Hello all,

I am a home schooling dad. I want to teach my kids about business. They want to start their own espresso / slushy business here is Wisconsin.

We have done a lot of homework on the espresso side, since I sell espresso machines. However, I do not have a lead for espresso carts or anything like that.

Anyone with a good and cheap cart for my kids to TRY this business, we would appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Tom Hafemann

-- Tom Hafemann (tom@midwestespresso.com), June 16, 2002

Answers

I work for a company that sells espresso units. They run about 45,000 which I am sure is more than you want to spend. Anyways why I responded is that I am not sure where in Wisconsin you are from but we have a customer who will be setting up a drive thru near Rothschild called "County Fair Coffee" anyways if your not far maybe you could take your kids by to see it. Give them a few weeks to get set up they just left Oregon with it on Tues. Good luck and have fun with your kids and there business adventure. Lisa

-- Lisa Howard (sales@quixserv.com), October 03, 2002.

Hi, I am the closest thing to inexpensive that you are going to find. With regards to a coffee cart, I can tell you that presentation is everything. I dont want to insult your intelligence or anything but certain requirements that you might have, such as water supply, a sink with hot water or even electrical supply are the MAIN issues. If what you seek is something to serve drip off of or to run a frontage type operation occasionally, them I have what would work. It is an all wood (birch) cart that is about 8' long and 7' high and will fit through any standard commercial doorway. This cart is equipped with a power junction box and a cash register, as well as three insert areas for airpots with drainage tray. The cart is a TRAIN ENGINE and is beautiful to say the least...This thing was built a few years ago as a promotional piece for my company at a cost of over $6000.00. It is in no way comical but more classy.(Xmas train) If you are interested I would be willing to send pics for serious discussion at a price of $2800.00. This price does not include shipping.....it weighs 400lbs and would require freight. If a standardized "coffee cart" is what you are looking for, I have built a few and a minimum you can expect to spend would be around $4000.00 with a formica top and tanks, sink heater, refrigerator and sneeze guard etc. The commercial guys out there would ask for 5-10 grand. Thanks J Moll

-- J Moll (boosterbean@comcast.net), October 13, 2002.

Go to eBay.com and do a search for 'espresso cart'...you'll find some pretty good used stuff there. I've got my eyes out for one as well, so if you happen to come across a good deal, let me know!

-- Guin (guinwhite@yahoo.com), December 18, 2002.

Hi, All, I'm looking for a coffee cart as well, but don't have a lot of money to spend. I live in a small Calif. college town (approx. pop. 19,000) and there isn't a place in this town to get a decent cup of expresso! I read an article in the county paper that said a young entrepreneur (21) in a town 45 mins. away was grossing $33,000 a quarter with her on campus cart...I wanna jump on the bandwagon(or cart!) but I'm just starting and still looking for info.! Any you can throw my way would be much appreciated, Thanks, Tina

-- Tina Shores (tshores7@aol.com), December 28, 2002.

Hello

I just ran across this board today so this might be a little late but my company manufactures and sells espresso carts at a reasonable price. We are currently looking for distributors. Our carts are about 10-15% lower than what is out in the market today. We have the capabilities of designing your product via CAD and then build it here at our site. Email me and I'll be sure to get you the best pricing. I guarantee our product and you will not be disappointed. Our website is www.cartsbydesign.com.

-- Hak (Sales@cartsbydesign.com), August 13, 2003.

We bought ours at Apollo Espresso Carts. I think Norm looked after us. Try their web site at www.apollocarts.com

-- Taylor (taylor4954@hotmail.com), November 20, 2003.

I am looking for a fully equiped drive through cart (preferably used and in good shape but new is possible for the right price)) to locate in Eugene, OR. Please contact me with photos if possible as soon as you are able.

-- Dawn Helwig (dawnh65@comcast.net), January 16, 2004.

Dear Sir,

Greetings to you from Voss & Verner Industries!

Voss and Verner incorporated in Year 2000 based in Malaysia. We are the Manufacturer and Supplier for mobile coffee cart. Our unique, quality and prestigious designs are well known internationally. Our clienteles comprises of Dome Café and Hoca Coffee both which are famous specialty coffee chain in Asia. We have also produced carts for Trigg Corporation of Switzerland as of last year. Allow us to take this opportunity to invite you to the Coffee Fest Last Vegas which falls on June 12 till 14 2004. Our company will be participating in this Expo and we are looking forward to your valuable attendance. Kindly confirm your corresspondence address as we will be extending the Invitation Card to you shortly. Till then, we hope to see you at the show! Regards Daphne

Voss & Verner Industries Sdn. Bhd. Box 15, Level 4, Wisma Selangor Dredging, West Block, 142-C Jalan Ampang, 50450, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

e-mail: daphne@vossverner.com

Tel : 603-2166 5290/1 Fax : 603-2166 5292

-- Daphne Lai (daphne@vossverner.com), April 14, 2004.

Hey, I build carts, including the smaller carts which I think would be easier to play around with. You should break them into this slowly by doing catered events, I can tell your thinking is that an espresso cart doesn't do alot of biz, well, in fact, one at teh correct location, properly ran can easily produce triple digits annual profit margin wise. The same thing can be easily done with the cartering type of approach, but you at least have more control over where you are at and when you are open for biz, so it's more easily managable in case you are wanting that type of a control over it all so it doesn't get out of hand.

I'm sure by now since the post is so old, but I'm sure other readers would apprieciate additional input into the matter. My company is espresso-outfitters.com in case you wanted to see some of what I've done. The email address is munged to prevent the spambots from harvesting it, so take out the / after the @ to get ahold of me via email.

-- Brian (sales@/espresso-outfitters.com), August 13, 2004.