Tangram Sky, Author at Lattes On Location Catering

Hot Chocolate Bar Events | Catering

We love catering to any event. Making events special by serving delicious, hand-crafted drinks is what we live for! We have put together snapshots of just a few of the hot chocolate events we have had the privilege of catering to. Check them out!

Services & Flavors Provided

Our Hot Chocolate Bar is a favorite that children love and is often paired with the Espresso Bar – for all the big kids!

Give us call if you are looking for hot chocolate catering for your event! Let us make your event special.

Elie & Aaron’s Wedding

We were so pleased to cater to Elie & Aaron’s stunning wedding in April! We brought in our mobile espresso & hot chocolate bar & crafted drinks for all. The bride’s drink? Vanilla Latte. The groom’s drink? White Mocha Latte.

Service Provided

Espresso & Hot Chocolate Bar

Coffee Bar Catering: How to Hire the Right Service

How to Hire the Right Coffee Bar Caterer

Are you looking for a mobile coffee bar to cater to an event but don’t know how to go about doing it? Or even the right questions to ask to make sure the company is qualified? Our catering business works much the same as any food catering does, except that our focus is on coffee specialty drinks. Here are some questions to ask your potential coffee bar caterer before hiring!

Collaborate & Plan with Your Coffee Caterer

You’re having a wedding and you imagine it like this:

The coffee experience at your wedding is part of the reception. Your guests get to know each other while connecting with you and your fiance’s love for coffee by trying your favorite signature drink created for them by the baristas.

So then it’s a matter of finding the right espresso caterer, a mobile coffee company that has trained their baristas to treat the espresso as the most important element of the evening while serving it in the friendliest, and most professional way.

Questions to Ask a Caterer

How long have you been in business? How many events have you done?
What size of group are you able to serve?
Who roasts your coffee? Is it locally roasted and ethically sourced?
What kind of espresso do you use? What origins/blends do you have to choose from for brewed coffee?
Do you grind the coffee on-site and pull espresso shots or do you use a pod?
Can you provide alternative kinds of milk and can the menu be personalized?
Can you customize the cups or offer other customized options?
Do you bring a cart/table to set up on or does the venue need to provide? Can you set up on the venue’s bar/counter/table?
How long can/will you serve?
How much will it cost for my guest count?

Catering for Corporate Events

A coffee bar can be used for appreciating the team, as morale boosters, and a general reward of caffeinated goodness.

A lot of the same questions listed above apply, with branding in the customization options. Maybe the caterer you’re talking to doesn’t provide the option to brand the cups and menus, but that’s not a deal-breaker for you.

What Does Your Company Event Really Need?

Do they have a certificate of insurance?
Can they set up in your conference room or break room?
Do they have reviews or references?
Do you have a point of contact who will communicate quickly, schedule, and show up on time?

Smaller Event Coffee Catering

Your event might be smaller! Perhaps a baby shower with thirty people? Or a small office that just reached that important goal and needs to be celebrated? Will a coffee shop atmosphere take the theme of your event to the top level of perfection?

Have a barista come and spoil your people too!

This may start with your budget. There’s nothing wrong with contacting the company and finding out what their minimum group size and cost is. Also ask if they have the ability to set up in the house, office, or church where you are having your shindig.

Small events are ideal for an espresso caterer because the personal service and time for attention to each guest is where a barista can really excel with their knowledge and skills. Baristas are coffee nerds that love to talk all things coffee and discover what drink would be perfect for your guest. If your guests aren’t already hooked on one particular drink, maybe they might want to try something new!

Day. Made.

What if the Event is Too Big for Me to Buy Drinks for Everybody?

Not every event is ideal for espresso catering, and the term mobile coffee means a literal mobile truck. As with a food truck, the attendees of your event are going to be buying their own drinks. Vendors like this are available in most large cities, just like caterers, and they serve their events well with their own parameters.

Questions to Ask

Do you require a specific group size or a minimum purchase guarantee? If so, what is it?
What are we responsible for if sales aren’t covered?
Do you have all the licenses and insurance that my event expects and/or requires?
What events like this have you served before?
Our event is for non-profit, do you offer any deals?

