Running Your Own Coffee Cart Business

Business Overview:

If you’ve ever bought a fantastic, hot cup of coffee from a coffee cart and thought “I can do that,” you should look into starting a coffee cart business. Conventions, sporting events and fairs of all kinds are attended by individuals who want a great cup of coffee. Having a mobile coffee business allows you the flexibility to go where the traffic is. Wherever there is a group of people gathered, whether they are business people, farmers’ market shoppers or football fans, coffee will be in demand. It is not only universally consumed across all social and economic levels, it is also one of the few items that is in demand throughout the day. When you set up your coffee cart, you may see the same people over and over throughout the day. Repeat business lets you build relationships with your customers and keeps them coming back for more. As you can see, the mobile coffee business has great potential but before you get too far, you should create a coffee cart business plan. This plan will outline whether you want to buy a franchise or start your own cart. You will also figure out how much inventory you need to have in order to keep up with demand and make a profit. You will also need to think about hiring staff to help. The need for additional staff will depend on the scope of your business idea and how large your cart is. Thinking ahead, you can add carts and staff to your enterprise and soon you may be able to stay home while your employees do all the work. But at first you can run your new business part time while you establish relationships with various event organizers. Before long, your coffee cart will be a familiar and welcome sight to coffee drinkers all around town.

A Day in the Life of a Coffee Cart Business Owner:

Your day will start with a check of your calendar to see what events you need to attend that day. If you work alone, you will need to check your supplies and make sure your cart is clean and ready to go. You will mobilize your cart to that day’s venue and wait for customers to line up. If you don’t have any events that day, you will spend some time marketing your new business by calling various convention centers, sporting arenas and other places large groups of people gather. If you work with a staff, you will make sure they have their location assignments and have all the supplies they need to go out. At the end of the day, you will need to record that day’s sales and shop for any supplies you need for the next day.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be coffee lovers wanting a high-quality and convenient cup of joe.

What You Need to Start:

• Business plan
• Marketing plan
• Coffee cart
• Vehicle to transport coffee cart
• Coffee
• Other ingredients (milk, sugar, flavors, etc.)
• Cups, napkins, stirrers, etc.
• Computer with finance software

The Good:

• Making coffee is easy.
• Coffee is always in demand, several times a day.
• You can charge top dollar for your coffee so your return on investment is high.
• You get to work with people all day.
• You can work as much or as little as you want.
• This business is easily scalable.

The Bad:

• It can be relatively expensive to get your business up and running.
• Making and serving coffee all day can get repetitive.

Resources:

• National Coffee Association
• Specialty Coffee Association of America
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Food and Beverage Service Industry
• Wikipedia on Coffee

About The Author

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