Foods sold on the street have become a common source of food consumption in many urban towns and cities. Street foods are foods prepared on the street and ready to eat at home or consumed on the street without further preparation (1). Street foods mainly consist of staple food served in various forms and combined with side dishes such as stews, gravies and snacks such as meat, fish, and cereal-based ready-to-eat foods (2, 3). Statistics South Africa and StatsSA (2020) reported that an estimated 18% of citizens to work in the informal sector as the main source of employment (4). Studies highlight an estimated one million street vendors in South Africa, of which over 70% sold food (5).

Street foods are less costly and an accessible means of obtaining a nutritionally balanced meal away from home for many low-income people (3, 6, 7). The street food sector in South Africa has been regarded as an essential channel for food access for a food-insecure population where it reflects a core aspect of low and middle-income countries, including South Africa's poor and vulnerable population (7). Even though its economic contribution goes overlooked on many occasions (8), street food enterprise is the single most significant employers in the informal sector due to its economic contribution (4, 9).

Informal enterprises' success depends on finance, the entrepreneur's characteristics, the business's location, and government support (10). Moreover, the government has established the Ministry of Small Business Development to develop Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). However, much support has been focused on the formal business economy and private franchises, leaving the informal sector, such as street food vending (11, 12). A previous study has reported that informal vending is not recognized because the economic activities that operate outside accepted norms of society are not regulated or registered with the government and are non-taxable (12). However, informal businesses in Gauteng are prioritized over other province (5).

The South African government recognizes the informal economy as a viable and essential form of employment and enabler of fiscal mobility for the poor (13). Studies in South Africa (6, 10, 14) and other countries (15, 16) indicated that women entrepreneurs engage in this sector for their entire working years because of a lack of opportunities in the formal sectors. Informal workers are overwhelmingly poor, dominated by young females (16), and have no support for their informal businesses to succeed (17). Moreover, the lack of formality due to poor governmental support contributes to the failure of the informal sector (18–20). This trend has also been documented in most African countries where street food vending is the leading source of income for the poor and vulnerable population, including women (16, 21, 22).

Studies conducted in the Limpopo Province (10, 14, 22) indicated that small-scale food vending contributes significantly to the livelihoods of the poor. Despite recognizing that street food vending forms most of the informal employment sector, the lack of formality means little is known of its operation. The lack of formality could be because no consultation of the street food vendors on any policies developed and implemented for managing their operation (23–25). Street food vending as an enterprise is often overlooked during policy formulation and disregarded in business strategy too easily (13). Nevertheless, these studies also indicate that regulations and by-laws governing street vending operations in South Africa are in place, although with a lack of enforcement by officials (25–29). Given the importance of street food in society, a better understanding of street food vendors in different settings is necessary to characterize its operation.

Limpopo province has the highest number of street food vendors, mainly concentrated in the Vhembe district. Hence the Vhembe district was selected for this study. Most street food vendors are found in public places such as taxi ranks and the road (22, 30, 31). The Vhembe district draws special attention in the province because of a high increase in cooked street foods (2, 14, 28, 31). This paper was the third phase of the main study, whose objective was to develop a model for street food vendors selling ready-to-eat foods in the Vhembe District. In phase one, Poter's competitiveness model investigates street food vendors' perception of vending competitiveness. Street food vendors perceived three main factors that determine the street food vending enterprise's competitiveness: chance, production, and government role factor conditions as determinants of enterprise competitiveness (Mahopo et al. forthcoming). In phase two, we reported that lack of opportunities and financial freedom as the main motivations for entry into the enterprise. We noted a need to establish local representative organizations with health authorities and enforce regulations by various stakeholders to assist street food vendors and their enterprises (32). Hence the current paper highlights the characterization of the street food vendors, focusing on business profile, employment, working hours, foods sold, inputs, pricing, record-keeping practices, total running cost and profit.

This survey aimed to characterize the operations of the street food vendors in the Vhembe district. Previous street food vending studies have not characterized street enterprise availability and distribution across the Vhembe district towns. The predominance of women aged 34–44 in the present study is not surprising, although men were available. Lower than the monthly earnings of the informal sector employees reported nationally in 2016 (36). The reason for women dominating the street food vending in the study could be that the business is focused only on cooked meals where women are commonly involved in preparing and serving food. In South Africa, studies have reported women's dominance in street food enterprise (19, 31, 37) who depend on the business for social relief (4, 20, 38). A lack of employable skills, insufficient work experience, and inadequate financial resources are among the factors contributing to women's dominance in the sectors (28). Similar trends were observed in other African countries (15, 18, 20).