Lattes On Location | Coffee Bar Catering Service

I hope this information is helpful for you in planning your event. As espresso caterers, we have been loving what we do – bringing coffee and connection to all kinds of events in the Dallas/Ft Worth, TX area – for over 18 years!

In fact, we love this so much that we help other people do this in other cities across the U.S. Maybe this is something you, an entrepreneur and coffee lover, would like to know more about. Have you always wanted to own a coffee shop? Yes? Check out our Franchise Opportunity!

Feel free to ask us questions about Espresso Catering and ideas for your party, office, school, or conference (someday again, hopefully.)

Unique Drive By Coffee Events in a COVID World

Lattes on Location | More Unique Events in a COVID World

When COVID shut down the world, we, like everyone came to a screeching halt.

The Latte Mobile and the espresso machines got cleaned and rested for longer than they’ve ever rested before. The Northplace Coffee Shop in Northplace Church closed with the rest of the church.

We rested. We watched. We waited.

This new experience isn’t news now, everybody has been impacted in one way or another. But I LOVE the creative ways people have risen with ideas to still connect in a distance setting.

Our First COVID Coffee Event was for Essential Workers

(This was before the mask mandates or protocol put into place.)

Our first event after COVID hit was a new corporate client with essential workers. As you can see Fisher Investments is a Best Place to work company…treating their hard working Advisors and team to Lattes on a regular basis is evidence. So is the poster behind the espresso bar.

It’s easy to keep 6 feet between us and our client’s guests or employees with our set up. A lot of our corporate clients are working from home now, but we look forward to being back in the offices when they need us.

Coffee Bars Outside at Apartment Communities

The next thing we started doing a lot of was connecting with and serving at several different apartment communities. It was beautiful spring weather then and we drew people out of their apartments for lattes, hot chocolates, and puppaccinos!

Drive By Coffees at Schools

We did some drive by coffees at some Primrose Schools before Mother’s Day! These creative directors made ways to treat the mom’s in front of the school and in the parking lot.

Drive Through Cold Drinks for Systemware’s Family Day Project

One of the more recent events that was one of the most creative, was another kind of a drive by event. This time the Corporate client, Systemware implemented the professional help of a planner: Planning MODE, who brought us in on a drive through Family Day project. The employees have been working from home, but there still needs to be Family Day, right?

Planning MODE created boxes for each employee to pick up with different activities for them to do, and consume. We provided iced coffee, lemonade, and other cold drinks as they drove up.

I hope more of our corporate clients do this! These boxes of fun were like the subscription boxes everyone gets so excited about.

As challenging as these days were, these businesses recreated their normal ways of appreciating their clients and guests and we were so happy to help in the creation of the memories. And the delight of the taste buds.

So I hope you’ve been inspired to continue being creative with whatever you can do.

Show your people you appreciate them.
And when possible, use coffee.

Bride & Groom | Favorite Wedding Drinks

Being invited as a guest at a wedding is a big deal! The bride and groom are celebrating their union and sharing this special moment with those they love; family & friends. We love catering weddings. For this precious moment in their lives, we get to help to make it even more special by serving delicious, hand-crafted drinks. This is is what we live for!

We have put together snapshots of just a few of the moments we have been privileged to partake in with a focus on the Bride & Groom’s chosen favorite wedding drinks. Check them out!

Services & Flavors Provided

Our Espresso Bar is a wedding favorite along with the Hot Chocolate Bar, which children love! We have also served up Smoothies and Milkshakes into eager hands.

Of the requested flavors by bride or groom over the years, Snickerdoodle is a consistent favorite. A new request that we have been excited to provide; Lavender Mochas. You can’t always tell it’s lavender… but it adds a deliciously subtle nuance to the chocolate. Yum!

Give us call if you are inspired by anything that you see! Let us make your union all that more special with YOUR featured drink carefully inscribed on our menu board!

Surviving COVID-19 with a Mobile Coffee Bar Business

I know everybody is saying how much this year sucks.

I’m reluctant to label it that way, because, although it has a lot of downsides (with lower lows than can be measured) there are so many bright sides to it!

