Frequently Asked Questions

Individual Streatrader accounts are only equipped to handle one registration. As a result, each community group you want to manage will require its own unique email address.

There are multiple free email services available to you, such as Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook. You can even set these accounts up to forward emails to your main inbox - please check your email provider's help section to find more information on this.

If you're organising an event for other traders to attend, you will need to contact your local council with the following details:

• The name of your event
• The venue/location your event will be taking place in, along with the address
• The date(s) your event will be running
• A name and contact details for the event coordinator

Once you've provided them with these details, council will add your event to the list and traders will be able to lodge Statements of Trade with your event.

Your registering council is the one where your 'principal premises' is located. This is often the fixed address at which you usually make, prepare or store food (e.g. your restaurant or cafe, retail shop, manufacturing premises or home kitchen).

If you do not ordinarily operate a fixed food premises, then your principal premises is determined by:

Temporary food premises
Where you store your temporary food premises equipment,

or

Mobile food premises
Where your mobile food premises is 'garaged' (generally, the place where you bring your food vehicle back to after you are finished trading),

or

If you do not store temporary food premises equipment or garage a mobile food premises, then your principal premises is your business or community group's office address. This can be a home address of the person in charge of a community group if there is no usual place of business.

To complete a Streatrader application you will need:

• The type of premises you would like to register such as a market stall (“temporary food premises”) or van or cart (“mobile food premises”).
• The contact and location details of your business or community group including address, phone number and email address.
• The types of food you will be selling and general food handling information
• When and where you will be selling the food (for a statement of trade).

In Victoria, all food premises are grouped into separate ‘classes’. Each class indicates the level of risk associated with a business' food handling activities.  The highest risk category possible in Streatrader is a Class 2, and the lowest is a Class 4.

If you are unsure of your classification, please check here for more information.

Some businesses that handle unpackaged high-risk food require a Food Safety Supervisor. More information on Food Safety Supervisors can be found here.

All food handlers are expected to have basic food safety knowledge. DoFoodSafely is a free non-accredited online learning program provided by the Department of Health. More food safety resources can be found on the Department of Health's food safety website.

Most councils in Victoria charge a registration fee. These registration fees vary from council to council and are charged depending on the risk classification of your premises, whether you are a business or a community group, and the number or type of premises you manage.

(Please note: Class 4 premises are exempt from fees.)

For more details regarding your fees, please contact your local council.

This will depend on the type of premises and whether additional information is required by council.

You can usually expect to hear from council within 3 weeks.

For information on the progress of your application, please contact your registering council directly.

It is illegal to trade until your registering council has approved your application and issued a registration certificate.

You must lodge a statement of trade (SOT) with the councils in whose areas you are planning to trade. A SOT is a statement that lets all relevant councils know when and where you intend to trade.

Other laws may apply to your trading. For example, you may need:

• permission from a council to operate on council land, or if trading on a street, etc.
• permission from the land owner if you intend to operate on private land
• permission from the event organiser, if operating at events or markets
  
• other required licences – such as a liquor licence (if applicable).

Yes, a not for profit group can register on the Streatrader system. If you are new to Streatrader, click the "create login" button. You will be taken through the same account creation and login process, and then you will be taken to the Streatrader website to commence an application. As part of the application you will be asked whether you are a business or a community group.

No, you do not need to have an ABN to submit an application to council using Streatrader. Although this is asked for as part of the application process, this is not a compulsory field and you can leave it blank.

A Statement of Trade (SOT) is used to let councils know when and where you will be operating your temporary or mobile food premises. A SOT can only be lodged once council has processed your application and issued a registration certificate. Refer to the Statements of Trade page for more information.

If a Statement of Trade is incorrect, all you have to do is lodge a new Statement of Trade with the new and more accurate information. As long as the correct trading days are lodged on the system, there is no penalty for leaving an incorrect Statement of Trade up.

If you need to change the manager of your Streatrader account, the current manager can change the associated email address from their Streatrader home page. Just click 'Change Email' on the left-hand menu and follow the directions from there.

If you are unhappy about the way you or your business/community group have been treated or dealt with by a local council, you should first contact the manager or team leader of the environmental health team at the council and raise your concerns with them. It may be useful to put these concerns in writing. Set out clearly what the issue or complaint is, the steps you’ve taken to resolve it, and the people you have spoken to at council already. Be clear about what you would like council to do to resolve the issue. If you are not satisfied with the manager’s response, you may wish to forward your letter to the council’s CEO and ask for a response to your complaint.

The Victorian Ombudsman, the independent investigator of complaints about administrative actions taken by Victorian government agencies and local government, offers tips on how to make a complaint to a public sector body.

Most public bodies such as councils have established complaint-handling processes and can provide you with advice on how to go about making a complaint or seeking a review of a decision made by the authority.

If council’s response does not satisfy you, and there is no further right of appeal if you are complaining about a decision, you can complain directly to the Victorian Ombudsman.