Part Three. The love affair with coffee continues. The highs + lows one year on…

Lions Mane + chai Latte Besties at the Market

One year on from launching Sunshine and taking our place as a catering AND coffee company I thought it was time for an update on how things are going.

I’ll be totally honest; we haven’t made it to that farmer’s market in Ibiza yet…

And it’s been a bumpy ride in every sense of the word. But one that’s turned out to be right in so many ways.

When I think back to the original plan and the reason for buying a coffee van, it was all because so many of our clients were asking us for baristas or coffee at shoots and events. And quite frankly I was sick of constantly outsourcing so I just thought…let’s bring our own.

But if you’ve read parts one and two of this story then you’ll already know it wasn’t quite as easy as it first appeared.

Sunshine, our little orange coffee van, has had her fair share of issues to navigate. Right from that very first treacherous drive back from Twickenham after I bought her (with poor Alice in the driving seat) perhaps I should have seen the signs…

(BTW I have thought about suing the guy I bought her from but have since decided it would be a waste of money + energy and I’ve kind of settled into accepting that I should have asked more questions and done more research. So, we’ll stick with it being a learning curve).

However, we were lucky enough to plot up in Telegraph Hill every Saturday since, and it’s been the most beautiful spot. Full of love and loyalty for Sunshine and us.

I’ve so enjoyed watching the loyalty grow and chatting to our regulars. When you’re sending out boxed food day after day you rarely get a positive comment. Sad but true.

My core values for RMB have always been to serve food + drinks that I truly believe in, the kind of thing I want to eat and drink myself. Catering (and coffee) that brings joy, using seasonal, local and well-sourced ingredients and makers.

I’ve never focused massively on the numbers. And a lot of business owners would not get up at 5 am to make food, then stand in a coffee van for 5 hours on their day off. I know that’s pretty crazy. But I love it.

So, I wanted to share some of the highs and the lows over the last year, what I’ve learned, where we are now, and what the future holds for coffee at Rock My Bowl…

The lows…

The maintenance

It turns out it’s pretty hard to find a mechanic that’s up for looking after the many needs of an Axiam mega van (especially one that’s pulling a heavy trailer).

These little French vans were actually designed to be off-road lightweight trucks that pootled along small French country lanes delivering hay etc.

I’m not sure who it was that decided they’d make great coffee trucks but I’d quite like a word with them! But they’re popular for their cutesy looks (that’s why I fell for Sunshine anyway) and we always enjoy spotting others around town. In fact, there’s four in SE London alone!

Lucky for me (and them!) Fred at Sel’s Auto exists! I’ve spent a small fortune with Fred . But he never fails to get her up and running again and I am so grateful. Shout out also to Nick At Westview Garage in Selby, the parts place where I’ve sent a few bags of granola to say thanks for the thousands of Axiam questions!

The equipment

Ditto to the challenge of finding engineers for coffee equipment in a van! It’s a lot like trying to get a taxi in Ibiza in July. IYKYK.

Seriously though if you’re someone that understands the finer mechanics of an espresso machine then there’s big money in this. As you’ll know from earlier parts of this story, I’ve been using Bart from Espresso Clinic who knows pretty much everything and has answered my many grinder, pump and power questions. Often out of hours too! But there are A LOT of sharks out there and most people won’t touch you in a van. So, Bart is a bit of a unicorn…

The power

There’s a lot of snobbery in the coffee world. There’s also a lot of people with opinions of how you should do things. But even without all this, I knew I would rather not do coffee at all than serve second-rate coffee. Hence the big La Marzocco machine. But with that comes issues.

It’s taken the best part of this year to get the power right at the market. I think we’re there now (touches wood). We don’t use a generator; we have a hook-up cable which means we can’t work off grid and we rely on there being a power source on site. It also means we can’t have things like kettles and mini ovens for sandwich heating running too. The machine and grinder take up a lot of power. So, we do the best we can with our menu. And it means sometimes you have to wait for coffee as the boiler needs a minute after six americanos on the bounce.

