“What do you have to lose when you have everything to gain?”
I wrote this fleeting thought in my phone’s notes app shortly after we opened our mobile coffee bar. This mantra became a north star for moments that felt too overwhelming. It’s been a constant reminder that venturing on an unknown path might not be predictable or easy. The best part about it? We set our limitations and are responsible for every success and failure on the journey.
The beginning days of Grind Coffee’s journey were a humbling experience, to say the least. Our original plan was to set up our mobile coffee bar in the parking lot of a shopping center next to a busy intersection in Tallahassee, FL. We signed a month-to-month lease to rent a few parking spots that fit our trailer and a small seated area for customers to sip and mingle. In the first few days, we set up in the agreed spots only to immediately find out that it wouldn’t work. Within a few days, we moved to a more strategic area in the parking lot that was more visible from the road.
Full transparency – our first day in the shopping center made us a whopping $32.75. I wish I could explain to you the feeling that Talese and I had that first day, knowing that we only sold a handful of drinks in 5 hours. The better part of that day was when we looked at each other and said, “We can only go up from here!”
We turned the uncertainty of that day into motivation for the many days to come. Moving our mobile coffee bar closer to the road was the first step to success in that location. The second was turning our trailer into a convenient drive-through for our busy customers. This is when we began to see weekly rapid growth. Our simple dream began to grow into something bigger than itself.
Silly Instagram reels filled the slow hours in between rushes. Now let me tell you, I used to dread the thought of making social media videos. I had never done it before and was not interested, to say the least. Everything changed for me when I decided to have fun with it! I wanted our little corner of social media to be light-hearted and focused on the customer’s experience, even through online consumption. Customers would tell us how a video made them smile the next day as they were grabbing their morning coffee. That’s what the Grind Coffee experience is all about. Serving delicious coffee and building community.
By May, two baristas weren’t producing enough drinks for the long line of cars. Thankfully, Cassandra, Talese’s cousin, temporarily uprooted her life and moved across the country to help grow Grind Coffee. She was the missing puzzle piece to the coffee bar and she worked hard to see it succeed. We were a little trio that loved serving coffee to the best customers Florida had ever seen.
July 4, 2024 in Tallahassee, FL
One of our favorite traditions was trying to memorize every customer’s order. Cassandra excelled in this area and often began making a customer’s drink after seeing the make and model of the next car in line. So. If you ever wondered how we had your drink ready before you drove up to the window – mystery solved! We still talk about our amazing customers in Florida and miss those early morning conversations.
We also began to host community events and brought our mobile coffee bar all around Tallahassee. When we weren’t parked in our usual parking lot location, we were setting up for various mobile coffee bar events. As two young business entrepreneurs, we knew we had (and forever will) a lot to learn and tried to make adjustments where necessary. This was the very beginning of our events journey! We were able to bring our delicious coffee directly to apartments, birthday parties, markets, car shows, festivals, and so much more. Our mobile coffee bar was growing quickly throughout the summer of 2024, and we knew we needed to be closer to family for support.
By late summer, we decided to move to Las Vegas to continue our business. That’s one of the many benefits of owning a mobile coffee bar – you can take it with you wherever you go! Although, it was possibly the toughest decision we’ve ever made. Our lives were intertwined with so many people in Tallahassee, so saying goodbye was a moment that felt impossible. We celebrated the end of an era by taking Polaroids with customers and making their favorite coffees one last time.
Before we knew it, our lives were packed up, and we made the journey across the country to Las Vegas. Knowing we had to begin again was both daunting and intimidating. But it felt like the right path for us and our dream. It took about four months to acquire our licensing and make necessary adjustments to the trailer for the different regulations here. Las Vegas offers a larger market to expand our small business like ours, so we are excited to see how far our cute little trailer goes!
Our First Las Vegas Event with Life Time
Our journey in Las Vegas is just beginning, and we’re focused on providing exclusive private mobile coffee bar events for our customers. We believe that it’s not just our delicious coffee that sets us apart, but the desire to create an unforgettable experience for each person we serve. Let’s build our community together – one cup of coffee at a time.
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