Bean there, done that, raked it in
Coffee house on wheels hit the right spot for many every morning
Location, location, location. The three words that define the success or failure of a restaurant.
I once had a restaurant, but it was on wheels. I was in the minority as I made money with my restaurant van.
Being a coffee hound, and being a former resident of Seattle, the home of the overpriced latte and all it’s cousins, I had the idea of building a mobile espresso van, and hiring somebody to drive my rig.
I put some serious thought into the idea. Started to investigate what it would involve, where to work it, suppliers, and what kind of vehicle would be most economical to run with the highest return for my money spent.
This was before computers had taken over our private and work lives. I burned up a lot of telephone hours trying to reach decisions.
Since ideas always look good on paper, I put together a business plan. Went to the bank, and talked them into a loan, then went looking for a used van.
I needed a fabricator too. I had a design, but I needed somebody to take it from paper to reality.
I ended up finding a small shop north of Seattle and a fabricator who built my van’s interior, just the way I wanted it.
I had bought a Dodge van, originally built in Canada, but sold in the States. I bought it there, had it changed to my design, and then imported it back into Canada.
Lots of fun telling that story when I hit the border. Gift of gab was the key to getting it back across the 49th. Then came the B.S. Translated, that would be all the crossing of t’s and dotting of i’s that the various levels of political bureaucrats threw at me. They seemed to be trying to prevent me from starting up.
In fact, they really had no idea how to licence me. I was a newbie, and they were confused, as a mobile espresso van service had never before been applied for. I even had to take a food safe course just so I could serve coffee. No food items, mind you. Just hot coffee.
What utter nonsense. I got 98 per cent on the final, and am still laughing some 30 years later.
Finally, I was legal. I jumped through all the political hoops, but now needed customers. Off I went, in the van, to start a different kind of driving job.
Some business owners, whom I asked if I could park on their property and sell my coffee, wanted me to kick back some of my profits.
I moved on until I found a great morning location that cost me one cup of coffee a day. I had cars pulling into that gas station from 5:30 to 8:15 each morning, Monday through Friday.
It was a win-win story for the gas station, and me.
After that, I went to local schools, and never had a bad day. Teachers love their coffee.
On weekends, I had a local hockey rink where I was allowed to park at the entrance and sell coffee before and during the game. No competition. Like shooting fish in a barrel, or so I was told by a regular customer who seemed to follow me around.
One day, two guys showed up at my window and asked me if I wanted to sell them my business. I laughed and told them cash only, and mentioned a ridiculous figure.
Two days later, they showed up again, with the cash. No negotiations necessary.
I sold the business. They drove the van to San Francisco and put it to work in the East Bay area.
Me? I went back to driving my rig, and starting thinking about a couple other business ideas.
Nothing worse than an idle mind, especially when behind the wheel of a rig.
I could fill a newspaper with stories about road life on the road, but why not share yours? Send them to Driving editor Andrew McCredie at amccredie@postmedia.com.