Terms & Conditions

Buoy Terms & Conditions

Definitions

1. In these terms and conditions, the terms you or yours refers to the person or organisation who will be trading as a street food business at a Buoy event.

Application procedure

1. In order to trade at a Buoy event, you must submit an expression of interest via the Buoy website.
2. If we like what you do, but aren’t able to offer you space at this point in time, we’ll keep your application on file until a suitable space opens up.
3. As a new trader, your participation will be reviewed after your first five trading days to ensure you and your business is a good fit, and vice versa.  
4. Your participation will always be under constant review, and we may ask for you to update us on your current menu, practices and/or documentation. 
5. Public liability insurance (PLI), Food Hygiene (Level 2), GAS SAFE, PAT, and local authority registration must be received by Buoy before you are able to trade.
6. Failure to deliver these will result in your booking being revoked, and the pitch will be reassigned to another stall.

Booking

1. To book a pitch at a regular Buoy event (such as the Harbourside Market), you should request the dates in advance via the online pitch request form.
2. Trader bookings at special and one-off events will be handled by a separate application or pitch request form, or by email.
3. Dates can normally only be requested for the current month, and the following two months.
4. We’ll announce the opening of the booking window at the start of each month. Trader pitch requests are then collated during the first 7-days, before every trader receives a confirmation email allocating their confirmed dates for the newly available month.
5. All trading dates are confirmed by email only, and you are unlikely to receive a booking for every date you request.

Payment

1. Pitch fees at The Harbourside Market are calculated at 11.5% of gross revenue.
2. If you are VAT registered, the fee will be based on gross revenue minus the VAT charged on sales.
3. The market manager will collect sales figures at the end of each market day by requesting to see POS sales reports. 
4. Traders are required to declare the day’s sales figures before leaving the market.
5. Deliberately misrepresenting or inaccurately reporting sales figures constitutes gross misconduct.
6. Payment will be collected via direct debit each Friday for the previous week’s markets. 
7. We reserve the right to cancel future bookings, in full or in part, if payment is not received.
8. All sales data will be kept strictly confidence and not disclosed to third parties.

Your Right To Cancel

1. At special or one-off events (including the Harbourside Christmas Market), your booking can only be cancelled 3 months in advance, by email.
2. Where a deposit has been paid, this will be non-refundable.
3. For bookings at regular Buoy events, cancellations received within 14-days of trading are late cancellations, and subject to a £45 fee on weekdays and £75 fee on weekends. 
4. Cancellations made at least 2 weeks in advance, by email, are subject to a £12.50 administration fee.
5. Repeat cancellations may affect the number of dates you are offered in future.

Our right to cancel bookings and events

1. We reserve the right to cancel individual bookings, or an event in full or in part.
2. Such cancellations may arise following non-receipt of invoices due, due to untradeable weather, or where it is not possible to go ahead with a booking for other reasons. 
3. When bad weather forces closure of the market for safety reasons, there’ll be no fee due. 

Business OFFERING, Presentation and Equipment

1. You should display well-made signage (preferably designed & printed professionally) to identify your stall and promote your products.  You should expect feedback from us regarding this from time to time.
2. Any changes made to the menu you stated on your expression of interest form must be confirmed by email with us.
3. We expect traders to maintain, develop and improve the aesthetic of their stall over time.
4. All traders must own an event-standard gazebo and bring at least 104kgs of metal weights (8 x 13kgs) every time they trade.
5. Pitches must be left tidy and in good order, and the entire floor space within your gazebo (usually 3x3m) protected with an impermeable sheet. Any stains caused by grease or spills (or any other damage to the floor) will have to be professionally cleaned/restored, and the costs will be passed on to the trader involved.
6. Any other costs arising from damage you have caused to your pitch will be charged to you.

Adapted Vehicles

1. Adapted vehicles (from which your business trades within the market) must have a unique character, be fully branded in a professionally applied custom paint job or wrap, to differentiate the vehicle from regular road-going vans. 
2. If you’re considering buying a van, or in the process of it, and expect to use it regularly at our markets, please chat to us as soon as you can to work through your design ideas and investment plans. 
3. Our markets will remain marquee majority and vehicle capacity might be limited (i.e Harbourside currently has just 4 hard-standing pitches). 

