Pizza van pitches: how to find, ask for and price a pitch
A pizza van pitch comes from one of three people: the council (street trading consent or licence on public streets), a private landowner such as a pub, farm shop or supermarket (a written agreement), or an event or market organiser. Fees run from free to several thousand pounds a year in city centres. Send a proper pitch pack to dozens of sites and expect roughly one in four to say yes.
Every van operator who has lasted says the same thing: location, location, location. Yet most new traders treat a pitch as a favour to ask for. It isn't. You bring a pub a food offer it doesn't have, a village an evening event, a car park footfall. A pitch is a negotiation you win with a pack of evidence, then a weekly experiment you measure, keep or drop.
The kinds of pitch, and who says yes
| Site | Who decides | Paperwork | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public street, lay-by, market square | Council licensing team | Street trading consent or licence | Set by each council; low in rural districts, £1,000+ a year in many town centres |
| Pub, brewery tap, farm shop | Landlord or owner | Written agreement | Often free: you bring them customers |
| Supermarket, garden centre, petrol station | Store manager or landlord | Written agreement, sometimes council consent too | Free to a few hundred £ a month |
| Markets, festivals, shows | Organiser | Booking, insurance, FHRS, gas certificate | Flat fee or % of takings per event |
Ranges reported by mobile caterers, 2024–2026. Check your own council’s fee page.
Public streets: consent streets and licence streets
Outside London, street trading is controlled by Schedule 4 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, if the council has adopted it. The council designates streets as prohibited, consent or licence streets. A consent is the lighter permission and usually suits a van that moves; a licence ties you to a specific pitch. London boroughs use the London Local Authorities Act 1990 instead. There is no national fee: each council sets its own, so read its street trading page before budgeting.
How to find a pitch for a pizza van
- Pubs with no kitchen. “Pizza night at the pub” is the classic UK pitch: the landlord sells more pints, you get a warm, seated crowd.
- Villages without a takeaway. A village of 1,500 people with nothing else open on a Tuesday is plenty for one evening a week.
- Co-op, Spar and Tesco Express car parks in small towns, from 5pm to 8pm.
- Farm shops, village halls, campsites and business parks at lunch (lunch is all or nothing: test before you commit).
Visit at the hour you would trade and check competition that evening, parking, visibility from the road, lighting, power, and real footfall. A car park that’s full at 11am can be empty at 7pm.
What should a pitch cost?
Turn every fee into pizzas. If a £10 pizza leaves you about £3.30 after ingredients, fuel and fixed costs, a £45-a-night pitch needs 14 pizzas before you earn a penny. If a pitch needs more than five or six pizzas just to pay for itself, negotiate a trial month or walk away.
How many pizzas a day to break even
The pitch request: letter and pack
A two-page pack puts you ahead of every trader who just phoned. Include:
- Who you are and your trading name.
- Two or three daylight photos of the van.
- Menu and prices.
- Day, hours, footprint in metres, and power needs, or that you are self-sufficient (quiet generator or battery).
- Your Food Hygiene Rating, public liability insurance (events and many landowners expect £5m cover), Gas Safe certificate and food business registration.
- Your waste plan: bins provided, pitch left clean.
A good FHRS score on the van window is the single best reassurance for a landowner. What a parish or council wants to hear: no clash with a local takeaway that evening, no noise, a fixed day. What a store manager wants: footfall, staff pizzas, no overlap with their hot food counter.
Template letter
Dear [name],
I run [name], a wood-fired pizza van based in [town]. I’d like to trade from your [car park / beer garden] every [day], 5pm to 9pm, from [date]. The van takes [X] metres, runs on [a silent generator / a 16A hookup], and we leave the site clean after every service. We hold a 5 food hygiene rating and £5m public liability; copies are attached with photos and our menu. Happy to start with a four-week trial and to provide staff pizzas each week. Best regards, …
Then play the numbers. One operator sent 80 requests and got around a quarter yes. Twenty possible pitches is enough to keep five great ones.
Keeping it legal and secure
Get everything in writing: days, hours, fee, length, notice period, power. Register as a food business with the council where the van is kept at least 28 days before you trade. For gas, insurance and the rest of the setup, see the main guide.
How to start a pizza van in the UK
Test, measure, keep or drop a pitch
Give a new pitch four to six weeks on the same day and time before judging it. People need to see you several times before they plan dinner around you. Log pizzas per night per pitch: 20–25 a day covers a van’s fixed costs, and strong small-town pitches do 60–100 a night. A pitch stuck under 15 after six weeks should go. Then build a fixed round: Tuesday the Red Lion, Wednesday village B, Thursday the Co-op.
Be realistic about pre-orders: at first almost every customer walks up. Once the round is known, those who order online for 7:15pm flatten the 7–8:30pm rush.
Common mistakes
- A handshake with a manager who then leaves. The next one owes you nothing.
- Paying town-centre rates before proving volume. Ask for a trial month.
- Parking near a takeaway open the same night. You split demand and annoy the council.
- Changing days every week. No routine, no regulars.
FAQ
Do I need a street trading licence on a supermarket car park?
Possibly. If the public can enter for free and the council has adopted Schedule 4, it may count as a street. Get the landowner’s written consent and ask the licensing team.
How long before judging a new pitch?
Four to six weeks, same day, same time. Before that you’re measuring curiosity, not habit.
How much are pitch fees for a food van in the UK?
Private pitches are often free or paid in pizza. Council fees vary widely, from modest rural consents to several thousand pounds a year in busy centres.