The event organiser is responsible for the overall management of food vendors.
This responsibility includes coordinating the placement of the food vendor, offering advice to site services, that is: power, water, waste management to risk management.
How to work well with food vendors
- Liaise with the Events Unit to ensure food vendors are required at your event site.
- Offer a variety of food choices, this depends on the advice provided by the Events Unit. The location of the event may already have sufficient existing food vendors that can support your event.
- Healthy food options being the priority.
Many event organisers develop an expression of interest form that they provide to potential vendors. Ensure the food vendor is registered with FoodTrader.
FoodTrader is the online system for businesses and community groups to register and notify their temporary and mobile food premises.
Once the food vendor list is confirmed and the participating vendors have current food registrations, provide these details to your City's Events Officer:
- the name of the vendor's business,
- the name and contact details of your vendor (address, mobile etc),
- a description of the food being served or sold (detail packaged and unpackaged items),
- the type of structure where food will be sold (van, marquee, stall, cart etc), and
- if the vendor have a current Temporary Food Permit with the City of Greater Geelong.
This information will be forwarded on to the City's Environmental Health and Local Laws Unit and they will liaise with the vendors in regards to permits and food safety plans.
Receive approval of food permits from the City’s Health and Local Laws Unit. Include these food vendors information in your Event Plan and on your site plan.
Providing on site services to vendors
It is your role as the event organiser to ensure the food vendors have access to utilities or knowledgeable to provide their own.
Your expression of interest form (see step 1 above) should include questions about what utilities they will need. This is to avoid vendors turning up during the bump-in phase and plugging into power sources that have been allocated elsewhere.
Some vendors may be completely self sufficient, some may just need power, some may need power, water and a marquee.
Once you know where and how much power and water is available on site and the type of utilities each vendor needs, you can start allocating available power and/or arranging the hire of generators, distribution boxes and power cables.
You will also need to manage the on-site provisions, ensure power leads are tagged, gas bottles and fire extinguishers are current and stored correctly away from public harm.
Your Waste Management Plan needs to provide information to the events waste management, this includes waste collection, disposal to maintaining the bins used by the public attending the event.
It is a very good idea to nominate a Food Safety Supervisor and list them in your Event Plan.
Food vendors marked on your site plan
Show the position and the dimensions of all food vendors on your event site, include adequate room to enable customers to gather around the food provider.
If the vendor needs access to power, show the location of the power source and the distance from the source to the food provider on a site plan.
If the food vendor has a stand-alone generator, then your site plan should show the position of the generator and how it will be made inaccessible to the public.
Food marquees on site plans
Follow the City’s Health and Local Laws Structural Requirements Checklist.
The internal set up of each food marquee should be drawn as separate plans and indicate the following:
- back of house - preparation areas
- cool rooms
- fire prevention equipment
- flooring used
- garbage disposal area
- generators, location of electrical leads and connections
- hand washing and dishwashing facilities (must be separate to those provided at toilets)
- hot plates, ovens or oil, and bain-marie
- preparation and service tables
- protective barriers to ensure separation of hot areas from the public.
If the marquee is accessing power, your site plan should show the location of the power source and the distance from the source to the marquee.
If the marquee has a stand-alone generator, your site plan should show where the generator will be positioned and how it will be made inaccessible to the public.