Street food traders (UK vans, trailers and market stalls) playbook · 14 jobs

AI for street food traders: 14 jobs to hand to AI this week

Street food traders describe the same squeeze: a pitch fee or a commission that eats the takings, a menu that grew too big, a long weekend that paid less than the hours put in, and organisers who want a stack of documents before you can trade. AI cannot make a quiet event busy, but it can do the arithmetic on your own figures, turn your records into an application or a document diary, and help you write a calm, factual letter. This niche handles money, food safety paperwork and disputes, so the rules are strict. AI never tells you what is in an ingredient or whether food is safe to sell: you copy allergen facts from your suppliers and it only lays them out. It never gives gas, fire or electrical safety instructions, and it never decides what you are owed in law. Your council food team, your gas engineer, your insurer and a solicitor are the people to ask when a question turns on the rules.

Job 1 of 14ChatGPTGemini

Work out whether an event is worth the pitch fee before you pay it

Traders describe paying to work: a pitch fee or commission set against sales that never came, plus staff, stock and travel. The trade body says plainly not to gamble a fee you cannot afford to lose. AI is good at tedious sums, so it can compare a fixed fee, a percentage and a mixed deal using your own costs and your own sales from past events, and show how many portions you must sell just to break even. It must not guess the event footfall or use anyone else's figures. You decide whether to book.

Time: About 30 minutes per eventCost: free tools work

A free AI chat tool, then your own email or messaging app

Steps

  1. Collect the offer in writing: the pitch fee, any commission percentage and whether it is charged on gross or net sales, whether fees are quoted plus VAT, deposits, power and other charges, and the cancellation terms.
  2. Gather your own figures: ingredient cost per portion, average spend per customer, staff hours and pay, travel and fuel, and sales at your last two or three comparable events.
  3. Ask the organiser the research questions in the NCASS guide before you pay: expected attendance, whether it is ticketed or free, how many other caterers there are and whether any sell similar food.
  4. Paste the figures into the prompt (no customer or organiser personal details) and ask for low, middle and high sales cases drawn only from your past events.
  5. Check the break-even sum yourself with a calculator, then decide with one question: could you afford to lose the whole fee if this went the way your worst past event did?

The exact prompt

Copy, paste, then fill in the [brackets]
I am a UK street food trader. Using ONLY the figures below, work out whether this event is worth booking. Do not guess the event footfall, do not use any average, benchmark or figure from elsewhere, and do not tell me whether to book; show me the numbers.
Event, dates, and what the organiser has told me about expected attendance and number of other caterers: [text].
The offer: fixed pitch fee £[amount]; commission [percentage]% on [gross or net] sales; other charges (power, deposit, levies) £[amount]; are these quoted plus VAT? [yes, no or not stated]. Am I VAT registered? [yes or no].
My own costs: ingredient cost per portion £[amount] for [dish]; packaging and gas per portion £[amount]; staff [number] people for [hours] hours at £[rate]; travel and fuel £[amount]; stock I could not sell last time £[amount].
My own sales at the last [number] comparable events: [list of total sales and number of portions sold].
Produce: (1) a table of my costs for this event under the fixed-fee, commission and any mixed structure the organiser offers; (2) low, middle and high sales cases taken only from my past events; (3) the number of portions I must sell to break even in each case, and what is left for me after costs in each; (4) a list of the questions I still need to ask the organiser, including anything that is unclear about VAT, how commission is calculated and what is refunded if the event is cancelled. Show every sum so I can check it.

✓ Check before you send

  • Every figure came from your own records or the offer in writing, not from a forum or a guess.
  • You re-did the break-even sum yourself.
  • The low case uses your worst comparable event, not an average, and you have asked whether you could afford to lose the whole fee.
  • The VAT treatment of the fee and the commission is confirmed in writing by the organiser, and you have checked how it applies to you with your accountant or HMRC.
  • You have a signed contract and a site plan before paying, as the NCASS guide advises.

