Street Food Trader CV Examples & Writing Guide

This CV is for a trader who ran his own taco cart for four years and now leads a food truck for a small operator, and who is applying for kitchen supervisor and catering roles. The name is made up. Notice how self-employment is written like a job, with the same numbers a head chef would want: covers, ticket times, food cost, hygiene ratings. UK adverts call this work "street food chef", "food truck chef", "mobile caterer" or "event catering"; in the US it is a "food truck cook" or "mobile food vendor".

Whether you are applying to a food truck, a restaurant kitchen, a caterer, a stadium or venue catering contractor or a festival operator, the reader is checking the same four things. Put them where they can be seen in ten seconds.

• Food safety qualifications. Food handlers in the UK must be trained or supervised in food hygiene, and most employers and events expect a Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety certificate from everyone on the truck and Level 3 from the person in charge. Name the exact certificate, the provider and the year.
• Volume and speed. Covers a day, items an hour at peak, ticket times, number of events a season. Street food is judged on pace, and these numbers prove you can hold a hatch.
• Inspection and compliance record. Your food hygiene rating, council food business registration, street trading licence or consent, gas safety certificate for LPG, event paperwork. A rating of 5 is the strongest line a trader can write.
• Money and reliability. Daily sales handled, card reader or EPOS used, reconciliation record, food cost percentage, and the fact that you turned up in the heat, the rain and at a 5am event build for years.

“Traders who ran their own cart are some of the best hires I make, because they have already done every job on the truck. But they have to tell me the numbers. Covers, ticket times, inspections. Then I know it was a business and not a hobby.”

Food safety law for mobile caterers is enforced by local councils, and street trading rules differ from council to council, so the names of licences vary. Use the exact name on your certificate. Two qualifications matter most: a Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate for everyone who handles food and a Level 3 for the person in charge. If you are not sure what a council requires, say so honestly in the interview rather than guessing on the CV.

• Food hygiene training: UK law requires food handlers to be supervised and trained in food hygiene to suit their work rather than to hold a named certificate, but Level 2 is the usual proof and events often ask for it. Courses take a day or less and can be done online; many employers expect a refresher every three years.
• Level 3 Supervising Food Safety: for the person running the unit or kitchen. It covers the written HACCP-based procedures every food business needs, such as Safer Food Better Business in England and Wales or CookSafe in Scotland.
• Alcohol: if you sold alcohol at events, list your personal licence (Level 2 Award for Personal Licence Holders) or say the sales were made under the event's premises licence or a Temporary Event Notice.
• Allergens: the Food Standards Agency's free online allergen training or a Level 2 allergen awareness course. Say how you managed the 14 allergens (allergen matrix, labelled menus).
• Registrations you held as an owner: food business registration (at least 28 days before trading, with the council where the unit is kept), street trading licence or consent, gas safety certificate, public liability insurance, event trader applications. List them in one line with years and "in good standing".

Write a personal statement once you have cooked or sold food for pay, including on your own cart. Write a career objective only if you are new to food. In every version the first two lines name your food hygiene qualification and your volume.

The weak versions below are how most traders describe their work: general and modest. The strong versions use the numbers a head chef, truck owner or catering contractor already tracks.

Keep the skills list to 10 to 14 items and split them into cooking, safety and compliance, business and equipment. Every item should be something you could do on a trial shift.

• Cooking and prep: high-volume grill, plancha, fryer, wok or smoker work; knife skills and batch prep; hot holding and reheating safely; menu development and specials; scaling recipes for events.
• Food safety and compliance: temperature logs, date labelling, allergen management (the 14 allergens), cleaning schedules, hand-wash and grey-water setup, inspection prep, Safer Food Better Business records, registration and street trading paperwork.
• Money and business: Square, SumUp or Zettle card readers; cash handling and reconciliation; food cost and pricing; ordering and par levels; event applications and pitch fees; social media for daily location posts.
• Equipment and logistics: LPG systems and leak checks, generators and electric hook-ups, towing a trailer or driving the truck, pitch setup, water tanks, cold holding on battery or generator, event build and breakdown.
• Service: taking orders and payment in a 30-second window, handling a 40-person queue calmly, upselling drinks and sides, remembering regulars.

Most traders write a CV for one of four reasons: to join an established food truck, to move into a restaurant kitchen, to work for a caterer or events company, or to get a supervisor role with a stadium, venue or festival catering contractor. The core CV stays the same; shift the emphasis for each.

• Food truck operator: lead with truck-specific skills (LPG, generator, prep kitchen, event paperwork, card readers), covers a day and ticket times. Owners want someone who can run the truck alone on a lunch shift.
• Restaurant kitchen: lead with cooking volume, sections you can run, ticket times and food safety. Translate your cart into kitchen terms: "prep", "section", "covers", "HACCP and SFBB records". Many head chefs value a trader's speed and cleanliness; show them.
• Catering and events: lead with event counts, guest counts, event logistics and working off-site with limited power and water. Mention any large private events you catered from the cart.
• Venue and event caterers (stadiums, shows, festivals): lead with peak volume per hour, cash accuracy, staff you trained and every licence and inspection you have passed. They hire supervisors from people who have run a stand.
• Explaining a closed business: one plain line. "Closed in 2022 when the city-centre pitch was lost to redevelopment; cart sold in good standing." No apology needed.

Small trucks and restaurants read CVs by hand, often on a phone at the hatch. Venue caterers, contract caterers and restaurant groups use tracking systems (Workday, Paradox, Harri or Fourth). Write one plain page that works for both.

• Length: one page. Nobody in food service needs a second page from a trader or cook.
• Order: header, personal statement, qualifications (Level 2 and Level 3 food hygiene near the top), experience (self-employment written as a job), skills, education.
• One column, standard font, no photo, no date of birth. UK adverts use "street food chef", "food truck chef", "mobile caterer" and "event catering assistant"; use the advert's wording rather than "vendor".
• Keywords to mirror from the advert: "food hygiene", "Level 2" or "Level 3", "chef", "prep", "high volume", "EPOS", "cash handling", "food safety", "food cost", "stock", "catering", "events", "customer service", and equipment words ("grill", "fryer", "smoker").
• Use the advert's job title in your header ("Food Truck Chef", "Catering Supervisor") and keep "Owner-Operator" as the title inside your own business entry.
• Save as PDF unless the portal asks for Word: Emilio-Santangelo-Street-Food-CV.pdf.

Run the file through the cvplex ATS checker with the advert pasted in. It flags a missing food safety line and any equipment or duty words from the advert you left out.