Do you want to own your own business but you’re afraid that you won’t be able to afford the overheads? Well, we have a solution for you. Nowadays, more and more people are starting to run mobile businesses by transforming a van into the ideal premise. Here, we run through some ideas of the kinds of mobile business you could run from a van, which will hopefully inspire you to take this unusual but rewarding route into business. And remember, you’ll need to compare different van insurance policies because even vans used for business purposes need to be insured and taxed.
Street Food
Street food is a popular product to sell from a van. You can kit out the van with basic kitchen facilities including a water tank, in order to cook some basic street food recipes. For example, you could fry chicken, fries and burgers which are always best-sellers. You will need to have the van professionally altered to also include a window and shutter, but this expense is far less than those of a permanent premise plus, you only need to make this payment once. The benefits of being mobile when it comes to selling food are huge; predominantly, you can travel to wherever you think you’ll find customers. For example, you could pitch up at a festival or close to somewhere that you know has a large body of staff to catch on their lunchbreaks.
Coffee
As you’re probably aware, coffee is one of the bestselling products in the food and drink industry. In Britain alone, the statistic stands at 95 million cups of coffee being drunk every day, which gives you some indication of how successful a mobile coffee company could be. Just like with street food, you can travel to wherever a significant customer base could be, and in this case your target market is likely to be commuters on their way to work. There are many commercial style coffee machines available to buy which can simply be fitted into your van. As long as you have a water, coffee, milk, sugar and disposable cup supplies, you’re good to go!
Hairdressers
Mobile hairdressers are very popular as it can be difficult for a lot of people to find the time to make it to the hairdressers. For the hairdressers themselves, it can be difficult to carry out your best work in homes which may not have all the facilities you need, therefore, transforming a van into a mobile salon could be the perfect compromise. All you’d need is a chair, a mirror, and a basin over which to wash hair, other than your usual equipment. You can keep water tanks and a kettle to warm the water for washing hair, and you can have a generator to power any electrical equipment you need.
Running a business from a van can be an excellent way to keep costs down as well as meaning that you customer base can be as far-reaching as you please. There are plenty of business opportunities to choose from as well as those listed here, and for more ideas on how you could kickstart or transform your career, take a look at careercamel.com.
Does a mobile business take your fancy? Let us know what you are doing to make it a reality.
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