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.

Finding a Coffee Bar Caterer for Corporate Events
Finding a Coffee Bar Caterer for Corporate Events

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.)

How Lattes on Location Became a Franchise Opportunity

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!

How Lattes on Location Became a Franchise Opportunity

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.