Mobile Coffee Cart: Post-90s Entrepreneurs Turn Car Trunks into Cafés!

According to a report by Beijing News "Our Video," two young entrepreneurs born in the 1990s have found a creative way into the coffee business: they moved the entire coffee shop into the trunk of a car.

The video introduces two cousins from Urumqi, Xinjiang, both born in the 1990s. Liu Jiang was working so much overtime that he wanted to change his lifestyle and find something more interesting to do, so he quit his job and teamed up with his cousin Jiang Shan in Chengdu on a venture that would not cost too much - a trunk coffee shop. Together they hope to introduce people to different coffee cultures through this mobile format.

Most coffee shops sell the "third space," but mobile coffee sales represent something freer - and the time flexibility suits the two cousins perfectly. A small mobile coffee cart keeps costs low, making it a smart choice for new entrepreneurs.

As for their goal, they put it simply: "We hope to travel to more remote places where coffee isn't accessible, so that different people can try coffee."

As the coffee market expands, the places where coffee is sold are diversifying, and mobile payment scenarios for coffee are becoming ever more common.

Earlier, Guangzhou Diansheng Marketing Co., Ltd. helped Chevrolet build a "Coffee Shop in a Car" installation for busy urbanites. Its eye-catching design turned the vehicle into a new landmark where crowds line up to take photos.

Popular Mobile Coffee Brands

Nayuki, the tea brand famous for its distinctive designs, has run its own mobile coffee cart as well. It launched on December 12th of last year as a limited-time pop-up, but the design turned plenty of heads.

Luckin Coffee, meanwhile, launched the world's first food-truck store, which quickly became a local hit.

Luckin's food truck differs from the carts above: its design draws on the landmark architecture of a Hefei pedestrian street, and the front is fitted with a sunshade plus tables and chairs where customers can rest. Its integration with the local food street is a highlight in itself. According to Luckin, the food-truck format was chosen to boost brand exposure and to help locals and tourists alike get to know the company and its culture.

The Future of Mobile Coffee

A closing thought: with so many coffee shops opening these days, running one well is no longer easy. Mobile carts cut the cost of selling coffee dramatically and let you travel while you trade - which sounds wonderfully liberating. So, will mobile coffee carts become the next big trend?

*Image source: Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If a mobile cart - or any new coffee venture - is on your mind, your bean list matters more than your budget. FrontStreet's entry-level picks cover every style of drink a cart is likely to pour. For milk coffee and espresso, the FrontStreet Brazil everyday beans from the famous Cerrado region are tasty, affordable, and soft in texture, with classic cream, peanut, and cocoa notes in the shot; the Fazenda Rainha lot goes a step further with rare Yellow Bourbon, butter, melon-seed, macadamia, and almond aromas plus a sugarcane sweetness that carries beautifully into lattes.

For pour-over service on the go, Ethiopian classics are hard to beat: the washed Yirgacheffe Idido Cooperative brings jasmine florals and lemon-berry acidity, while the natural Sidamo Huakui (Flower Champion) shows berry, floral, jackfruit, melon, and honey notes that photograph as well as they taste. Indonesia fans should look at FrontStreet's Lintong Mandheling and PWN Golden Mandheling - wet-hulled for that famously thick, low-acid, herbal-caramel cup that suits customers who dislike acidity.

And for customers who want sweetness without bitterness, the Costa Rica lots shine: the black-honey processed FrontStreet Blackberry or the raisin-honey processed FrontStreet Mozart offer raisin and blueberry sweetness with osmanthus and rose fragrance - delicious as pour-over, cold brew, Americano, or latte.