Back in 2012, just as the street food revolution was getting underway in the UK, Richard, of Revival Trailers, was perhaps unknowingly, beginning to shape the aesthetic of the industry.

His knowledge of engineering and his fondness for the style synonymous with the 1950s, led him to create Airstream style trailers, which are now amongst the very best, if not the leading, Aluminium trailers in the country. Revival Trailers continues to succeed not just because of the quality of the company’s product, but because of the diligence and attention to detail so characteristic of its owners. And they aren’t just great to look at! Each one is custom built to the traders’ preferences and food type and Lee helps users fit out their trailer to unique specifications. Safety and usability remain paramount to all of their builds.

It’s lovely to talk to you both today, can you tell us how you got started?

Richard has been working with Lee and Gary from Foremost Interiors, who fit out and design the trailer interiors, since 2009, converting original Airstream trailers. However, after encountering numerous problems due to age and condition, we decided 10 years ago to manufacture the trailer bodies from scratch. They are all built in the UK, in the heart of the Midlands.

Do you outsource any of your work?

No, absolutely everything is done in house.

That’s impressive. What are some of the reasons for Revival Trailers’ success do you think?

Multiple things hopefully! The first is that we have responded to the industry. As trends have developed we have changed our product to suit the needs of our customers to stay relevant. We work closely with our customers, helping them to shape their food truck to fit their business needs. We’re also passionate about safety. There are an increasing number of customers coming to us with trailers that they have imported from abroad that have major safety issues which we have to rectify. Nothing is more important than the safety aspect of a trailer. All of our trailers conform to the highest standards and all the gas and electricity work is done to UK standards by qualified and certificated engineers.

What’s the best thing about working in the industry?

Getting to be a part of someone’s journey is amazing – and often customers will come back to us for alterations or extensions, or even additional units, some of our customers have had us do multiple units. Some traders don’t have the budget all up front, so they’ll go for a basic model, and then come back for upgrades. The creativity too, getting to be creative for a living.

A lot of people reading this might be wondering about cost, what would you say is the average spend for a new trailer?

It’s a bit like saying how long is a piece of string. It depends on the quality, size and fit. Sometimes a cooker alone will cost £1k – sometimes it will cost £9k! Cost depends on what you’ll be cooking, the volume and how quickly you’ll need to turn it out to customers.

And finally, having worked alongside traders for so many years, what would be your one piece of advice for caterers?

Be careful who you go to for advice, there’s a lot of good people in this industry, lean on them. And remember, if you’re buying something and the price seems too good to be true, then it probably is.

Follow their journey here & for more news from us, look here