Adventure is brewing for a Teesside coffee company after the team purchased a vintage caravan on eBay and transformed into a mobile coffee shop.
For almost five months, the team at Rounton Coffee painstakingly converted a 60-year-old Viking Fibreline caravan into a fully equipped café on wheels. Following the conversion, they are expecting to serve some 10,000 cups of coffee at various events across Yorkshire and the North East this summer.
Launched in 2013, the speciality coffee brand has steadily grown and last year the company secured eight Great Taste Awards.
Having tired of setting up marquees at events, founder David Beattie wanted something different. He said: “We started life on farmers’ markets, and events have always been a huge part of the business, but setting up marquees ate up so much time and energy. It always felt like we were building a coffee shop from scratch, so having the coffee caravan is a breath of fresh air.”
Rather than buy a horsebox, the eco-minded company – a 1% For The Planet member – chose to salvage an existing vehicle. Having sourced the caravan from a farm in Thirsk, the team got to work gutting and spray-painting it while also installing food preparation areas, LED lighting, and a state-of-the-art Victoria Arduino Eagle One coffee machine.
The caravan made its debut at Darlington’s Hopetown Vintage Fair, and the team will also be at the Deer Shed Festival in July.
“We’ve been trusted to provide coffee there for years and, without that partnership, we probably wouldn’t have had the motivation to make this leap,” added David. “The caravan has been a big investment, both in time and money, but we’re excited about it as it can hopefully open us up to more events throughout the year.”
