The Operating Model

Jump to section

• Overview & contents
• i. Important Notice and Basis of Preparation
• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. The Operating Model
• 3. Licensing, Food Safety and Trading Rights
• 4. Market and Customers
• 5. SWOT and Competitive Position
• 6. Operations and Team
• 7. Financial Plan
• 8. Break-Even and Debt Service
• 9. Investment Analysis
• 10. Sensitivity and Scenario Analysis
• 11. Risk Analysis
• 12. Implementation Roadmap
• 13. Key Performance Indicators
• 14. Key Assumptions
• 15. Conclusion and Recommendation
• A. Appendix A: Consolidated Financial Summary
• B. Appendix B: Truck-Day and Trading Schedules
• C. Appendix C: Funding, Debt and Working Capital Schedules
• D. Appendix D: Risk Register
• E. Appendix E: Glossary

2.1 The truck-day

Every number in this plan derives from one unit: a truck trading for one day. A truck can trade about 282 days a year on a six-day week allowing for servicing, and roughly 5.5 per cent of those are lost to weather, breakdowns and cancellations, leaving 266 effective trading days per truck.

Revenue per truck-day rises from R10 932 to R14 623 over the projection, driven by price increases and by a growing share of high-value event days rather than by serving materially more people. Contribution per truck-day rises from R3 514 to R5 060.

2.2 Where each rand goes

Two lines dominate. Food is 33 per cent of revenue on the street and 28 per cent at an event. Crew is 18 per cent and 14 per cent respectively. Together they are roughly half of every rand taken, which is why a service that draws only forty people still costs almost as much to run as one that draws ninety: the crew is paid for the shift, not for the covers.

2.3 The trading calendar

The calendar is the plan’s main strategic instrument. Weekday street trade fills the diary and builds the brand; weekend markets deliver volume; private events deliver margin. Event days grow from 11 per cent of trading days in Year 1 to 20 per cent in Year 5 as the reputation, the photography portfolio and the corporate pipeline build. Each point of event mix moved from street trade is worth roughly R62 057 of annual contribution at full fleet.

Published event rates support the pricing. Food truck hire for private events is reported at between R8 000 and R30 000, with a wedding for 100 guests typically costing R15 000 to R30 000 in 2026 and per-head rates of R80 to R200 across the range — Gauteng and Cape Town sitting at R120 to R200 and KwaZulu-Natal running some 10 to 15 per cent lower. The plan assumes R127.00 per head on an average of 130 guests, or R16 510 per event, which sits just above the Gauteng floor and comfortably inside the reported range. Most vendors also enforce a minimum booking of R8 000 to R10 000 and a booking fee of around R1 000, and Saturdays in the October to March peak carry a premium of 15 to 25 per cent — both of which this plan treats as upside rather than assumption.

2.4 The commissary

A 110 m² licensed preparation kitchen sits behind the fleet. It is not optional and it is not merely convenient: it is what allows a truck to serve 145 covers in a market service, because the preparation has already happened. It is also the premises against which much of the food safety compliance sits.

▪ Throughput. Bulk preparation, portioning and cold storage overnight, so the truck’s service window is used for cooking and serving rather than prepping.

▪ Consistency. Recipes produced in one kitchen rather than five trucks, which is what makes a multi-truck brand credible.

▪ Buying power. Central purchasing across the fleet, which supports the food cost percentages in the cost table above.

▪ Compliance. A fixed, inspectable premises for the Certificate of Acceptability, and the base for cold chain control between kitchen and truck.