thought out, practice the speed of preparation through to the end result. Imagine you were at a festival and you’d just paid £10 or so for your pizza and be completely honest with yourself; would you feel like it’s a wicked pizza or that you were ripped off? Once you’ve got that bit down to a tee, you’re pretty much ready to sell pizza.

Research, research, research

Think about how you want to run the business. Do you want to get into street food and do markets? Is street trading allowed in your town/city? Do you want to do pop-ups at pubs or focus more on events such as festivals or weddings. There’s are lots of different options to explore so make sure you know which way you want to take the business.

Figure out your setup

A gazebo/tent is a good way to get into it cheaply – in fact, I spent about 2.5k for my initial setup. Don’t overspend or get a big loan in the beginning and find you can’t source work. You’re best to earn your stripes first and build the business and a customer base from the bottom up, you’ll learn lots along the way.

Think of a name and set-up your social media

Setup your handles on social media under your new name (do your research to make sure you’re not replicating an existing name), source a domain for a website, make a logo and start posting pictures of you making pizza or even your journey to launch. Utilise social media as much as you can because it’s free marketing that can bring a lot of business. Facebook is a great platform for attracting a local audience, whereas Instagram allows you to showcase a portfolio of what you do to a more global audience.

Register your business

You must register your business with your local authority at least 28 days before you start trading and you can do this easily online. Once you’ve done this, it will activate an EHO to get in touch and arrange a visit to your site/the trailer in which you operate. I’m a member of NCASS (The Nationwide Caterers Association) – they make it super easy and all EHO’s know about them. They have a Digital Safety Management System which you can access from your phone which makes it really easy to perform opening and closing checks. It’s just an easy way of doing it without having to worry about the paperwork.

Being with NCASS has saved me money on insurance through discounts. The Level 2 Food Hygiene Training, which you and staff members will have to complete, comes with membership.

When an EHO does come to visit they’ll check processes, paperwork, setup etc and that’s how you’ll receive your hygiene rating. I’ve been a 5-star trader for 8 years in a row now.

Gas certification

If you’re running a gas oven then you’ll need mobile LPG certification, which a normal gas man can’t provide you with. NCASS membership provides you with a list of LPG registered gas engineers who you’ll need to source for checks every year. To trade at events, you’ll need this certificate. If you’re employing anyone you’ll also need employers liability and product liability for anything on your trading site.

Click here to view the video in full. For more information on NCASS membership, click here.