How to open a mobile coffee shop from scratch, where to start and how much you can earn on coffee. Small mobile coffee shop project. Selling food in traffic jams

Moscow is stuck in traffic jams every day, and with the reconstruction of city streets, the situation has worsened. For motorists this is a waste of time, but for businessmen it is a good opportunity to earn money: people who are bored in traffic jams can get food and drinks delivered. The owners and managers of companies that have mastered this business told Inc. how they do it and what difficulties they face in their work.

Reason # 1: it's a necessity

Timurmalik Elmuradov,

Marketing Director at GOLOD (Moscow)

We deliver food to traffic jams because people need it. We do not have a food delivery service, but an instant lunch service with its own cuisine and logistics. Our couriers bring food very quickly, which is important in a traffic jam: a person is stuck, but he wants to eat. The client opens our mobile app and sees that there is a courier with food in five to eight minutes from him, after which he places an order.

There are no difficulties with delivery. Thanks to GPS, the courier sees the exact location of the client on the map, and the client sees the courier. They meet right on the road, in a traffic jam.

This service is in great demand, especially in winter. Now the demand has dropped somewhat, but will return again in the summer. It's still a seasonal business.

Now we are working in a small minus. We could make a profit, but this would stop the development of the company: we work for growth and scale.

Reason # 2: This is a PR move

Denis Kutyurin,

head of the confectionery shop "Foreversweet" (St. Petersburg)

We were the first in St. Petersburg to introduce this service, but we never considered it a priority. For us, it was more of a PR move. We needed an additional point of sale. The introduction of the new service was supposed to increase demand and, therefore, increase revenue.

A few kilometers before our cafe, a promoter stood and handed out the menu. The client could place an order by phone, giving the brand of his car and its license plate. By the time he drove up to the cafe, the waiter was already taking out his order.

I cannot say that the service was popular. Such buyers are interested in price, not quality. This is an unacceptable principle for us, so we refused this service.

Reason # 3: the client's desire

Ilya Chumak,

owner of the Hey Coffee chain (Moscow, St. Petersburg)

We deliver drinks and sandwiches to motorists because they have such a desire. Many of us often got stuck in traffic. It happens that I did not have time to have breakfast or is simply hungry. This is where our service comes to the rescue. We accept applications in two ways. The first one is fully automated: through the website, social networks and messengers. The second way is to pre-order in the traffic jam itself. We have a person who takes orders at the beginning of a traffic jam and sends information to the food truck, after which the deliveryman brings the freshly brewed coffee to the customer.

For the third year in a row, we have been delivering drinks in traffic jams, every weekday and all season. There are many difficulties in our business, but the main one is that the activity of auto shops in Russia is not regulated in any way. It is neither prohibited nor permitted at the same time.

From the point of sale we earn from 100 to 200 thousand rubles a month. Revenue depends on the season and the traffic situation.

Reason # 4: people are willing to pay for it

Ayrat Shakirov,

owner of the catering company "S.U.P." (Kazan)

There is a need for this service and people are willing to pay for it. We accept applications by phone or through the online store. A quadcopter is used to deliver the order. Sometimes a courier walks to a customer stuck in a traffic jam.

But this service is not very popular and therefore is not priority area our company. The main problem we are facing is urgency. Usually food is required within 15 minutes, which is not always realistic.

Reason # 5: This is an additional sales channel

Alexey Fedosov,

managing partner of the mobile coffee house "Cofeliano" (Moscow)

Initially, our mobile coffee shops operated in parks, but there are fewer places than there is a desire to work. Therefore, we started selling coffee in traffic jams.

The mechanism of work is very simple: employees go with coffee and offer it to customers. People are used to buying something in traffic jams, so the service is quite popular. The most great complexity related to legislation: this type of activity is considered unauthorized trade.

What's stopping other companies?

Some companies have abandoned this type of service for the same reason: the traffic jam, albeit slowly, is moving. “We deliver food from the nearest restaurants and are ready to bring it to any place, but for this a person must enter his address,” says Sergey Polissar, co-founder of the FoodFox project. - If a person is in a traffic jam, he needs to enter the address of the nearest house. The difficulty is that the traffic jam is still moving and in 40 minutes the person will be in a completely different place. "

For the same reason, UberEATS does not deliver food to traffic jams. “From a logistics point of view, this is difficult to implement,” says Irina Gushchina, UBER's communications director for Russia and the CIS.