The location

I really, really, really want to serve our coffee outside Nunhead Train station. But doing this has thus far been impossible. I’ve approached business owners to ask if we can collaborate, I’ve emailed the train station and the people who manage the train station. I’ve tried the council, but it’s been no’s all round.

Plus, I haven’t quite found a solution to transport Sunshine to the park which doesn’t involve me or Robbie driving her. Meaning no proper weekend off for the foreseeable.

HIGHS

The catering + coffee mix

Our RMB Sandwiches have flown out the door, even though it seems to me that everyone and his wife are serving mega sandwiches right now. But I’ve made a conscious effort to ignore the Insta spam and comparisons.

We have always and will always make sandwiches that sell. Sandwiches made from fresh, seasonal, local ingredients wherever possible. And sandwiches made with zero waste and filled with flavour from our kitchen stocks. Sticking to a few classics and a changing special has been working well PLUS all our sandwiches can be pre-ordered online to make sure you always get your favourite.

The people

We got popular pretty quick on Sunshine Saturdays. I’ve taken that as a sign that we are doing something right. I love the regular customers and the things they chat about. Everyone is so lovely, and I’ve made some beautiful connections.

The drinks

I’ve always been one for adapting and listening to requests, so we recently added a mushroom drink and a Chai to the menu. It seems like EVERYONE is either micro-dosing, talking about micro dosing or just looking for ways to add some ‘shroom love into their regime. So, our Lions Mane Latte has been a massive hit. Definitely no psychedelic trips here though, instead just a feel-good coffee alternative.

Same with the Chai. We use Chai by Mira Manek which you must check out if you’ve not heard about it.

And there’s no nasty syrups for us. It’s classic, chocolate + golden chai, with lots of options to make the drink your own. Like I did with my chocolate Lions Mane Chai on the rocks which got a lot of love.

The suppliers

ALL our suppliers are picked by me for their brand values, high quality and ethics. You’ll already know about my love for Monmouth for our coffee, but we choose Northiam Dairy and MOMO GF Oat Milk, Kokoa Chocolate, You + I Kombucha, and Chai by Mira for our other drinks. St John’s Bakery, Rock Star Bakers and Papos Bagels for our bread, bagels and sweet treats. And Decent Packaging and Huskee Cups for serving takeaway as sustainably as we can.

I was firing off a quote recently and it gave me a rare moment of pride to write … “I’m Rebecca the founder of Rock My Bowl, a boutique catering AND coffee company”. I’m sure most people can relate but I’m constantly giving myself a hard time rather than realising what a beautiful thing I’ve achieved in these challenging times.

Note to self to try and spend more time noticing the wonders of the journey rather than the final destination…

So, whilst we don’t have a van that travels on set or serves at a local station (yet). We do have a really cute, quality set up that can serve South East London events, and we have successfully launched this new part of the business, whoop!

Plus, in another pivot we got ourselves a coffee cart too.

It was always part of my vision to have more than one set-up. I knew the van couldn’t be everywhere and I also knew one day we’d get enquiries for an indoor set-up.

So, when the lovely Runa told me they were selling their coffee cart ( a beautiful La Marzocco GS3 no less). I couldn’t say no.

Alongside the cart she gave us too, I pimped it right up with our new branding and the help of a lovely local carpenter called Harry (and Alice of course!).

She’s called Golden Girl.

And she’s perfect for events of up to 100. Indoor or outdoor, she’s ideal when space is an issue.

Presenting The newest member of the RMB family 

So, now we’ve got two coffee set-ups and counting…

I’ve learned so much about myself in the 8 years of being a business owner. But this past year has definitely been all about resilience.

I have had to work super hard physically and mentally. And I’ve dug deep for inner strength and positivity (that I perhaps didn’t even realise I had in me) to push away the feelings of regret, self-doubt and comparison.

But this is a very real-life journey of buying, setting up and running a coffee van. And a story that hopefully somewhere along the line might inspire you to do something you’ve always wanted to.

Please come have a coffee with us soon.

Just look for the girl with the coffee + croissant tattoo

Rebecca x

PS Don’t drink shit coffee