Part 1 of our How To Guide on Starting a Mobile Business
My husband and I (okay let’s be honest mostly him but I helped…) have built out a tiny vintage camper into a mobile coffee business. We scoured the internet and YouTube trying to find videos and how-to’s to guide us through the process but honestly we found a few helpful videos but we just sort of made it up as we went. Fake it ’til you make it style. A lot of people decide to buy a pre-made vehicle of choice or even a used one. However, for us, we just didn’t have that kind of money available nor did we want to go into extra debt chasing our dreams.
So, I’ll tell you what we did……
The Mobile Business Industry in Your Area
To begin, take a look at the mobile businesses AND the brick and mortars in your area. The food truck industry has been booming and it seems like everyone and their dog wants to start one. So ask yourself the following questions.
- What is your concept?
- Will it stand out from the others?
- Is it SMART? Sustainable, measurable, achievable, relevant/timely?
- Is the reward worth the risk?
- Can this make you money?
For us, and our mobile business of choice being coffee, we said yes to all of these. In our town and the neighboring areas there are taco trucks aplenty, some barbeque trucks, philly trucks, and a popular lemonade truck. And we’re in the rural Midwest!
In our specific industry, coffee, there are only 3 drive through options. Being mobile, we can ask businesses located on busy roads to park and catch all the traffic and go to the people where the brick and mortar places cannot.
Know Your Options
So you have the idea, what’s next? Making actual decisions.
What type of vehicle do you want?
- $ Trailer? Do you have a vehicle to pull it?
- $$ A full food truck with a motor?
- $$ A bus build out???
- $$+ Something super unique?
How much work do you want to do? Do you have the skills to do that work?
Do you want to start from scratch or buy a vehicle already done/mostly done?
Personally, we went with a trailer. We already had an SUV that could pull one and with coffee we wouldn’t need a grill or fryer and the whole vent/hood situation. If you do need those bigger pieces of equipment, keep that in mind when looking.
We looked at the prebuilt new ones. Wholey moley are those things expensive! We looked at buying a used trailer already built out. Not as expensive as a custom built one but dang I don’t have an extra $20k+ laying around. So we scoured Facebook market place, garage sale groups, and eBay for an affordable trailer.
It took months to find one. During that time, we worked out of a tent and table setup for local farmers markets and events we signed up for. This allowed us to make some money to pay for the trailer when we found it and not so much would come from out of pocket. We did have to get a temporary establishment license with the different cities so make sure you look into that if you plan to do the same! Finally, we found a vintage 1960 Shasta compact trailer being sold the next state over and I jumped on it! As in I was annoying and asked the seller to consider us because of our business plan yatta yatta.
So we got our trailer for a total of $2,700.00. That number wiped out a lot of what we had made over the couple of months since we had started but gosh darn it we had the damn thing. We packed up the kids and drove the three hours into the next state, looked it over, paid, and drove straight to O’Reilly’s to get the connector for the tail lights so we could make our way home!
Let’s Talk Money
What is your budget? How much money are you willing to spend to get your mobile business up and going?
For us, we spent about $3k to even get started with the tent and table set up.
When planning for a build out we set up the following things for our budget.
- The trailer itself.
- Generator.
- Electrical. We redid the entirety of the electrical so that included a breaker box, wires, fittings, etc.
- Plumbing. This includes the water heater, pump, tanks, 4 sinks, all the fittings and lines, etc.
- Countertops.
- Health code approved wall coverings.
- Required stuff. Fire extinguisher, stickers, soap dispensers, fire and carbon monoxide alarm, first aid kit, etc.
- Outside Paint/Wrap
- All the pretty things
- Logo/Branding
After you get the main categories, then you start to break down what each tiny little thing inside to finish the project will cost you. It adds up, but it is better to over estimate than under.
We bought things as we made the money from our smaller setup while also still keeping enough to pay for more supplies to keep us going. For us, this looked like we did a big event, then ordered supplies to make sure we were ready for the next event, and then we bought what we needed for the next step in the project. Even if it was only enough to buy a $20 tool on sale at Harbor Freight it still at least was something we didn’t have before.