Food vending activities enhance income for some households to meet their additional financial needs (39). In the current study, most street food vendors were never married, which may be attributed to the declining marriage in South Africa amongst youth (40). However, in Uganda, single street food vendors engage in street food vending as their only source of income (41). It is documented that marital status is one reason for establishing the household's livelihood strategies for the consumers and vendors (42). Even though the current study highlights that the proportion of married street vendors was significant, married street food vendors could be engaging in the business as an additional financial resource (41).

Education is essential for the design of appropriate training interventions. In South Africa, studies have shown that most street food vendors are educated, with most having achieved secondary education or post-secondary/tertiary qualification (43). The Vhembe district reported a decrease of 1.8% in people without schooling (33). The current study also shows that most street food vendors are educated, contrary to other studies in part of the African countries (15, 16, 21). A highlight is that if vendors are trained adequately in business establishments, their business skills could improve while promoting food safety and consumption of nutritious foods. Even though it is documented in South Africa that educated vendors venture into the business because of a lack of employment opportunities in the formal market (44–47). Hence the need to acknowledge that many people engage in street food vending to survive and meet their basic needs due to poverty and unemployment and that it is not by choice, but the country's employment status forces them (48).

The vendors' business profile highlights that most worked long hours with the sole employer. Significant differences were observed between operational working hours and citizenship, where foreign nationals worked fewer hours than South Africans. According to the Basic Employment Conditions Act of 1997, an employee who works more than 5 days a week should work 8 h daily (49). Nevertheless, street food vendors worked more hours and days, contrary to the Basic Employment Conditions Act of 1997. Similar findings were also observed in Cape Town, where street food vendors worked more than the average population (2, 23). Although business hours tend to vary per enterprise, meal types are prepared and served because enterprise locations are influenced primarily by the specific days of the week, and it was not the case in the current study as the same foods were sold (50). Furthermore, males worked for longer hours on weekdays and weekends, especially Sundays, which could be attributed to female street food vendors having other responsibilities after work, such as taking care of families.

Similar to other studies (9, 20, 27, 28, 31, 51), this study showed that street food vending could reduce unemployment as 9.0% of the enterprises had employees. However, challenges such as lack of access to capital, with only 0.8% of the street food vendor who had access to financial assistance, could make it difficult for street food enterprises to strive (52). Street food enterprises' survival was based on vendors' savings and, at times, getting some financial assistance from the “loan sharks,” where they are expected to return the money with a certain percentage that could hinder profit. The current study's findings are not different from those of other studies (20, 53) that street food vendors source initial money from their savings to establish and sustain the enterprise. Furthermore, street food vendors borrow money from money lenders (loan sharks) for continued food business operation, although it comes at a cost (54).

Further attributes that need to be considered are expenditure and business record-keeping practices. A study in Ghana highlighted a need for policy interventions to improve the street food sector regarding managerial constraints (55). As reported in other studies (20), the current study highlighted that vendors spend more money on business expenses, including buying inputs, with little monthly profit. These results are consistent with a study in Ghana (55) that was a constraint to the growth of micro and small scale enterprises where increased inputs and business expenses were identified as a constraint to street food enterprise growth.

Street food is consumed mainly by working-class people who use public transport (3, 6, 19, 31). In Mexico, it is reported that those who commute long distances or lack time to prepare food at home consume most food outside their homes (56). This street food vendor location was also observed in other parts of the country (5, 10, 29) and Africa, although their location is sometimes illegal (57–60). Plate costs in the study remained affordable and attractive to the poor groups compared to the expensive meal of R70–R300 (5–20 USD) from a restaurant (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Polokwane). With the association's help, street food vendors determined the standard price needed in the same vicinity. There is a need to strengthen this partnership amongst the street food vendors with the formal institution and train them in business management. Training will help street food vendors produce and circulate goods and services within the informal food vending, expanding job opportunities in the absence of formal employment.

