Custom fit coffee vans a big opportunity for small business owners
With over 2.5 million Australians choosing to escape the daily grind to start their own small business, custom fitting a coffee van has become the go to choice of many budding coffee-preneurs. We spoke to Mobile Cafes Australia director Darren Schultz about taking the plunge into the world of coffee vans.
Since coffee became Australia’s favourite morning ritual at the turn of the century, it’s become big business. Seventy-five per cent of Australians drink at least one cup per day and of those, nearly a third drink three or more.
However, it’s not just the sheer volume that is setting coffee trends.
Expectations about quality have grown with more discerning tastes and greater variety. But it is the availability and reliability of getting coffee to consumers which has spurned an opportunity for small business owners to cash in on Australia’s growing love affair with coffee.
Enter mobile cafés and coffee vans.
Since Darren Schultz fitted out his first coffee van in Brisbane in 2001, the co-director of Mobile Cafés Australia says that coffee and coffee vans have gone from strength to strength.
Australia's first custom fit coffee van
“When I started the business in 2001, coffee was just starting to hit its straps,” Darren says, a Queenslander with a passion for coffee.
“Back then, Park Rd was the coffee mecca of Brisbane and the only place to get decent coffee. I saw the opportunity of taking coffee out to people instead of people coming to us.”
When Darren saw someone strap a coffee machine to a motorcycle, a flash of inspiration hit him and he created what was arguably the first coffee van in Australia.
“Seeing that motorcycle really sparked my curiosity and I thought, ‘surely there has got to be a way to do this in a better way,’” he says.
That first van was born and Darren starting driving up and selling coffee at industrial sites, business parks, weekend markets and Saturday morning sport.
“That first seven months I was in business, I didn’t have a single day off. I started on the cusp of autumn and it was insane,” he says.
Build a coffee van and they will come
Darren had struck coffee gold, proving that a loyal client base would keep coming back if an operator was willing to consistently serve up quality coffee.
Over the years, his tinkering and trial and erroring of various iterations of the van has meant that not only does he know intimately all the elements that go into making a great custom built coffee van, but the business model that sustains it.
“The whole basis of the business was being able to set up a daily run and service people who wanted the product. Back then, I had to bring people out to the van to show them where I was getting it from,” he explains.
“It was a real novelty back then, but once it took off, the phone exploded,” Darren says. “I simply handed out fliers to local businesses and it went ballistic.”
Quality Barista-made coffee was now available in those out-of-the-way locations.
“I decided to go to the business instead of waiting for it to come to me. The weekend sport, fetes, fairs, and carnivals seemed like a great place to offer a quality Barista-made coffee. Before that, you’d go to a sporting event and the canteen was Nescafe Blend 43 with boiling water,” he said.
Helping others build coffee van businesses
In more recent years, Darren has helped scores of people into coffee van businesses through his franchise network and as a consultant to independent operators.
“From a lifestyle perspective, getting into a coffee van is a great entry into small business. The harder you want to work, the more you can earn,” Darren says.
Darren adds that one of the biggest advantages to owning a custom coffee van is the simplicity of the business.
“It is often an owner-operator; the book keeping is simple, the expenses are fairly minimal and there are high profit margins. Excluding loans, the total costs of running the business is about 35% including insurance, registration and running costs. That combined with the simplicity of the operation is an easy entry,” he says.
“A coffee van is a good training ground for hospitality without the hassle of rent, wages and other expensive overheads,” Darren explains.
To learn more about how Mobile Cafes Australia can help you build your own custom coffee van to help you on your small business journey, contact Darren Schultz or Jonathan Payne.