Good evening everyone. My name's Jon and I run Veg Out, a street food business selling vegan food. Since 2012 I've been travelling all around the country cooking vegan food in my converted van and selling it at all kinds of outdoor events.

大家晚上好。我叫乔恩，经营着一家名叫“Veg Out”的街头美食摊，专做纯素食品。自2012年起，我便开着自己那辆改装过的货车，走遍全国各地，在各种户外活动上烹饪并售卖纯素食物。

I'm here to give you some advice based on my experience.

今天，我想结合自身经历，给大家一些建议。

The good news is that there's never been a better time to start your own street food business. Street food continues to grow in popularity. I think there are a couple of reasons for this.

好消息是，现在正是开启街头美食事业的绝佳时机。街头美食的人气持续攀升。我认为背后有几个原因。

The first is that street food is a reaction against fast food. Street food ranges from high quality burgers to vegan curries and everything in between. But while fast food is cheap and easy to find, it's not particularly good for you. It's also the same everywhere.

首先，街头美食是对快餐的一种反拨。街头美食涵盖了从高品质汉堡到纯素咖喱，以及二者之间形形色色的各类食物。然而，快餐虽然便宜易得，却对你的健康没有太大好处。而且，它在世界各地都千篇一律。

What you get with street food on the other hand is something different. People like the idea of trying something they can't get anywhere else. They also like seeing food prepared in front of them and which hasn't come straight out of a freezer.

反观街头美食，你能得到的是一种不一样的体验。人们喜欢去尝试一些在别处吃不到的东西。他们也爱看食物就在自己眼前烹制，而不是直接从冷冻柜里拿出来的。

You need to think about the best place to sell your street food. People always think music festivals are an obvious place to start but the cost of renting a space can be huge. And there's always a lot of competition.

你需要考虑售卖街头美食的最佳地点。大家总以为音乐节是个理所当然的起点，但那里的摊位租金可能高得惊人。而且竞争总是异常激烈。

Food markets, on the other hand, are great because customers are always really interested in food and give great feedback. And if you can get a spot in your local park - fantastic.

相比之下，食品集市就非常棒，因为顾客往往对食物抱有浓厚兴趣，并且乐于给出反馈。 如果你能在本地公园里占到一席之地，那更是妙极了。

Usually very relaxed but with lots of customers passing by. Once you get established you'll start getting asked to do parties - which can be really challenging but lots of fun. Having street food at weddings has become quite fashionable too - but you need to really know what you're doing as everything needs to be perfect.

那里的氛围通常非常轻松，而且过往的客流络绎不绝。一旦你做出了口碑，就会开始接到派对的邀约——这类订单极富挑战，却也趣味横生。在婚礼上供应街头美食如今也相当流行——但你需要对自己的手艺有十足把握，因为所有环节都必须尽善尽美。

Setting up a street food business costs a lot less than opening a restaurant or café but you'll have to buy some basic equipment.

开办一家街头美食摊点，成本远低于开餐厅或咖啡馆，但你仍需购置一些基础设备。

I'd try to get things like hobs and fridges second hand if you can. You can replace them with better quality stuff if your business takes off. Renting is another option but you'll end up spending more money rather than saving it.

如果可能的话，灶具和冰箱之类的东西，我建议尽量买二手的。等生意红火起来了，再用质量更好的设备替换也不迟。 租赁是另一种选择，但到头来你的花费只会更多，而不是更省。

You've probably got a good idea about the food you're planning to sell. I expect you've done some research to find out if anyone else is selling a similar product. And you'll have thought about any possible allergies to nuts or eggs etc.

关于打算售卖什么食物，你们可能已经有了一个不错的想法。我想，你们大概已做过调研，去了解是否有其他人在售卖类似的产品。同时，你们也肯定会考虑到食物是否会引起坚果、鸡蛋等过敏的问题。

But there's one thing people don't always think about and that's how you're going to serve it. On a plate? In a bag? Will you provide a fork? Will it all be easily recyclable or reusable?

但有一个点大家常常会忽略，那就是你将如何把食物盛装呈现给顾客。是装盘子里？放袋子里？你会提供叉子吗？所有包装是否易于回收或重复使用？

It's got to be easy to eat and look attractive or customers won't come back.

食物既要方便食用，又要看起来赏心悦目，否则顾客就不会再光顾了。

Once you get started, you should be prepared for things to go wrong. Every business faces problems and here are a few examples from street food businesses that I know.

一旦起步，你就得对可能出现的种种问题有所准备。 每个生意都会遇到难题，这里我举几个我所了解的街头美食摊主的实例。

My friends who run Thai Basil started by juggling their street food business with their day jobs in a restaurant. Their work-life balance was non-existent as they were working til midnight in the restaurant all week and then took their food truck to markets on their days off.

我的几个朋友经营着“泰式罗勒”，起初他们一边开着街边摊，一边还在餐馆里干着全职工作。 他们的工作与生活之间完全失衡，因为每周都在餐馆工作到深夜，轮休日还要把餐车开到市集上。

The owners of Basque found it was hard to make a profit because the price of fish - essential for some of their dishes - was so high. And it was hard to charge customers a lot more for those dishes. So they had to stop focussing on fish dishes and include more vegetarian food.

“巴斯克”的老板发现很难实现盈利，因为鱼肉——对他们部分菜品而言不可或缺——的进价实在太高。 而他们又很难让顾客为那些菜多付很多钱。于是，他们不得不停止以鱼类菜品为重心，增加了更多素食选择。

The owners of Lou's kitchen were making salads to order from their van and some of their dishes were quite complicated.

“露的厨房”的经营者当初在自己的货车里按单制作沙拉，其中几款菜品还相当复杂。

At one of their first events they ended up with people standing in a long queue for more than 15 minutes - and many of them lost patience. So make sure whatever you offer can be served quickly and efficiently.

在他们早期参与的一次活动中，顾客竟排起了长队，一等就是超过十五分钟，很多人都不耐烦了。所以，务必保证你提供的任何食物都能快速、高效地出餐。

The owners of Chip Chop had found a perfect venue near a beach where there weren't any other street food trucks. But what they hadn't realised was that they'd need a special licence - which individual businesses don't need at markets or festivals. It was a complicated process and in the end they gave up. So I hope that's given you a flavour of...

“奇普乔普”的店主们曾在一个海滩附近找到了个绝佳的地点，那里没有其他小吃车。但他们没意识到的是，在那儿经营需要一张特殊许可证——而在市集或节日上，单个摊位并不需要这个。申请流程极其繁琐，最终他们只好放弃了那个地方。好啦，希望以上分享能让你们对街头美食生意有个初步的了解……