Don’t be saddled with a pig in a poke

At first glance, the costs of setting up a spit roast business look low. Buy a secondhand hog roaster on Ebay for £2,000, set up a website for a few hundred pounds, and, hey presto, you are in business. However, as Huxham insists: “It is not as easy as it looks.”

Salads and vegetables have to be prepared in advance and this requires dedicated premises – preferably not a home kitchen.

“You need a proper base from which to do the business because a visit from the Environmental Health Officer could result in real trouble,” Huxham explains.

He uses the kitchen at his pub but if he didn’t have this, he would have to take a lease on a property and pay to install catering equipment. Also, large animals have to be stored in walk-in fridges that cost around £2,000.

The food then has to be kept cool en route to venues in a mobile refrigeration unit (costing £4,000 new) and towed by a large van capable of carrying the roasting equipment (£19,000 new), tables to present the food and a marquee in case it rains.