We have definitely been one of those businesses that were impacted by the quarantine. Being an events-based business that also runs a coffee shop in a church – as you can imagine, much of our regular income went on hiatus.

We had 31 events in January and 30 events in February, not counting the coffee shop business in Northplace Church. In March and April, we had three events each. May started to pick up (ten espresso bars) with some outdoor pop-up shop style connection events. Two were with Primrose Schools, three were with Apartment Life teams, and a couple of corporate comebacks, as well as a couple of hospitals.

Those outdoor events were lovely, the best time of year for social distancing under the cool Texas sky. Perfect temps will happen again in, I don’t know, October?

Overcoming the Challenge of Serving in the Texas Heat

Being outside serving in the heat can cause “technical” difficulties when you are making espresso. Humidity will change the consistency of the beans coming through the grinder and the way the espresso is pulled from the espresso machine. It makes the calibration process (adjusting the grind and the tamping of the ground beans) an ongoing process during an event. We do this to make sure the coffee consistently tastes its best.

Making Coffee out of Beans (Not Lemons!)

But the change in schedule also brought a new shift to Lattes On Location’s social presence, by allowing me the opportunity to start a regular Latte Lady Live event on Facebook and IGTV. I go live on Fridays at 10 a.m!

Join us for one of our REGULAR live events on social media!

WHY?

They are short! 15 minutes or less!
We are showing different ways to brew good coffee at home.
Hear about coffee trends and what I think of them.
We feature a different Texas Roaster once a month, teaming up with Texas Coffee Club! (Awesome coffee subscription service)
Giveaways once a month (who doesn’t love a good giveaway?)
Coffee shop reviews live once a month.
Occasional guests, just last month DJ Chris spun tunes while I did latte art.

What would you like to see? Do you have coffee questions I can help you with? DFW Coffee shops I should review and promote? Leave us a comment here or reach out on Facebook or Instagram.

Guess what we are up to this month? Graduation parties every weekend!

Olivia & Matt’s Wedding

What a pleasure it was to cater to Olivia & Matt’s stunning wedding in April! We brought in our mobile espresso & hot chocolate bar & crafted drinks for all. Beautiful!

Service Provided

Espresso & Hot Chocolate Bar

Lattes on Location Wedding

We loved this wedding’s venue, aged brick and exposed beams allow for depth and space at such an occasion! We set up our mobile espresso bar and crafted Lattes all evening. Gorgeous!

Service Provided

Espresso & Hot Chocolate Bar

Hot Chocolate Bar Catering | Winter Events with Whip!

Mobile Hot Chocolate Bar | Hand Crafted Marshmallows

We’ve been doing our mobile espresso bar catering since 2003. Coffee is a common request for any work event, meeting, or convention with early mornings!

Over the last several years, we’ve added and removed services from Lattes on Location. We like to try new things! We are proud of our growth and the many adventures we’ve had in Dallas, Fort Worth, and beyond.

Our fabulous business was born after discovering a portable espresso machine, so many other accompanying ideas sprouted as well. And one of them was: Mobile. Hot. Chocolate. Bar.

But not just a hot chocolate bar. Anyone could do that. We teamed up with local culinary artist, Brianna Johnson, who makes handmade, custom marshmallows and designed a beverage bar centered around hot chocolate.

What's Included in the Hot Chocolate Bar of Your Dreams?

This hot chocolate bar is a little different than your typical Pinterest post on hot chocolate. For starters, there are no bowls of sprinkles, whipped cream, or sauces for your guests to pour on. Although I’ll admit, it’s cute and fun, especially if you are the first person to scoop into the sprinkles, it can get a bit messy after that! We use our assembly line of baristas to design and handcraft the chocolate of your dreams.

Each guest gets to select what kind of chocolate they’d like: sweet chocolate, white chocolate, or sometimes we offer “fudgie” (kind of like a chocolate/chocolate chip muffin, what is already chocolate, add fudge sauce, too – it’s super chocolate).

We steam the milk (or almond milk), whip in the chocolate, and offer additional flavoring: peppermint, coconut, vanilla, or hazelnut.

This season I discovered lavender hot chocolate. I love it. I’m still trying to describe it. Understated, subtle, but definitely a note that changes the sweetness and enhances the drink.