Food sold in the current study included traditionally cooked starches such as pap and rice served with chicken/beef/pork, and very few vendors served fish. However, green leafy vegetables were uncommon. These foods were not different from food reported in other studies selling cooked street food (3, 23, 61) and highlight that if healthy food items are made available and affordable, people are more likely to consume them (56, 62). The limitation observed was that cooked food was not individually identified, and due to the nature of the study, portion sizes were also not being calculated. Other research (3) in the country highlighted the nutritional contribution of street food, citing its importance in providing energy and micronutrients to supplement the home meal. Street food vendors should be encouraged on the types of foods sold to customers to improve the nutritional quality of foods sold on the street.

Although there was no significant difference between gender and place food is cooked, the use of leftovers in the current study highlighted across all marital status that street food vendors take along their leftovers to use at home. All street food vendors could be encouraged to save on food and use food profitably rather than throwing and reselling, posing health issues. Like our findings, consuming leftovers is common among street food vendors (17). Although 56% of street food vendors indicated using the leftovers for the next day in Zimbabwe, posing health risks to customers (15), many (44%) still use the leftovers for home consumption. This indicates that the street food vending enterprise contributes to the food vendor's mass and family. In addition, studies conducted in South Africa highlighted that traditionally cooked street food microbial safety was surprisingly better than expected (9, 23). It is reported that the less availability of the microbial concerns in the cooked food could be because street vendors should ensure that the environment they are operating from is always kept clean (60). Such practices must be encouraged to all vendors selling cooked foods to avoid loss in the business and contribute to the family diet. Therefore, public health professionals should better engage the street food vendors by selling cooked food and keeping them safe for consumption to contribute to the household's nutritional wellbeing.

The majority of our sample were women, who were single with some school education. The study also highlighted the presence of migrants working as street food vendors in the Vhembe district. Most vendors owned the business and have been operating for 1–10 years. Males comprised 10% of our sample, and indicated higher working hours than females. Food sold in the study were commonly consumed foods such as mielie pap, beef, chicken, and seasonal vegetables. The street vendors encountered many constraints, such as a lack of essential services, including water, financial assistance from the formal institution, energy, and transportation.

Moreover, street vendors portray poor managerial skills. However, street vending has shown that street food enterprise contributes to the local economy by offering employment. There is an urgent need for an intensive capital provision for street food vendors' businesses and a management food training that will equip these entrepreneurs, mainly in the grassroots communities of the Vhembe district of South Africa. Therefore, government officials, policymakers, and NGOs could target street vendors to offer training and microfinance to improve their business skills while promoting food safety and consumption of nutritious foods.

This is the first study to evaluate women's street food vendor business operational characteristics on a larger scale in the Vhembe district, Limpopo province. The study's findings can help customize supporting policies for different street food vendors to improve the country's economic status, informal business equity, food safety and nutrition security. Furthermore, our measurement tools were piloted, resulting in their increased reliability. However, this study had some weaknesses. First, the cross-sectional nature of the study design prevented us from making any causal conclusions between variables. Second, some explanatory variables relied on participants' self-reported data, prone to recall and social desirability biases. To minimize this bias, study participants were allowed adequate time to recall previous information as best as possible.

The data sets used or analysed during the current study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Venda (project No: SHS/19/NUT03) and the University of the Free State (project No UFS-HSD2019/0059). The researcher obtained approval from the Vhembe district municipalities and the street food committee to conduct the study. The researchers surveyed street food enterprises, interviewing street food vendors available and knowledgeable about the business. The business owner/employees were informed of the research objectives and conducted interviews to secure consent. The participants were informed of the purpose of the investigation before participating in the study. Furthermore, participants were given assurance of privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity regarding the information provided. Street vendors signed the consent form after explaining the study's aim and objectives.

TM, CN, and AN contributed to the conception and design of the study. JN, MB, and RA contributed to the manuscript writing. All authors reviewed the manuscript and approved the submitted version.

This project was implemented with a grant from the Water Research Commission, South Africa [Project No: K5/2818/4]. Also, the University of Free State awarded a scholarship to a Doctoral student TM [Project Number: UFS-HSD2019/ 0059]. The University of Venda Capacity Development Program supported the Doctoral Student with Research Funds [Project No: SHS/19/NUT03].

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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