UK notes extra

Last reviewed Oct 2026. Free tools change. If a screen looks different, the steps still apply.Back to top ↑
Job 2 of 14ChatGPTGemini

Cut the menu to what sells and plan stock for each event

Two owners say the same thing: too many dishes means too much prep, too much waste and a queue nobody enjoys. The fix is a short menu and a stock plan built from what you actually sold last time. AI can work from your own sales by dish and turn it into a menu shortlist, a prep list with a margin for error and a note of what could be sold out first. It cannot judge whether food is safe to sell, so storage and discard decisions stay with your food safety system.

Time: About 45 minutes, then 15 minutes before each eventCost: free tools work

A free AI chat tool, then your own email or messaging app

Steps

  1. List every dish on your menu with the number sold, the portions wasted and the ingredient cost per portion at your last two or three events.
  2. Mark the dishes that need their own equipment, extra prep or an ingredient that nothing else uses, because these cost the most time.
  3. Decide how many dishes the kitchen and the team can really produce at speed for this event, and write a target waiting time for the queue.
  4. Paste your sales and costs into the prompt and ask for a shortlist of dishes to keep, drop or combine, and a prep and stock list for the expected number of portions you give.
  5. Cross-check the stock list against your supplier order dates and your cold storage space, and keep a written note of what you will do with anything unsold.

The exact prompt

Copy, paste, then fill in the [brackets]
I am a UK street food trader planning stock for one event. Use ONLY the figures below. Do not guess the number of customers, do not use any benchmark, and do not say whether any food is safe to keep, sell or throw away; that is for my own food safety system.
Event type and length: [text]. Expected portions I plan to sell in total (my own estimate from past events): [number]. Number of people cooking and serving: [number]. Equipment I will have: [list].
For each dish: sold at my last [number] events [list]; portions wasted [list]; ingredient cost per portion £[amount]; selling price £[amount]; prep time per portion [minutes]; ingredients that no other dish uses [list].
Produce: (1) a table ranking dishes by gross profit per portion and by prep minutes per portion; (2) a suggestion of which dishes to keep, drop or combine, with the reason from my figures; (3) a prep and stock list for my expected portions with a margin of [percentage]% that I have chosen; (4) the dishes most likely to sell out first and a plan for what I say to customers; (5) five questions to ask myself about what to do with unsold stock. Show every sum.

✓ Check before you send

  • The sales and waste figures come from your own tallies, not from memory.
  • The dish count matches what your team and equipment can produce at speed, and the target queue time is realistic for you.
  • Stock quantities are matched to your supplier order days and your cold storage space.
  • Nothing in the output tells you whether food is safe to keep or sell, and your own food safety records decide what to discard.
  • You have kept a note of the actual sales to improve the next plan.

UK notes extra

Last reviewed Oct 2026. Free tools change. If a screen looks different, the steps still apply.Back to top ↑
Job 3 of 14ChatGPTGemini

Cost each dish and set prices so your hourly rate is real

A trader who counted hours found a rate of around four pounds an hour before ingredients and fuel, and says even ten years in the trade is tight. The sum most owners skip is the full cost of one portion plus the hours behind it. AI can lay out recipe costs, packaging, gas and labour from your own receipts and show what price covers them. You decide the price, and you can check every sum with a calculator.

Time: About 1 hour for the first menu, then 15 minutes per price changeCost: free tools work

A free AI chat tool, then your own email or messaging app

Steps

  1. For each dish, weigh or count what goes into one portion and copy the current supplier price per unit from your latest invoices.
  2. Add packaging, napkins, gas, and a share of fixed costs such as pitch fees, insurance and vehicle running costs, and decide the share rule you will use.
  3. Count the hours behind a typical event: shopping, prep, travel, set-up, trading, pack-down and cleaning.
  4. Paste the figures into the prompt and ask for a cost per portion, the price needed for the gross margin you choose, and the hourly rate that results.
  5. Compare the suggested price with what customers pay at the event, decide your own price, and keep the working sheet to repeat when supplier prices change.

