don't have time right now but remind me and I'll give you more tips.....for one..........if you're catering onsite at festivals events or private parties you are normally required to get a temporary food establishment permit.......in some counties anyway. In our county thats $106 per event...each and every time. This is with the primitive setup of three buspans, one for wash, one for rinse, one for sanitizing... then there's the igloo cooler with spout and a pot to catch the dirty water for a "handwash" station.
I found that if you outfit a truck with a three bay sink, a gray water tank, you can run under a "mobil" permit, this is what the cotton candy and funnel cake people use to do multiple gigs, and this permit is a mere 140 for the whole year no matter how many events you do. Much more economical. Business license is a cinch as a sole proprietor and normally about 40 dollars. Stationary on line, look up DBA (doing business as) certificate.
Now for the IRS...........totally different story but you can call it a hobby up to a certain amount of income and still write off some expenses without getting hit with business taxes.....need a pro to check into that one though.
Got some advice for smoker and trailer transport too....anyone familiar with section 156 of the motor vehicle code? In New York it allows us to transport multiple smokers without having to register the trailers............kewl eh?