Funding
How are you funding your project?
You have a few options available to you.
- Small Business Loan. You can speak with a local banker and ask about your options with getting a small business loan after you have a projected budget. This of course is higher risk at it involves getting yourself into debt and is dependent on your personal credit score.
- Small Business Grant. Look to see if there is a small business program run by your state or local government or a non profit. Sometimes, they will have grants you can apply for. For us, our local government has a matching grant they will appoint once a fiscal quarter. So you can apply and essentially try to “win” that quarter’s grant money where they will match whatever amount you have saved up for a specific item. So for us if we wanted to buy a new piece of equipment we would apply, prove the cost and necessity of the item, and then provide proof that we have half the money already saved and they could match it if approved. There are so many types of grants out there that don’t require half already down though too!
- Private Investor. Look into private investors in your area or online. Be vary wary of this approach and make sure to vet them out extensively. Usually this works like a loan where the investor will loan you the money and then require the small business to pay it back with interest over time.
- Personal Savings. This is what we did. We are not rich by any means. We used our own personal savings to purchase the tiny camper we are renovating and the initial small amount of supplies to begin. But that is all the savings we were comfortable with using personally. If you feel comfortable using your own savings, this is another way to go.
- Work as You Go. We did a table and tent set up during the summer months using just a little of our own savings to start it up and grew as we made money from the farmers markets and other local events we signed up for. Start with a smaller menu than you plan to end up with. For us, that looked like only doing cold brew lattes and soda drinks. We didn’t jump into dragging around our espresso machine to events (it’s so heavy) and only brought one size of cold cups and a handful of flavor options. As we made money we purchased requested items from customers and the supplies we knew we’d need as we grew.
- Credit Cards. This makes me feel uncomfy but it’s totally an option I have seen others use. We are on a couple facebook groups for mobile businesses and I have read about people getting credit cards in their own name and purchasing their trailers and supplies so that they can get going at a faster pace. Again, higher risk like a loan, but totally an option that is quicker than waiting for a bank loan approval.
Make a Plan
When do you want to be rolling around officially?
Mark a date and then create a schedule backwards from that. Make sure to block out that last month for all of your inspections.
We could only work weekends for renovating our camper. On top of that my husband had Army Guards weekends and military schools thrown in the mix that we had to work around. It is still doable!
A general rule we followed was to allow a couple weekends for each category on the list. We were at the mercy of a family friend’s schedule when he helped with redoing the electrical. We had to move around the schedule a bit. It’ll happen. Plan for it.
Health Codes and Other Requirements
If you are building your vehicle yourself, updating an older one, or even buying a custom built unit, you WILL NEED TO KNOW your health codes for your area and those surrounding you.
Reach out to the health department- or for us it was the local Ag Extensions office- and ask for them to email you their requirements for mobile businesses. Honestly, some places have no clue what to do with food trucks. We live on the border of two states. One state gave us a literal ONE PAGE GOOGLE DOC of requirements and the other gave us a 16 PAGE PACKET we would need to submit. One office was super helpful and offered to help if we needed it. The other office was very rude and offered no help at all. Good luck. I hope you get a helpful health inspector.
You may need your unit to be check by the fire department and signed off with them.
You may also need to pay a yearly “Peddler’s Fee” in the different towns you plan to sell at. This can vary greatly. In our area it goes from $10, $50, to even $200.
You cannot park just anywhere. You may have to purchase an extra permit with the city or make a deal (in writing please) with another business to be able to park in certain areas. We made a deal with a Mexican Restaurant that opens for afternoon and evening hours. They allow us to park in their parking lot, which is on a busy road, during the morning hours.
If the business wants you to pay “rent” or a parking fee, if you plan to use their area often, make sure it isn’t anymore than what you can make in a single day. Or shoot during a busy hour even for that matter.
Make it Yours!
You have your budget. You have your trailer or unit of choice. Now is the time to mess it up and make it yours!
Check back for part 2 to see what we’ve done to make our cute little vintage camper into an awesome coffee shop on wheels!
Best Wishes
Ashley