The exact prompt

Copy, paste, then fill in the [brackets]
I am a UK street food trader. Using ONLY the figures below, cost each dish and show what my hourly rate really is. Do not use any food cost percentage, average price or benchmark that I have not given, and show every sum.
For each dish: ingredients per portion with the unit price from my latest invoice [list]; packaging and gas per portion £[amount]; current selling price £[amount]; portions sold at a typical event [number].
Costs for a typical event: pitch fee or commission £[amount]; staff cost £[amount]; travel and fuel £[amount]; a share of insurance and vehicle costs £[amount]; unsold stock £[amount].
Hours I put in for a typical event: shopping [hours]; prep [hours]; travel and set-up [hours]; trading [hours]; pack-down and cleaning [hours].
Am I VAT registered? [yes or no]. Gross margin I want to aim for on food cost: [percentage]%.
Produce: (1) a table of cost per portion and gross profit per portion for every dish; (2) the price each dish would need for my chosen margin, and how far that is from my current price; (3) the total profit and my hourly rate for a typical event with my current prices; (4) which dishes to reprice first, from my figures; (5) the questions I should check with my accountant about VAT on the prices I show customers. Plain English.

✓ Check before you send

  • Every ingredient price is from a recent invoice or receipt, and quantities per portion are weighed, not estimated.
  • The hours include shopping, prep, travel and cleaning, not just the time at the stall.
  • Your own pay is shown as an hourly rate, and you re-did the hourly rate sum yourself.
  • The suggested prices are compared with what customers actually pay at the event before you change anything.
  • Prices shown to customers include VAT if you are VAT registered, and your accountant has confirmed how VAT applies to hot food.

UK notes extra

Last reviewed Oct 2026. Free tools change. If a screen looks different, the steps still apply.Back to top ↑

11 more jobs in the full street food traders (uk vans, trailers and market stalls) playbook

Here is what each one covers. Open any job to see what is inside.

The full playbook

Unlock the other 11 street food traders (uk vans, trailers and market stalls) jobs

Every job has the full steps, the exact prompt, a check-before-you-send list and optional UK notes. We keep adding new jobs and new niches, and re-checking existing jobs, while you subscribe. Monthly, cancel anytime, instant access, no password.

Just street food traders (uk vans, trailers and market stalls)

£5 a month

Every job in street food traders (uk vans, trailers and market stalls) plus the updates we make to it.

Subscribe · £5/mo

3 niches

£12.99 a month

Starts with street food traders (uk vans, trailers and market stalls); you pick the other two (or swap later) on your account page.

Subscribe · £12.99/mo

All niches

£19.99 a month

All 64 niches, and every new one we add. Or £149 a year: save £90.88.

Subscribe · £19.99/mo or £149 a year (save £90.88)

Cancel anytime. One click in Stripe's billing page, no emails or phone calls: how to cancel.

Pay securely with Stripe. Prices include any VAT. Digital content: at checkout you ask for instant access and agree you lose the 14-day right to cancel once it starts. Terms · Privacy · Pricing · Already subscribed? Sign in

Questions street food traders (uk vans, trailers and market stalls) ask

Can AI tell me what is in an ingredient or whether food is safe to sell?

No. Copy allergen facts from your suppliers and let AI only lay them out. Food safety decisions stay with you and your council food team. The jobs here cover the numbers and paperwork: pitch-fee sums, costings, applications, document diaries and letters.

Is it safe to put my figures and documents into AI?

Use your own figures and leave out bank details, customer details and anything you would not post publicly. Keep certificates and insurance documents in your own records and add the details yourself when you send.

Will AI give gas, fire or electrical safety instructions?

No, and it should never be asked to. Follow your own risk assessment and the advice of your gas engineer, insurer and the event organiser. If anyone is hurt or there is a fire, call 999.

Privacy tip: don't paste customers' full names, addresses or other personal details into AI tools unless you need to and you've checked the tool's privacy settings.