READY TO INDULGE
Street Food is driving an evolution of successful entrepreneurs and transforming our food & drink culture with trends, new products and exciting opportunities.
UK mobile catering has undergone a profound transformation over the past decade, focusing on innovative and unique gastronomic experiences. Indulgent treats lead the way – not just tasting great but highly photogenic for online sharing. People love to watch a hand-crafted masterpiece being created in front of them, with experience everything.
The numbers speak for themselves. There are more than 7000 street food trucks across the UK, serving everything from artisan waffles and smash burgers to Korean BBQ, gourmet toasted sandwiches and delicate flat whites.
The most significant structural shift in mobile catering is the move upmarket. Crucially, street food increasingly demands commercial-grade execution. Operators who once got by with basic equipment are finding that consumers, shaped by social media and a growing fluency with international food culture, expect more.
Multi-service layouts that support cooking, hot drinks, desserts and sides – all from a single unit – are the norm. Dayparts need to change to respond to this: from coffee and waffles in the morning to the ultimate toasted Cuban sandwiches for lunch, with luxurious hot chocolate and griddled rum banana pick-me-ups in the afternoon. This is precisely the environment in which the quality and flexibility of your cooking equipment become a genuine commercial differentiator.
The ability to operate independently of mains power is a fundamental requirement for anyone who wants genuine flexibility around where and when they trade. This is why the emergence of dual-fuel equipment has been such an important development for the sector. Machines that can run on LPG gas give operators the freedom to say yes to more opportunities – directly translating into revenue.
Successful pitches are those where every customer spends more. That means the ability to offer not just a primary food item but a hot drink alongside it, a waffle as dessert or cooked breakfast plate rather than merely coffee. The ability to expand a menu with a single modular system – for example, adding waffle irons to a griddle setup or combining both in one appliance – has a direct impact on average transaction value and revenue per event. Lifting ATVs is crucial to realising more profitable trading days.
IN-HOUSE EXCELLENCE
Fracino is the UK’s only commercial espresso machine manufacturer, producing its award-winning range at its state-of-the-art facility in Birmingham. Around 90% of all components are fabricated, machined and assembled in-house – using British-sourced stainless steel, copper and brass – ensuring the quality, consistency and longevity that’s so essential.
Manufacturing expertise and commitment to quality is applied to its growing range of equipment for mobile and outdoor catering, including two products that directly address street food requirements.
The new Fracino MULTI is a British-made LPG or mains gas cooking system that delivers versatility. Available in three configurations – Waffle Maker, Griddle and the M-Ultimate which combines both – the MULTI is engineered for the demands of continuous, high-volume outdoor service.
At the heart of the system are cast-iron cooking surfaces, pre-seasoned with edible oil. This is the material of choice for good reason:it retains heat with exceptional efficiency, delivers even cooking across the surface and develops an increasingly effective natural non-stick quality with use. When cooking hundreds of portions across a long event day, that consistency is commercially significant.
The MULTI Waffle Maker features 360-degree rotating cast iron grids – ensuring better distribution and the proper balance of fluffy interior and crisp exterior. The Griddle configuration uses dual reversible cast-iron grill plates (smooth on one face and ridged on the other), allowing different cooking styles simultaneously.
The M-Ultimate configuration, combining a waffle grid with griddle plate in a single appliance, represents one of the most compelling propositions in mobile food equipment. It enables waffles, paninis, burgers, bacon, eggs and a full range of grilled items from a single unit, with speedy interchange between functions.
Importantly, the MULTI is designed with upgradeability in mind. Start with a single configuration – waffle maker or griddle – and add accessories over time to expand to the full M-Ultimate specification as the menu grows.
COME TO THE BOIL
For mobile operators, the standout product from Fracino’s range of water boilers is the Atlantis Gas, which operates on LPG to deliver hot water on demand, without any requirement for mains electrical supply. With a seven-litre boiler capacity and gas rating of 1800W, it produces approximately 30 litres of hot water per hour – more than sufficient for continuous hot drinks service.
When paired with Fracino’s Dual Fuel espresso machines – which themselves operate on LPG gas and a simple battery – the Atlantis Gas completes a dynamic hot drinks setup that is genuinely independent of mains infrastructure. Whether it’s purple ube lattes, quality teas, white chocolate matchas, Peruvian hot chocolate or Ethiopian mochas, all can be made easily to wow your demanding crowd. Premiumisation is possible with the right, reliable equipment.
When something goes wrong, the question is how quickly and cost-effectively it can be resolved? With Fracino, that means access to UK-based technical support, a comprehensive parts inventory held domestically and a network of service engineers who understand the specific demands of UK mobile and outdoor catering environments.
And these sectors are, by any measure, a genuine and growing success story. It’s built on the ability to deliver consistently excellent food & drink at pace, in a wide variety of locations and conditions, with equipment that performs reliably day after day. Fracino’s MULTI griddle system and Atlantis Gas water boiler represent two products that have been designed with precisely these realities in mind.
