A trader is booked for a festival. He arrives at six in the morning to find the pitch on a slope, the gateway narrower than his trailer, the power point ninety metres away and no water within walking distance.
He has four hours and a queue expected at eleven. None of this was hidden and none of it was asked about either.
The checklist
Publish these and send them with every booking.
1. The unit dimensions
Length, width, height, and the space needed with a hatch open, an awning out or a serving area in front. Organisers allocate by the unit size and forget the rest.
2. The towing vehicle
Whether it stays on the pitch, where it goes if not and how much space it needs. It is the most commonly forgotten requirement.
3. Access dimensions
Gateway width, height restrictions, turning space and the route to the pitch. A trailer that cannot reach a pitch is not a pitch.
4. The ground condition
Level, firm, grass, hardstanding and what happens after rain. Gradient matters for equipment and for safety, and traders need to know before committing.
5. The power requirement
Stated precisely, with what happens if it is unavailable. Organisers underestimate catering loads consistently.
6. The connection type
What the trader needs, what the organiser provides and whether adaptors are required. Arriving with the wrong connector is a common and entirely preventable failure.
7. The distance to the supply
And whether cables can be run safely across a public area. Ninety metres of cable is a different proposition from five.
8. Whether a generator is permitted
Noise limits, positioning, fuel storage and hours. Many traders bring their own and some sites prohibit it, which should be settled at booking.
9. Water and waste
Whether there is a supply, how far, whether waste water must be removed and where. It determines what a trader can serve.
10. Arrival and departure times
When access is available, when vehicles must be off site and when they can return. It shapes the whole day and organisers state it late.
11. The documentation required
Hygiene rating, insurance, risk assessment and any registration, which is the compliance ground in pitch and licensing questions food traders answer.
12. Expected numbers and trading hours
So a trader can plan stock and staffing. A trader who runs out at one o'clock has failed the organiser as much as themselves.
13. Exclusivity
Whether other traders sell the same thing, which determines whether a pitch is worth taking at all.
13b. Ask what happens if the weather turns
A serving hatch in driving rain with no queue shelter produces a day nobody makes money from. Asking whether there is cover, where the queue would stand and what the organiser does about a washout lets a trader judge the risk before agreeing a pitch fee that assumes sunshine.
14. Capture it at the enquiry
Before a price is agreed, which is the approach in event booking enquiries that need location and power, and the same document driven stalling as loan application questions that stop at the documents, with the community organiser audience in chatbots for membership and community sites.
Getting started
Publish your unit dimensions, power and access requirements, send them with every booking and capture site details at any hour. SpideyChat for food businesses answers from your published pages, plans are on the pricing page, and the chatbot ROI calculator works through the numbers.