The Delivery Club company has not yet delivered food to traffic jams, but does not exclude that it will do it in the future. “If the traffic jam is deaf and the driver realizes that he will spend at least 45 minutes in it, we will certainly bring him fresh hot meals. But so far we have not received such requests, ”admitted Andrei Lukashevich, Managing Director of Delivery Club. In the future, he said, it will be possible to deliver food in traffic jams more quickly using drones. “But such an opportunity, most likely, will appear no earlier than in two or three years, when problems with infrastructure are resolved and laws are passed that allow launching drones without lengthy preliminary approvals,” Lukashevich added.

V recent times trade in traffic jams became popular as a business. The Americans were the first to understand the benefits of such entrepreneurship, who began to deliver fast food to traffic jams, and then they picked up the idea in Russia, starting to sell not only food, but also hot coffee.

How to get a coffee machine for a coffee shop for free
Small mobile coffee shop project
How much money does it take to open mobile coffee shop
Where is the best place to host a mobile coffee shop
What does it take to start selling coffee in traffic jams?
Which OKVED to choose for a mobile coffee shop?
Do I need a permit for a mobile coffee shop?
Equipment for organizing a coffee shop on wheels
4 types of coffee preferred by customers
Coffee in traffic jams: 6 ways to beat the competition

In traffic jams, the “Coffee to go” service has also become very popular, and an average cup of coffee in a paper thermo glass costs from 100 rubles.

How to get a coffee machine for a coffee shop for free

You can also rent a coffee machine from a coffee supplier, in addition, some suppliers have such a service - they provide a coffee machine for free if you conclude an exclusive contract with them for the supply of coffee.

Small mobile coffee shop project

If you are planning to organize a serious business and receive good income, it will be necessary to hire couriers who will deliver drinks to drivers.

How much money does it take to open a mobile coffee shop

The initial investment will be required at least 250-300 thousand.

It is also possible to buy a ready-made coffee-to-go franchise, which will cost an average of 200,000 to 500,000 rubles. At first glance, it is costly, but by opening a franchise business, you can get not only support and assistance in starting a business, but also good condition for coffee, consumables.

The franchise provides an uninterrupted supply of coffee, proven methods of decorating a mobile coffee shop, as well as its recommendations for placement at different times of the year, time of day, as well as depending on weather conditions.

Where is the best place to host a mobile coffee shop

Seasonality is the main enemy of a mobile coffee shop, so it is worth foreseeing in advance where the people will be, even if the weather outside is cold or it is snowing. That's right - traffic jams will only increase, and sales will grow.

On the other hand, the beach and resort areas are most crowded on weekends and holidays.

Another must-have process is keeping track of major events and holidays and planning ahead for accommodations there.

What does it take to start selling coffee in traffic jams?

If you decide to start selling coffee in traffic jams, then you can safely take up this direction, since the niche for Russia is relatively new, and the competition is not too high. First of all, you need register as an individual entrepreneur, and as a taxation system, choose the simplified regime - STS - taxable base - income (the rate may change over time, now it is 6%).

Which OKVED to choose for a mobile coffee shop?

retail
retail trade outside stores

Do I need a permit for a mobile coffee shop?

First, you need to decide where you want to trade, since you need to have a trade permit in the place where the mobile coffee shop is located. By law, you cannot sell coffee with a non-stationary point of sale if it is not in your permission.

Even before starting a business, you should contact the city or district administration to find out what you need to register a business.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs often ignore the need for a trade permit and already negotiate on the spot or solve problems as they arise.

Equipment for organizing a coffee shop on wheels

To start coffee business traffic jam, the following minimum equipment is required:

equipped van (most expensive)
coffee machine for mobile coffee shop
thermal backpacks
thermal separation
blender
refrigerators compartment.

You will also need plastic cups with lids, coffee, sugar, napkins. In addition, you need a mobile stall or the recently popular coffee vans, which are an integral part of the the popular mobile coffee shop franchise today.

