Business loans are good things for small start-up businesses and larger outfits alike. Usually, it’s the larger people who come to talk to us about setting up novated leases for vehicles or taking out a business loan to purchase some new equipment. And we know how to handle that. We also know how to handle things if we’re approached by one of the little people (and we don’t mean habbits) about business loans to get a vehicle for a small business.
Now, with a number of small businesses, you can use your usual vehicle for most of the work, and you might need to have a chat to a friendly accountant about what you do regarding claiming expenses back against tax, GST and all that sort of thing. But there’s one small job that offers a lot of flexibility and fun that requires a vehicle to get started: mobile coffee baristas.
Mobile coffee baristas are becoming more and more common, and the job usually requires having a special vehicle set up to do this. Not many of us have a spare car of the right sort sitting around ready to convert into a mobile coffee shop, so if you want to work for yourself, are keen about coffee and like getting out and about in your community, you are probably going to need to borrow a bit of cash so you can buy the car and kit it out with all the bits and bobs needed to make great coffee.
You’re going to need a fairly sizeable vehicle to start up a mobile coffee service. For a start off, you need something that has a fifth door so you can open up the back and make the coffee, but a little hatchback just isn’t going to do the trick. You need something with a bit more space than that. Nor will a ute do the trick, as it’s best to have all your stuff under cover you’re going to need paper cups, remember. The best thing to look out for is a large MPV, an SUV or a 4×4. You might want to consider getting signage on the side of the car, so don’t forget to include the cost of this when you think about the amount you want to borrow.
You also need the coffee making equipment. Naturally, this means a caf quality espresso machine and probably a small bar fridge as well to keep all the milk in (and maybe the flavourings so you can offer flavoured coffee options). These will need to run on something, so look out for a vehicle that has power outlets sprinkled around the place.Petrol/diesel generators are pretty noisy and are likely to put your customers off, and although we get a lot of sunshine in our part of the world, you probably aren’t going to be able to power your equipment off the size of solar panel that can fit in or on a large car assuming that you can fit one at all.
After these basics, it’s up to you. You probably need a good supply of paper cups and tops to go on them, ordinary milk, trim milk, soy milk, sugar, chocolate, marshmallows, tea and possibly some herbal tea into the bargain. You might also want to sell biscuits. Don’t forget a chalkboard or whiteboard to advertise your prices!
Where do you go with your mobile coffee machine? Just about anywhere that people gather: sports matches, markets, skate parks, malls Where two or three people are gathered together, somebody probably wants a coffee!