Catering Van and Trailer Conversions

A full build is measured in weeks rather than days, because gas, electrics and water all have to go in before the lining and counters rather than be chased in afterwards.

Simpler fit-outs and part-conversions are quicker. What stretches a build is changing the specification partway through, which usually means undoing finished work. That is why we push so hard on settling the menu and the power route before anything is cut. Tell us when you want to be trading and we will tell you honestly whether it is realistic — get in touch.

Gas installation is part of what we do on catering builds — bottled gas, regulation, pipework and appliance connection, installed so the unit can be properly inspected and traded from.

It matters because a catering unit without valid gas certification cannot legally trade, and that is discovered at the worst possible moment. Gas also takes load off your electrical supply, which changes the whole power calculation, so it is worth deciding early whether you are going gas or electric for cooking. Tell us the appliances you have in mind when you first ring — send us a list.

Yes, both, kept properly separated. Hook-up, consumer unit, sockets and lighting on the 240V side, and 12V for lighting, pumps and anything running off the leisure batteries.

The important part is sizing it for the appliances you are actually running rather than fitting a generic installation. A commercial coffee machine, a fryer and a fridge that runs all day place very different demands, and the wiring has to carry the worst case. Getting that wrong shows up as tripping supplies on a busy day. See generator servicing for the onboard side.

Most units end up with a combination, and which way you lean depends on whether you are pitched up all day with hook-up available or moving between events with no supply.

Leisure batteries are quiet and clean but have a finite budget before they need recharging. A generator gives freedom but needs somewhere sensible to sit, somewhere to breathe, and servicing to stay reliable. Refrigeration is usually what settles the argument, because it draws whether you are trading or not. We will work backwards from your appliance list — see generators.

Yes. The fit-out work is the same; what differs is that weight distribution and the towing side have to be right, because a badly loaded trailer is a road problem long before it is a kitchen.

Nose weight, axle loading and the condition of the running gear all matter, and they are easy to get wrong when the priority is fitting everything in. Bearings, lights and brakes get checked as part of the build rather than left. If you already have a trailer, bring it and we will tell you what it is capable of carrying before the layout is drawn. Related: horse box conversions.

Yes, provided the conversion has been done properly and the vehicle underneath is sound. A fit-out does not exempt the van from anything — it still has to pass as a vehicle.

What catches people out is weight and visibility: a heavily loaded unit and a serving hatch cut into the side both need thinking about. Because we are a garage first, the base vehicle is checked before a fit-out starts rather than afterwards. That means no kitchen going into a van with corrosion or a tired clutch. See MOT testing.

Yes, and it is worth planning for. A catering van is a working vehicle carrying serious weight, so it needs servicing on the schedule a van gets rather than the one a car gets.

We keep the mechanical side right — servicing, MOT, brakes, clutch and everything else — alongside anything the conversion itself needs. For anyone running more than one unit, booking them so they are never all off the road at once is the practical part. See commercial and fleet work.

It depends on your menu and your payload rather than on floor space alone. People almost always focus on length and get caught out by weight.

Stainless counters, a generator, full water tanks and a day’s stock add up quickly, and water is a kilo per litre. A van that looks big enough can be at its maximum authorised mass before you have loaded stock. Ask us before you buy rather than after — that conversation costs nothing and has saved people from buying the wrong van more than once. Ring 01744 808586 or see how we look at vans.

Yes. Remedial work, alterations and repairs to existing conversions are common, particularly where the power or the water was under-specified for how the unit actually trades.

We will look at it and tell you honestly what is sound and what needs redoing. Occasionally undoing previous work costs more than a clean start would have, and we would rather say that up front than discover it halfway through. Bring it in or send photos of the interior and the electrical installation to begin with — send them over.

Yes, and they are a related but separate job with their own considerations, so they have their own page.

Horse box conversions cover both catering units built into a box body and living or day-van conversions, and the weight and towing considerations are different again from a standard trailer. The searches for them are among the strongest we see, so it is worth looking at that page specifically rather than assuming it is the same build. See horse box conversions, or ring and describe what you have.

Enough for a full trading day rather than an afternoon, and the honest answer depends on whether you are washing up on board and what you are serving.

The trap is that water is a kilo per litre, so a generous fresh tank eats payload fast. Sometimes the better answer is a smaller tank and refilling rather than carrying a day’s water everywhere. Waste capacity has to match, because you cannot simply tip it. We size both against your menu and your van’s payload rather than fitting the largest that will fit in the space — talk it through with us.

Most vans, yes, but where it goes depends on the body structure rather than on where you would like it. Cutting into a structural section is not something to do casually.

The hatch position also decides your whole workflow, because everything inside gets arranged around it. It is worth settling early alongside the menu rather than treating it as a detail. Bring the van, or the details of one you are considering, and we will tell you what is realistic before you commit — get in touch and describe what you have in mind.

You buy the van and we convert it. What we will do is give you an honest view on a van before you buy, which is worth far more than it sounds.

People regularly buy on interior size and get caught by payload, or buy something cheap that needs serious mechanical work before any fit-out can start. A ten-minute conversation about what you plan to serve will tell you what size and payload you need. If you have found one, tell us the details and we will say whether it suits — see how we look at vans.

Always. The base vehicle gets looked at the way a garage looks at a van before any fit-out begins, because building a kitchen into a van with corrosion or a failing clutch is money thrown away.

If it needs work we will tell you what and roughly what it costs so you can decide whether that van is the right starting point at all. Occasionally the honest answer is that it is not, and it is far better to hear that before the build than a year into trading. See repairs and welding for the sort of thing we look for.

Yes, and on a food unit it is not optional. Insulation keeps the working temperature sane, stops condensation running down the inside of the panels and makes refrigeration work less hard.

It goes in before the services are run and the lining goes on, which is why the order of a build matters so much. Retro-fitting insulation into a finished unit means taking the finished unit apart. Lining is then chosen for being cleanable rather than for looking good in a photograph, because it has to survive daily wipe-downs. See the rest of our commercial work.

We fit the units and, more importantly, we size the power to run them, which is the part that catches people out. A fridge draws whether you are trading or not.

That single fact changes the whole power calculation: a unit that copes fine during service can flatten a leisure battery bank overnight. It is the most common reason we are asked to revisit an under-specified electrical installation. Tell us what refrigeration you need at the start and the rest of the build is designed around it — see onboard power.

Yes, and coffee units are their own build. A commercial machine, a grinder and a water supply place very specific demands on power and plumbing that a hot food unit does not.

The machine is usually the single biggest electrical draw in the van, and whether you are running it off hook-up, a generator or an inverter changes what else can run at the same time. Water quality and supply matter more than on other builds too. Tell us the machine you are planning on and we will work the rest backwards from it. Ring 01744 808586 or send the machine details.

It is possible but it is always dearer than getting it right first time, because services run behind lining have to be reached again.

That is the real argument for settling your menu and power route before the build rather than during it. Where a change is genuinely needed — a business that has grown, or a menu that has moved on — we will tell you what is straightforward and what means opening things up. Plenty of the work we do is exactly that on units built elsewhere. Tell us what you are thinking.

Vans and trailers come to Boundary Road in St Helens from across the North West — Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester.

A conversion is a workshop job measured in weeks rather than an afternoon, so the distance matters far less than it would for a service. People travel for it because the unit is going to be their business. If you are further afield and wondering whether it is worth the trip, ring and describe the build and we will be straight with you — see about us for how we work.