The most costly parts are a car and a coffee machine, we already wrote above that often a coffee machine can be rented, and a car can be purchased on credit for 5 years - then investments at the start will generally be minimal!

4 types of coffee preferred by customers

It is advisable that the assortment of coffee and drinks based on it was as wide as possible - at least 4 types, starting with regular espresso and American and ending with latte and mocha.

It is better not to save money and use good varieties of coffee, then the product will be in demand.

You can add a little exotic. Many customers will love coffee with flavors and syrups.

Over time, it is also good to add tea of various varieties, all kinds of non-alcoholic cocktails, juices, fruit drinks, lemonade. You can increase sales through fresh baked goods, boiled corn, and fast foods.

Coffee in traffic jams: 6 ways to beat the competition

As the sale of coffee in traffic jams becomes more and more popular, and the number of those wishing to build such a business is growing, competition in this niche cannot be avoided. Therefore, at first, it is worth thinking about how to attract more customers and bypass competitors.

This will help:

First of all, it's delicious coffee;
Competitive prices;
Form style(own logo on glasses and packaging, sellers' uniforms);
Discounts and promotions that can be organized from time to time (for example: when buying 4 glasses - the 5th is free);
High level of service(it is worth teaching couriers not to argue with customers, to smile. To see the mistakes and miscalculations of sellers, you can equip them with video cameras);
Creation of a mobile online application allowing you to book your coffee online.

In a good scenario, the enterprise will pay off within a few months, and in six months or a year it is quite possible to go to another level, open new points and promote your coffee business further.

It seems that selling "coffee on wheels" - great idea for a startup: investments are small, and there is little complicated (everyone knows how to make coffee). One of the first in Russia to engage in this business were the Moscow chains "Cofeliano" and Coffee2Go. Both started in 2011 - just before the Moscow government almost completely banned non-stationary trade. Coffee2Go closed in 2014, and Cofeliano is alive and well and is awaiting relaxation in the legislation to begin expansion - the necessary amendments may be adopted this year. Understanding how the coffee-to-go business works.

Aleksey Fedosov, the owner of Kofeliano, spied on the idea of mobile coffee shops in Odessa. The design of those cars was developed by Artemy Lebedev, and Fedosov was attracted by their bright "packaging". He was just coming out of construction business and quickly decided to open the first outlet, investing 800,000 rubles.

The founder of Coffe2Go, Vyacheslav Donin, was a sophomore in 2011, dreamed of his own business and, having scoured European forums, realized: selling coffee from a minivan is what you need. He took personal savings, borrowed a little more from relatives and collected one million rubles of initial investment. 700,000 of them went to the car.

Suitable cars became the first problem: they need to be converted for coffeepoints, and no one in Russia did this. Fedosov from Cofeliano entrusted the rework to craftsmen from Rostov (now the company has its own workshop), and Donin from Coffee2Go turned to the manufacturer of auto shops, Kupava, who developed the project and carried out the modernization.

Whoever I talked to about retooling the car, even with bikers, Donin recalls. - Everyone said: "What did you come up with, boy?" - and refused. Back then, no one saw mobile coffee shops in Moscow.

Fedosov paid back his investment in Cofeliano in six months, Donin recouped his investment in Coffee2Go in a year. He says that it was possible to cope in 6-7 months, but there was not enough experience. Who knows how the "coffee" networks of Alexey and Vyacheslav would have grown now, if not for the Decree of the Moscow Government No. 26-PP "On the placement of non-stationary shopping facilities", which was adopted on February 3, 2011.

Mobile trade is mentioned there, but the procedure for agreeing and obtaining seats is not spelled out. Therefore, officials do not risk it and, even if they want to see a mobile coffee point in their area, they refuse. If you get up illegally, the police will arrive in a maximum of half an hour and curtail the trade. Hence - high competition in places where it is allowed to sell, - explains Fedosov from Cofeliano.

And it is allowed on private territory, for example, on the university campus, in front of shopping center or near the rink. Also - in some parks, fairs and festivals. Cofeliano does not participate in major commercial events such as Afisha's Picnic due to the high rental rate. Although the owner often provides a place for free, and if not, the maximum rate acceptable for Cofeliano is 2,000 rubles per day.

They do not stand on city streets and squares, and accordingly they do not communicate with the authorities.

