Coffee on the go with The Espresso Kart

Starting a business was an idea that had been brewing in Stuart Pell’s head for a number of years.

So this summer, with plenty of experience behind him in the hospitality sector (he has previously managed a couple of Ayrshire restaurants), he finally decided to ditch his advertising job and start a mobile coffee business.

The seed was planted to start selling his own coffee back when he lived in Australia, with his now wife. He was out there working for a coffee roasting company, and when they returned to Scotland to start a family, going back to Australia was out of the question.

He then thought: ‘well how could I bring some of that lifestyle here?’

The coffee culture in Australia is massive right now, and one business model that resonated with Stuart was the idea of bringing coffee to the customer.

Here Stuart talks about how he took that idea and turned it into a successful business venture.

The idea  

I’ve always had a passion for coffee, and when I worked with the coffee roasters in Australia, they showed me how to do coffee right. I think over here there are a lot of places that are now starting to do it, but the vans are not offering coffee the way these roasters taught me. It might be quick, but it’s not necessarily the freshest milk and it tends to be bean-to-cup machines so it’s poured automatically.

So I started thinking about setting up my own van. I had originally thought about a trailer, but I didn’t want to be tied down to one location. I think consumers are now looking more and more for things to come to them.

I was working in advertising before this and the way you target advertising is very much you getting in front of the consumer, rather than the consumer searching for you. So that’s when I started thinking – how can I get out to people? Particularly those in out-of-town areas where there’s a need or want for this coffee, and how can I get there as fast as possible.

The van

There were two different options I looked at: the option of going down the franchise route, or doing it all myself.

There are companies in the UK who you can pay £30,000 to franchise your van, kit it all out, do your marketing for you, so that all you’re left to focus on is making up your route and selling coffee.

From a cost point of view though, I thought I could surely do it cheaper.

That’s when I started working with the guys who worked on my van, Van Transform. They asked “what do you really need?” and so we looked at the size of van, how quickly it would be able to pack up, and whether it could have everything I wanted.

In the end it was very bespoke. It took around three months to source the right equipment, the right batteries to run it, and to figure out all of the practicalities of it.

The coffee

I’m of the opinion that a coffee is the way you, the customer, wants it, and that it’s important to be adaptable to another person’s needs. So that’s the ethos I’m going for, you get coffee your way.

Right now I’m with Thomsons Coffee Roasters, who are Scotland’s oldest roasters. But that wasn’t the reason I went with them. We had this taste with the coffee over in Australia that I wanted to replicate. I went to lots of different roasters who were claiming they were doing the beans the way I wanted them, so I went on a tasting mission to find the right one.

The coffee I do is quite a dark roast, with hazelnut tones, and that was something the guys in Australia spoke about when I got in contact with them to ask what it is they aim for.

Right now Thomsons roast their beans every Monday, so it’s as fresh as can be. I’ve worked in restaurants before so I know you can get a bag of coffee beans that could sit there for six months, and really they’re no worse off for it if they’re kept sealed. But I think it’s just a nice thing to know that the beans in the coffee you’re drinking are no more than a couple of weeks old. I think you notice a difference.

The day-to-day

It started with social media, doing some posts on Facebook and just seeing what came in. There was a massive reaction to it. We tried to catch people’s eyes, and I’m not afraid to chap people’s doors with a nice product.

I knew that initial reaction could just have been the novelty factor for some people though, so the next step was to get in touch with businesses.

The basic idea right now is that from 7:30am to 9:30am, I sit at a location, which catches people commuting to work. That’s at Southcraigs at the moment and whenever I say I’m going to be somewhere I always give it at least a month to see whether it’s worth my while. From then it’s pretty much going from business to business.

I also do events. I didn’t realise that CrossFit people would be so into their coffee! So on the back of discovering that I attend a lot of CrossFit events and cycling events.

It’s all East Ayrshire at the moment, Monday-Friday. I have a street trader’s license which allows me to trade anywhere apart from within 50m of somewhere that sells the same product, so it’s quite a flexible license. I originally thought I would do two days in South Ayrshire, three days in East Ayrshire. And it’s still something I might still try to do if I can find a way to fit it all in.

The challenges

The biggest challenge I have got right now is not demand. The sales side I’m more than happy with, especially up until 12pm. Once people get their coffee, I’m lucky enough – fingers crossed – that no one has ever complained about it or even said they prefer it a different way. A lot of people have been saying they prefer it to a lot of franchise coffee that’s out there.

No, the biggest challenge is time management and being at places when I say I’m going to be there. Not everyone is willing to buy a coffee every day, there’s flexibility. But I’m trying to keep consistency in the product and in my own schedule. I hope that it can reach a point where I’ve got a set route across the week. I’m offering a quality, reliable service that’s willing to adapt.

Another challenge is that I’m across all social media platforms and can be reached on my mobile phone too, so I need to be able to keep on top of all of that.

I feel a bit brass neck sometimes going into the businesses saying “are you coming out to buy your coffees from me?”, but at the same time I’ve got to let them know that I’m there.

The future

The big thing I’d be looking to do, but wouldn’t be able to afford any time soon as the cost of the machinery and the process is just too much right now, would be too roast our own coffee beans. It’s something I’d love to do in the future.

Right now though it’s just me, there’s no other staff. So moving forward there are two options in my head: going down the franchise route, or setting up another van with somebody working directly for me.

Part of me thinks about whether it would be a viable franchise. I do think it would be an attractive brand in different areas and when I first started it, franchising was 100% what I was going to do. But now I’m worried about diluting the quality.

The more time has gone on, I’m thinking it would probably be best for me to just have another van. Consistency of the product is just too important to me.

That’s still up in the air at the moment though, to be honest. I’ll see how it goes to December, then make a decision. It’s one of those two that will be the next step.

Another thing I’d like to do is enhance my LinkedIn to try get more corporate events set up through that.

I also don’t have a website yet. I know what I want and I know they’re not cheap. One of the main things I’d like is to set up a tracker on the van so that people can look at my website and see where I’m at. I think the van in itself is quite different to what everyone else is doing anyway, but that would add another unique take to it.

You can get in touch with Stuart by emailing coffee@espressokart.co.uk or by visiting his Facebook or Twitter. #OurAyrshireEntrepreneurs