Mobile catering van servicing is just as important to your business as buying stock and booking yourself into events. Investing a comparatively modest sum of money at least once a year will easily pay dividends by keeping you running efficiently, avoiding costly downtime and helping to prevent the need for repairs. In this blog, we’re going to look at why you should have a regular service, the law and other regulations, and what’s involved in Mobile Retail’s industry-leading maintenance offering.
Why get a service?
Time is money. And downtime is no money. Keeping your business on the road is crucial to profitability. A mobile catering van is more complex than a standard car or van so there’s more that can go wrong. As well as all the standard machinery that’s present in a normal road vehicle, your mobile coffee shop or pizza van features extra gas and electrical equipment to heat your oven, run your coffee machine or keep your ingredients cool.
Staying ahead of the game with regular maintenance helps to ensure you can get to your regular pitch or that lucrative festival you’re booked into, and to provide your tasty food and drink while you’re there. Scheduling your service for an off-peak day means you control when you take a day off and makes sure your vehicle is running smoothly, keeping all your heating and cooling equipment working efficiently so you can serve up those espressos as quickly as punters can order them. You might also want to book in for an extra service if you’ve got a very busy period coming up and you want to keep everything in top condition.
Our engineers find that minor repairs are often picked up when a vehicle is in for a service and we all know that catching potential issues early means they are quicker and easier to fix than if they’re left to worsen, meaning less downtime and lower repair costs.
Our top quality service is here to give you complete piece of mind that you’re on the road and making money as much as possible.
The law and other regulations
As the owner and operator of a mobile catering business, you are legally obliged to have an annual mobile catering gas test, electrical test and a boiler pressure test, where relevant. You must have a CP44 mobile LPG gas safety certificate, which is provided by a qualified gas engineer, PAT testing on your electrical equipment and a boiler check under the Pressured Steam Safety Regulations. All of this has to be done every year to enable you to trade lawfully and each check is covered in our service package as appropriate.
In addition to that, there’s also the fact that failure to service can void your warranty and insurance, and that every event organiser will ask to see evidence of passing these tests before accepting your booking.
What’s involved in our mobile catering business servicing?
At Mobile Retail, we make it as easy as possible for you to keep your business on the road. We can arrange all the required tests, checks and maintenance for your vehicle and its equipment all under one roof. We can even arrange to collect it and drop it off after we’ve carried out the mobile catering servicing if you want us to.
Our servicing package will be tailored to your particular vehicle but will normally include a full MOT and service for the vehicle itself. If you need a mobile coffee van service, we’ll carry out a coffee machine service, filter change and a 20-point safety check. Our Gas Safe-registered engineers will carry out the gas safety check and boiler pressure test, and our qualified electricians will provide the PAT testing.
Find out more
If you’re a Mobile Retail customer, you’ll have been told about our service packages during handover. However, we are happy to provide servicing to people who bought their mobile catering conversion from another business. Simply get in touch and our team will talk you through the options.