Then we put a little cloud of whipped cream and set those marshmallows on top. Delicious!

And yes, sometimes there are sprinkles.

Hot Chocolate Bar Parties & Events in DFW

We served over 1,400 hot chocolates in December alone throughout events in Dallas and Fort Worth. People booked Lattes on Location for their birthday parties, parties with cookie decorating, meeting Santa, Mrs. Claus storytime, Christmas caroling around the neighborhood, a college event in a jewelry store, a sorority party, company holiday parties, an apartment mixer, and more.

If you watch local TV, you’ll recognize some of these celebrities we were lucky enough to snap a photo with! We had the opportunity to serve at a class fund raiser for The Hockaday School at the WFAA TV Studio. We love seeing the creativity in the events we go to. A company CEO delivered hot chocolate to their customer service reps (we even helped them create a vegan hot chocolate!) The senior class of girls from one school had a party with the kindergarten class, to hand off a tradition of gathering.

We always have hot chocolate on our espresso menu, but we don’t have any espresso on our hot chocolate menu! Contact us to create the perfect menu selections for your next event.

How Lattes on Location Became a Franchise Opportunity

It’s January of 2018. Paul and I found out there was a Franchise Expo in downtown Dallas and we decided to go check it out. What could that hurt? It was a field trip, one of those “Fun Friday” kinds of trips downtown. We weren’t looking for a new business, a life change, or an investment. We viewed this as a discovery, talking to franchisors and franchisees and asking them firsthand about their experience. The questions were in our mind: “Is franchising a good option for Lattes on Location? How do we grow? Should we do something else?”

Life Change It Is

We met Tom DuFore from the Big Sky Franchise Team.

This began a (long) process of creating a franchise product from our business. The experienced team at Big Sky took us through the process of franchising step by step. It’s a long process with a lot of details! Replicating a business is all about understanding the brand and staying true to it. We can tell you more details about our operations manual, trademarking, our incredible dedicated team, and the hours of analysis to choose the right locations! That’s all part of franchising a small business, and we are so glad for our partners at Big Sky and all their help.

Why did we choose to franchise? Well, we love what we do so much. Every single day we have clients or their guests tell us what a brilliant idea this espresso/coffee catering is. How much fun would it be to duplicate it and share the joy, the coffee, the relationships? We want to share the whole business to people who would benefit the same way we have over the last sixteen+ years!

Where will Lattes on Location be Next?

After working with Big Sky for 18 months we had the platform in place to try our first target city: Houston, TX. So we headed down to Houston on October third with a booth for the Houston Franchise Expo. We got to visit with hundreds of people and shared what we do!

Check out these pictures of our booth and our sightseeing in Houston. Gracie, Paul and I had a blast, serving small samples and connecting over coffee, just like we do on a daily basis for our clients.

Want to come visit with us about franchises? Our next trade show is scheduled for Nashville, TN in March 2020. But if you are in an urban area that you would like to investigate this proven business model for, let us know!

Email us at franchise@lattesonlocation.com for more information.

Services & Flavors Provided

Service Provided

Collaborate & Plan with Your Coffee Caterer

Questions to Ask a Caterer

Catering for Corporate Events

What Does Your Company Event Really Need?

Smaller Event Coffee Catering

What if the Event is Too Big for Me to Buy Drinks for Everybody?

Questions to Ask

Lattes On Location | Coffee Bar Catering Service

Our First COVID Coffee Event was for Essential Workers

Coffee Bars Outside at Apartment Communities

Drive By Coffees at Schools

Drive Through Cold Drinks for Systemware’s Family Day Project

Show your people you appreciate them. And when possible, use coffee.

Services & Flavors Provided

Overcoming the Challenge of Serving in the Texas Heat

Making Coffee out of Beans (Not Lemons!)

Join us for one of our REGULAR live events on social media!

Service Provided

Service Provided

What's Included in the Hot Chocolate Bar of Your Dreams?

Hot Chocolate Bar Parties & Events in DFW

Life Change It Is

Where will Lattes on Location be Next?

Show your people you appreciate them.
And when possible, use coffee.