Coffee on wheels comes to Vienna
The first coffee maker on wheels has arrived in Vienna. Budding barista Felix Veres has been driving his cafe converted Piaggio Ape around the capital since the start of January, seving coffee on the move.
Whist mobile cafes have been a feature of city’s such as Hamburg and Amsterdam for some time now, they have only recently come to Vienna. Soon however, cafe owner Peter Lindmoser hopes, there could be whole fleets of the convenient coffee stands around the centre.
For the last month or so Felix has been three wheeling around Vienna serving coffees particularly in Spittelau at the exit of the U4 station. All he has to do is park up, put on the music, pull down the menu and pull out the small table and he has his very own instant café. The coffee machine magically appears when he pulls up the side of his mini transporter.
Owner Peter Lindmoser saw the moving cafes for the first time about a year ago in Hamburg and was immediately impressed. “I really like the idea and decided to make my own business,” explained Lindmoser whose main job is running his company “Fresh Water” selling water dispensers from his home town of Mariazell.
The entrepreneur got his business off the ground quickly investing in his three wheeled Piaggio Ape immediately. The vehicle, which was invented by the creator of the Vespa, was then adapted to take the large coffee machine which Lindmoser had specially developed by a Spanish firm. The machine of course needs to be able to run for eight hours on a battery. A fridge and water tank were also incorporated in a retro style bringing the total costs of the appliance to 30,000 Euros.
The vehicle, which is classified as a moped, can drive and park wherever it wants and coffees can be simply sold out of the side of the car. An espresso costs 1.90 Euros and the most popular cappuccino 2.40 Euros.
“My experience suggests that it takes three or four years to make something like this work,” explained the 43-year-old who has already founded several companies. His ventures have included a doormat company, a cleaning team and most recently the water dispensers.
Lindmoser explained that the mobile cafe initially started as a hobby but with the next two Ape scheduled to arrive in Vienna in April, it is fast turning into more than that. You can even book the vehicles for events for just a few hundred Euros a day. “It would be great if every year three or four more cars arrived,” said the owner.
Whilst the Viennese are still a little reserved they are reportedly getting used to the idea of the mobile coffee. The first visit of the Ape to Rochusmarkt in Vienna, saw people merely standing, staring and taking photos. People are slowly getting used to the idea of coffee on the go however as opposed to sat in the traditional coffee house.