How I get ready for an event A lot of care and work goes into preparing for an event. I’ll assess the event that I have coming up, how many people will be there, and the weather forecast for the day. The weather forecast is a huge player in deciding how much and what stock to purchase. If it’s cold, You know you will sell heaps of tea and coffee. However, if its hot you are likely to sell more iced tea and cold drinks. Once I have a clear picture of what the event will look like I order all my stock and do any other necessary shopping. Other things I have to consider are what facilities the event is going to provide. More often than no I am self-sufficient supplying my own power and water. The day before my events my milk arrives, (trying to remember to leave empty crates out is my biggest challenge!) I have to go get fuel for my generator if I need it and fill up all my water containers. I generally chew through about 60 litres of water, so I definitely get a good workout carrying around 20 litre water carriers! I load up my trailer to my tow car, so everything is ready to go for the morning. I always ensure that I have plenty of tools on me, you never know what you might need a screwdriver for.
Once I arrive on site, I unhitch my trailer and jack it up so its even. This is key to ensuring all the water properly drains to where it needs to be! The best part of set up is pulling out my generator! I have this down packed to a fine art now. I always say, who needs a gym when you own a coffee cart. Once I've pulled the gene out, I fill it with petrol, check the oil, connect my power cable and fire her up. I jump straight back in my cart and turn the coffee machine on straight away. It takes a minimum of 40 minutes to heat up and gain pressure, so the longer it takes me tog et my power going, the longer it will take to get coffees serving
Next, I bang all my milk and cold drinks in the fridge, so they have plenty of time to chill out. Then its set up on! Everything else gets unpacked and set up. I generally clean as I go and give everything a good wipe down. If the weather is bad and my events get cancelled my coffee cart can sometimes sit for a couple of weeks, and sometimes gets a bit dusty, especially being stored in a shed!
Usually by the time I finish setting everything up my coffee machine is up to pressure and heat. This is when I take the time to season my machine and set my grind. As every Barista knows, setting the grind at the beginning of the day is the most crucial aspect to ensuring the coffee you are selling is top notch! As I buy locally roasted beans from Havana, I find that after my beans have been sitting for 4 – 5 days prior to using them is when I get the most flavour from them. My beans are a bit sweeter than the others in the Havana range, and they pack a really nice punch. I get really excited when I see my grind extracting with a beautiful crema and I smell the sweetness come through. That’s when I know that I have my grind perfect. I use my perfect shot to make myself a coffee and try my product before service starts, then we ON!
Serving Customers
The customer service aspect of running my coffee cart is just
as fun as making amazing coffee! My brand is all about good coffee, good yarns
and good vibes. I am lucky in the sense that I have been out in the community for
18 months now, so people know me and know my coffee cart. Some will come for a
banter just as much as a coffee.
One of the highlights from my customers so far was earlier
this year. I took on a contract at the Basin Reserve to attend the cricket
games there. The Black Caps v England Test match was hectic busy! I broke my 15
year hospo record on coffees made in one day that Saturday. We worked out that
we were pumping out coffees every 90 seconds. Just absolutely cranking and it
was such a vibe. I had some drum and bass playing and I was dancing and yarning
to customers who were just loving it. One guy came up and told me that the
coffee was amazing, and I was doing a fantastic job. A bit later on while I was
having a break at the end, someone else came up to me and shook my hand and
said how awesome we did today and that they just loved that I was on a vibe and
fully loving it even though we were so busy!!
Its moments like these that make the hard work all worth it. You can’t put a price on the feeling of fulfilment that sort of feedback from your customers gives you, especially when you put your heart and soul into what you do.
As fun as running a coffee cart is, in order to be successful,
it takes a lot of work and dedication, especially when you are running it on your
own! Don’t get me wrong, I am lucky in the sense both my partner and my
partners dad have done a lot to help me out when I have needed repairs done to
my coffee cart and tow car. A lot of people don’t have that sort of help, so for
that I am truly grateful.
Although I have support there when I need it, I am a very
independent person and don't like to have to rely upon others to do this. When
I first started out, just the thought of backing a garden trailer scared the
crap out of me let alone a coffee cart! After a few lessons from my amazingly
patient partner and being forced to use the skills he taught me, I have finally
built up the confidence it takes towing something like this. Backing doesn’t scare
me anymore and I know, I’ve got this, I just take it easy and slow and don’t let anyone
rush me.
I have a laugh sometimes if I’m at the park, I’ll get a
group of older guys a watching my jack my trailer up and hitch it to the car and
you can tell they are just full on buzzing on me! I just get stuck in, get the
tasks need to be done.
One the event is all done, its pack down time.
I hate pack down time – especially after a big event, like the cricket.
All the dishes get done, the coffee machine gets cleaned, then everything and every surface in coffee cart is cleaned. As this work can be very reliant upon the weather it can be hard to say when the coffee cart will next be out again. Usually we are out every weekend, but I did have a section of time at the end of 2022 where I didn’t work for 5 weeks because it rained every. Single. Weekend!!!!! So, I always make sure that everything is cleaned, and all put away properly, with a stocktake done, so I know that the next time I take it out its nice and clean and I have everything that I need.
Once I have cleaned up and packed up, hitched up my trailer
and rolled out, I go back to my storage site and unload all my rubbish, waste
water, washing and any leftover milk into my too flash for towing car!
I take my waste water up to a site just up the road from me to dump it and then I’m off home. Once I get home, I pull everything out of my car, stick the washing on, dispose of the rubbish and recycling and store the milk for next weekend.
By this point I am ready for a shower and a well-deserved
vodka!
Running a mobile coffee cart business is hard work, but it
is super fulling and so much fun! Its common for me to start work 10 – 12 hour
days when I’m out at events, but when you love what you do and you’re working
for your future can you really call it work? Being out in the community and
meeting heaps of cool people and spreading my love for coffee brings my soul
joy. I wouldn’t change it for anything.