The Fourth Prong

The Jabberwocky has three tried and tested ways of getting food out and into Warwickshire. We can swing by your locale, whip up a meal in your kitchen and then swing away again, we can bring food of many kinds on the Beast to a location of your choice and serve it from the Beast or we can park the Beast at a festival near you and give away free brownie until people notice us. These methods are all nicely entertaining, and as our reputation grows I’m confident that we will be able to reap some healthy rewards that will keep the Jabberwocky afloat in the turbid waters of recession.

But the Jabberwocky is not complete. We are a food van, born in the fires of needing better snacks and forged in the very sharp learning curve, and there is something that we are still missing.

We do not have the Regular Pitch. This is a place on Earth when you can bring your Beast to regularly, usually in a town centre or trading estate, and from there sell your fine provender directly to the customer, as they are passing. Not only that, you are also displaying the glorious Deep Brunswick Green of the Jabberwocky to anyone who just happens to be passing, and with green as fine as that I would be very surprised if they could resist not stepping over and treating themselves to several snacks.

That was me getting carried away again, but I imagine you get my point. A regular pitch would mean a steady source of income, regular exposure to potential customers and a chance for the Beast to roar around Leamington slowing down traffic in a lovable and investment-worthy way. It would also mean we could seriously compete in the growing wave of street food, which is gradually making its way out from London and down from the North.

Luckily, as with all things, there is more of a challenge to it than simply rocking up in the middle of the town, throwing open the hatch and selling food. Not least due to the fact that for health and safety reasons the hatch is never to be thrown anywhere. Instead you have to first find a pitch, somewhere that has enough people passing regularly that you can make a living but that does not put you in the firing line of roads. Complicated enough. Then you have to find out who that land belongs to and ask if you can ply your vital and culturally important trade there. Again, this is not a walk in the park. You then also have to convince the local authority that all this indulgence is well regulated and will cease at the appropriate time, so that they can also give you the go ahead.

Beyond that I would be disappointed if there were not a few more hurdles to come, but those first three are the ones to concentrate on, and maybe someday soon we will have our forth prong.