Environment

1. Non-customer waste (food prep packaging, cardboard, food waste due to prep, waste water) must be taken off-site at the end of the day.
2. No food containers or eating utensils made of plastic or polystyrene are allowed on site.
3. All food packaging, utensils, drinks containers etc. given to customers must be dry recyclable or fully compostable.

Insurance

1. You are obliged to take out public liability insurance for no less than £5,000,000 and to share your policy certificate with us before participating in a Buoy event.
2. You should have immediate access to your policy certificate every time you trade, and are obliged to keep your cover up-to-date.

Fire / Gas / Electricity

1. All gas appliances must comply with the relevant regulations and must be certified by a registered GAS SAFE engineer; GAS SAFE testing must have been carried out within the last year, and all GAS SAFE certification must be sent to us as soon as possible.
2. All gas appliances must be fitted with an in-date gas hose, a flame safety device.
3. All stalls must bring a fire blanket and 5kg dry powder fire extinguisher.
4. Electricity is supplied by 16A connection, and is limited to 3kW per stall (except where additional capacity has been agreed with us).
5. All electrical equipment used within your stall must have portable appliance testing (PAT) certification from a qualified electrical engineer; PAT testing must be carried out each year, and copies of certification shared with us.
6. Stallholders are not permitted to use any appliances that have not been notified to the Market Management in the application form or by email.\
7. If you arrive at the market without the appropriate electrical equipment, or your equipment is damaged, the market will provide you with equipment and charge a hire fee for the day. 

Health and Safety

1. You must supply details of your registration with your local authority on application, no applications will be accepted without registration details.
2. You must bring a portable hand-washing unit (such as a TEAL unit) to every event booked with us.
3. Working practices must comply with the regulations as outlined in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992, the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995, and the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995.
4. The storage, containment, usage and removal of flammable liquids must comply with the regulations contained in The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992, The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and the Highly Flammable Liquids and Liquefied Petroleum Gases Regulations 1972.

Trading Hours

1. Normal trading hours can be found in each site-specific set-up guide, and are obligatory. You must not serve outside of the market’s opening hours.
2. You should be ready to trade from the event start time, and will not be allowed to set-up if you arrive too late to achieve this.
3. If sharing the market’s opening hours on your social media or website, they must be accurate. . 
4. You should not pack down before the finish time of the event, regardless of stock level or sales.
5. If you need to leave an event early due to an emergency, please find and inform the event manager before packing up.
6. All traders must report sales figures with the market manager before leaving the site. 

Loss

1. You agree that Buoy does not hold any liability for financial loss arising by your participation in a Buoy event, or for any damage to your equipment, goods or personal belongings, or personal injury of representatives working for or connected to you, or for any injury to members of the general public, except where such damage or injury arises by negligent or reckless behaviour on the part of employees working for Buoy.

Conduct

1. The rules governing each location (included event trading hours) are included in a site-specific set-up guide, and are obligatory.
2. We expect the Buoy team, Buoy traders and their employees to conduct themselves appropriately at all times, including:
3. Never behaving in an anti-social manner towards other traders, Buoy event staff, or the public;
4. Always arriving on time, trading only within the permitted hours, and communicating with the event manager about any issues as they arise;
5. Never smoking (including e-cigarettes) near any of the traders, or within sight of the event space;
6. Never consuming alcohol or drugs whilst trading;
7. Avoiding any reputational damage to Buoy, or otherwise frustrating the operation of the event management or trader community.

Misconduct

1. We operate a ‘three strikes’ policy, and you will be notified, by email, whenever event managers record actions deemed to be in breach of our rules and expectations.
2. Subsequent notifications for the same problem will be flagged, and following the third we review, suspend or terminate your right to participate in Buoy events.
3. Serious breaches amounting to gross misconduct (such as deliberately misrepresenting or inaccurately reporting sales figures, violent or abusive conduct, breach of licensing conditions, or serious failure to observe public safety) will result in the immediate cancellation of all future bookings.