We communicate more often with the owners of the territories. If we get up in the park, then either with the Moscow City Park, or with the management of the park. In addition, there is an unspoken rule: who is the first, that is the place. In order to pacify intractable colleagues, the Association of Mobile Coffee Houses was created. When everyone is in one organization, it's easier to come to an agreement, ”adds Fedosov, who heads the association.

Donin sold Coffee2Go in 2014 - he didn't wait for the authorities to pass the necessary amendments. Now Vyacheslav has a digital agency and a vegan cafe, and he also advises those who want to make money on street coffee trading. At first he discourages him from this venture, but if he sees that a person's eyes are burning, it helps.

- Maybe you did the right thing? Is the market growing?

Steadily. If earlier the niche occupied 10% of the revenue, now it is already more than 20%. The market has developed, guests have begun to buy more of it, and we believe that auto coffee shops do not create competition for us. On the contrary, they develop the market. We shape the market together. Anna Aranovskaya Head of Marketing, CoffeeShop Company.

- New sales formats are opening up. If earlier these were standard cafes, points in business centers, now these are showrooms with coffee. We had the experience of opening coffee points even in a network of private clinics. In 2016, according to our data, more than 50 new chain coffee houses were opened. Anna Bolshakova, press secretary, Coffee and the city.

Today "Cofeliano" has 10 branded cars selling in Moscow, Reutov and Khimki. Each outlet sells an average of 70 cups of coffee on a weekday and 200-250 on weekends and holidays. The net profit of one outlet is 250,000 rubles per year. The city does not affect the number of sales, says Fedosov: it's all about good location... And in order to sell to the maximum, it is important to open very early - before the stationary cafes start operating nearby. “This way you will make a check from people who go to work at a time when there is nowhere else to buy coffee,” explains Fedosov. Mobile coffee shops in parks are open all day, and in other cases they can move from place to place, depending on traffic.

"Cofeliano" is temporarily not expanding, it is awaiting amendments to the law on trade. They will allow coffee sellers to stand near the metro, in traffic jams, on pedestrian streets and other crowded places where the road is now closed. It is trade near the metro and in traffic jams that, according to Fedosov, is the most profitable, but now it is illegal. And if so - so far "Cofeliano" is enough for 10 cars.

The entrepreneur says that it is possible to enter a business with an investment of 770,000 rubles:

600,000 - the cost of the car. A used van or minivan like Renault Kangoo or Opel Combo will do.
100,000 - car re-equipment: electrical wiring and installation of a professional coffee machine. In winter, it will have to be regularly warmed up, otherwise the water inside will freeze and temporarily paralyze work.
60,000 - The salary of barista drivers for the first month. Usually two people work in shifts, for example, two days after two. It is easy to find employees during student holidays, the rest of the time it is more difficult: few people want to work outside, especially in cold weather. Yes, and you have to go to the toilet in stationary cafes nearby or in a shopping center - not a pleasure for everyone.
10,000 - the first batch of coffee beans, bottled water, milk, sugar and disposable cups. Should be enough for a month.

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A couple of enterprising young people from St. Petersburg, Denis Nikanorov and Ilya Chumak, decided not only to break this vicious daily cycle, but also to slightly improve the lives of other people.

What do people in a traffic jam dream about? Of course, the overwhelming majority of them dream that traffic jams will never form and the journey from home to work takes no more than 25 minutes. And if the guys cannot do anything with this desire, then with the desire to drink a cup of fresh invigorating drink right in the car, they will help anyone.

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The guys started selling coffee in traffic jams in 2013. They rented a mobile coffee machine and created their own Hey Coffee! and began to walk through traffic jams, offering a cup of invigorating drink to everyone. During the year, their business project developed, changed, found more and more new fans.

Now, after a year and a half, the creators of Hey Coffee! were able to purchase their own mobile coffee production point, expanded the range to 4 varieties. The coffee shop brews coffee, fills thermos flasks with it and distributes thermos flasks to couriers who deliver coffee directly to the epicenter of traffic congestion.

In the near future, the guys hope to create a mobile application in which it will be possible to book coffee online, they plan to increase the number of service points and even expand and improve life in the capital's traffic jams.