How to Price Street Food: A UK Guide
Cornerstone street food guide. The full method from a service's food cost to a price per serving that survives a quiet day.
The short answer
To price street food, cost the food for one whole service, add containers and your time per portion, then add the pitch fee, gas and travel you pay whatever happens, divide by the portions you realistically expect to sell, and apply your margin. The fixed costs of the day are the ones that decide whether a slow service is a bad day or a loss.
Step by step
- Cost the food for one service. Price what you actually prep and take with you, not one portion. You buy in service quantities, so cost in them, and include the waste you expect at the end of the day.
- Add containers per portion. Tray, box, napkin, fork. This one scales with how many you sell, so it belongs per serving rather than in the day's fixed costs.
- Add the costs of turning up. Pitch fee, gas, the round trip, and any staff. These do not move whether you sell 60 or 200, which is exactly why they have to be counted.
- Count every paid hour. Prep the day before, loading, travel each way, service, and the clean down. Most traders count only the hours the hatch is open.
- Divide by a realistic count. Use a normal day, not your best one. Then check the same price at a bad count and see whether you would still be trading at a profit.
Worked example: a market service at 120 portions
A typical Saturday pitch with one trader, prepping the day before.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Food for the service | £310.00 |
| Containers, 120 at 28p | £33.60 |
| Labour, 2 hours at £12 | £24.00 |
| Pitch fee and gas | £125.00 |
| Travel to the pitch | £25.00 |
| Total for the service | £517.60 |
| Cost per serving | £4.31 |
| Priced at 65% margin | £12.32 |
| Food as a share of price | 21.0% |
The same service at 70 portions costs £493.60, because only the food and containers move. That is £7.05 a serving, so a £12.32 price that looked comfortable at 120 is earning barely a third of the margin at 70.
Why it matters
A pitch fee is charged for the day, not per customer, so your cost per serving is decided as much by the weather as by your suppliers. Costing once at a realistic count and re-checking it at a bad one is what turns a busy-looking season into a profitable one.