Not something I had really considered, but after an interesting conversation with an old friend, who now runs a small coffee hut rather than his old van, it may be something I could consider doing.

In the conversation he was bemoaning the people who bought his old van as they had pretty much made a hash of running his old plot ( 2 young lads who’s parents had funded them )

Does anyone on here run one or looked into running one ?

The saying for Melbourne is if you serve bad coffee in the morning you’ll be out by the afternoon…

al cappuchino in arbroath is my old science teacher.

Serves a mean coffee and banter to go with- he was always an eccentric.

i also know someone whos son runs a coffee bike in the south east somewhere…. seems to be making a decent living from it – also serves up good coffee- never had coffee from his bike but i have had him make coffee on his parents machine…

Keep day dreaming about opening a Porridge Van in Vancouver, think there’d be a market for it so long as you offered a ‘skinny’ version with soy milk and acai berries or something, oh and hammed up the kilts and bagpipes thing 🙄

But in answer to the OP’s question, no. 8)

The saying for Melbourne is if you serve bad coffee in the morning you’ll be out by the afternoon…

I am sure this is true my friend has been doing it for a while now and grinding his own blend which was really excellent guess if I went for it I would use his to start with.

He made no bones about how much hard work it was, 04:00 start to catch the long distance commuters in his train station pitch, but he was making a good living from it.

mate of mine runs a few in cornwall, he does very well indeed.

http://www.alcappuccino.co.uk/

A friend of mine has tried this and said that location was absolutely everything. He initially tried next to a suburban rail station and struggled because everyone had just had breakfast and a brew. Moved to the other end of the line and did better but still not great. In the end he diversified into crepes and had more success at markets and festival type events but couldn’t make it pay full time. Still does it at weekends alongside various other ventures so definitely possible but not easy.

BTW, watch the film ‘Chef’ if you want a romantic view of running a mobile food truck…

Is there a licence required in regards to which train station you operate at, or can you just rock up and start banging out coffee wherever you please?

You need to research carefully before deciding on which area to setup in. In many places snack vans and the like are run by organised criminals as a way to launder money. They will be very protective of their areas and won’t take kindly to others moving in (even if the incomers are legit).

Is there a licence required in regards to which train station you operate at, or can you just rock up and start banging out coffee wherever you please?

He had to pay a fee to set up there, the people he sold the business to took on this responsibility, and they had to pay it even though they were not on site a lot of the time.

Scandal42 – have a mate who wanted to open a morning porrige stand at Victoria/Euston/Paddington etc. He couldn’t get anywhere near the platforms because of extortionate rents. It was a case of pay the fees or get lost. The rent fees made it unprofitable…

One did appear on my commute, alongside the River Cam, but vanished after a few months – never seemed to have much trade.

You will probably need a street trader’s licence from the local council. That may only allow you to operate in specific places.
Plus you will need food safety/hygiene inspections etc.

One did appear on my commute, alongside the River Cam, but vanished after a few months – never seemed to have much trade.

You need to research carefully before deciding on which area to setup in. In many places snack vans and the like are run by organised criminals as a way to launder money. They will be very protective of their areas and won’t take kindly to others moving in (even if the incomers are legit).

Coincidence?

A lad I know has a Cafe 4 U franchise (I assume) and now uses it and goes to CX / MTB & Crit events, seems to be enjoying it a lot.

We had these guys at Bespoked this year and a friend of mine makes a few parts for the build. Really neat, all pedal powered.

Home

Coffee shops (as opposed to vans) seem to be a licence to print money in Cambridge at the moment.

Hot Numbers, Espresso library, Urban Shed .. there are probably more.

Just been in France for 2 weeks where the absolute lack of take away coffee surprised me, although I think I prefer the option of sitting a watching the world pass by while inhaling a nice cup of the good stuff.

The setup costs can be quite high for mobile coffee.
A normal 2 group electric espresso machine draws over 13 amps, add that to your fridges etc and you would overload most generators.
For mobile you really need a Fracino dual fuel which heats with LPG and just needs about 300 watts for the electronics.
You can run a setup with fridge, grinder etc on a 1kw inverter and good leisure battery.
Looking at £3.5k for a basic new setup.
I’ve got a 14′ trailer and it cost about £10k all in to set up.

Thanks everyone lots of food for thought.

The Velopresso looks like great piece of kit.

Cafe 2 U looks like an interesting option but probably not for me.

colp..Thanks, I was hoping it would be a little less than that for start up, but I think everyone always hopes this in a new venture. Thanks for mentioning the power needs and indeed the fracino looks like the one to go for ( although a bit pricey )

Still just a pipe dream but I am warming to the idea, and more importantly the wife is aseptically, but not dismissive.

The Velopresso looks like great piece of kit.

It looks amazing. £10k investment – actually not that much for an entire business – and basically zero overheads except your inventory. Plus you’d get mega-fit peddling that beast around. Reckon you’d make a killing if you picked the right spots.