# New mobile coffee business



## Sunshineray (Jul 19, 2018)

Hello, I'm hoping for some help and advice please. A friend and I are hoping to open our on mobile coffee and cake business and we aren't really sure where to start. We know what we want and are hoping that with some help, we can get there. We've looked at what equipment we will need, one of our main problems is that we have no idea what size generator we will need? Any help or advice massively appreciated!


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## Happydaze (Jul 19, 2018)

Work out what your power requirement will be. How many KW each of your appliances etc. That will be a good starting point


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

@coffeebean


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## coffeebean (Jan 26, 2010)

Unless you have a load of other equipment needing power, the coffee side of things doesn't need a generator if you use a dual fuel machine


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## Sunshineray (Jul 19, 2018)

Thanks for your replies. We don't really know what machine we will need at the moment. So the coffee machine doesn't need a generator?


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## coffeebean (Jan 26, 2010)

Dual fuel machine runs on gas and you can run the pump and grinder off a leisure battery


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Sunshineray said:


> Hello, I'm hoping for some help and advice please. A friend and I are hoping to open our on mobile coffee and cake business and we aren't really sure where to start. We know what we want and are hoping that with some help, we can get there. We've looked at what equipment we will need, one of our main problems is that we have no idea what size generator we will need? Any help or advice massively appreciated!


Unless you tell us how long the piece of string is, no advice can be very useful? I'll just give a few examples:

1. Is it 1 pitch, multiple pitches or go anywhere you can get at different times (pop up), is it inside or outside (might affect use of dual fuel), is there always power at the pitches, will you do events

2. Is it in the back of a van and unpacked, is it working in a car and you open the boot, is it on a bicycle, or trailer

3. How many groups, is the coffee espresso, do you do other types, burco for hot water, how many coffees per day, over which hours, is there other equipment you wish to power using the generator (pannini heater etc,,), or is it just an unknown size machine and grinder.

4. Is it just coffee and cake, or will you do tea, soup, microwaved hot stuff in winter etc..

5. Sit down or only take away

At the moment, no one knows anything. Andy has given you great advice about the use of Dual fuel....but the advice is meaningless if you set up where there is always power, or a restriction prevents the use of dual fuel....or you just want a 1 group machine for the odd coffee and you're setup is on a bicycle front cart?? Or perhaps you are simply only doing filter, carafe or drip coffee??

or I could have simply said a mobile coffee business usually needs a 4Kw generator....is that useful?


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## Sunshineray (Jul 19, 2018)

DavecUK said:


> Unless you tell us how long the piece of string is, no advice can be very useful? I'll just give a few examples:
> 
> 1. Is it 1 pitch, multiple pitches or go anywhere you can get at different times (pop up), is it inside or outside (might affect use of dual fuel), is there always power at the pitches, will you do events
> 
> ...


 Well your simple answer is shorter haha, but I get that you think a bit more info might be useful









We are hoping to open a mobile shop using a horsebox conversion. It will be takeaway only and we would like to do festivals but also have a pitch close to home when we aren't out and about. We aren't anticipating having any other food so I don't think we will need power for anything except the coffee machine, grinder and fridge. I don't really know how many coffees per day, as many as we can I suppose. We are happy to work early til late but probably mostly between 8am and 6pm. We are in the very early stage of development and needing a business loan so trying to get all of the information we need to build it on. We don't know much about making coffee but there is a barista in my family willing to give us some training. We have no idea what machine we will need, hence the generator question, I didn't even know we could use dual fuel! Thankfully we can both bake







Thanks for taking the time to reply, with both your long and short answers


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

.


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## Tom's coffee (Dec 3, 2018)

We have been doing this since 2005 so can help you if needed. My advice is buy good quality, high volume equipment from the start so you don't have to replace a few months in to it. We run mobile coffee bars at events and can help you. check out our website http://www.tomscoffee.co.uk and feel free to get in touch.

Tom


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## thesmartcoffeeco (May 5, 2020)

Hey guys - wonder if I could grab some advice, we recently set up a mobile coffee bar from our renovated Smart Car and are looking into licensing. We have not decided where to trade yet but are looking at driving around and selling from the street/busy car parks at weekends. Would we be able to use a Peddlers licence for this? From what I can see online you need a street traders licence but you need to know what council to trade in? What do other mobile units use to trade when travelling around? Thanks for any help!


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