How to start a coffee cart business

What you are starting

A coffee cart business is a cart you can roll or drive, a way to make espresso or drip, and permission from whoever owns the ground you stand on. In most California cities the health department also has a say, because you are serving food and drinks to the public.

We build the cart. We do not issue permits. Call your county environmental health office before you spend money on a layout they will reject.

The four pieces

• The cart. Something that holds a machine, a grinder, and water, and does not fall apart on the third event. That is what we make.
• The permit. County health, sometimes the city too. Requirements move by county. A sink they accept is usually the gating item, not the wood. How permitting works is the page for that.
• The plumbing. Fresh water, a pump, a sink, a grey tank. How we plumb a cart is the page for that. The Backbone kit is the pump system we sell on its own if you already have a cart.
• How you get paid. Square or a similar reader is enough to start. The cart does not care.

This page is not legal advice and it is not a permit checklist. Costs vary by city. When we have a county-by-county list we trust, it will live here. Until then: call the county, then call us.

Which RidgeCraft cart

If you are starting and you can assemble: the flat-pack DIY coffee cart. Panels, plumbing kit, sink, rinser, casters. You finish it.

If you already run events and you want it built: start a Semi-Custom, Signature, or Custom Elite build. Those are assembled in the shop and roll off a truck ready to work. The six Signature builds live in the catalog, from $1,750.

If you already own a cart and the problem is water: buy the Backbone pump system. That page is for people who never intend to buy a RidgeCraft cart, and that is fine.