Building a Mobile Food (Lunch Wagon) coffee cart

[Mr Shave]

I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend

On Friday, I checked out a mobile food event

Last Friday of the month = Eat the Street | Mobile Adventure

There are a lot of photos of different build outs. Take a look if you are in the market for a truck or building your own.

This weekend was extremely productive.
Started building out the sound proofed generator box as well as the counter for the shave ice machine and ice bin.

More write ups coming soon

 

[Mr Shave]

Soundproofing generator box

Sound proofing a generator | Mobile Adventure


laptop has 3% juice left - more updates soon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSVSOw7dYu0
Just to hear sound before mods

 

[Mr Shave]

Construction continued

The return of the generator and counters | Mobile Adventure

Counters are almost done. I still need a stand for the register and I'm sure I will need more storage once everything is in its place.

Favorite picture of the week.

What colors do you like?

Breakdown of costs to open coffee shop / mobile unit | Mobile Adventure
I posted this in another thread - I will use it to track equipment and total costs of the project going forward.

Right now I feel a little like Boeing, I don't really know what this thing has cost LOL

Enjoy

 

[Mr Shave]

WOW I can't believe I haven't updated this thread or my site in 2 weeks! My apologies.
Today, for example, got to work 8:45 am, finished up by 9:00 pm, got home 9:40 then glued 2 pieces of laminate by head lamp.
I have been exhausted keeping up with the day job and working / paying for the truck in my spare time.

Main updates:
1. Generator muffler has been installed. Good news is the muffler is much quieter. Bad news is the muffler was so LOUD before, it drowned out the engine. Yep, still loud.
2. Ordered a espresso machine! I was on the fence between leasing and purchasing. Somehow I ended up with a 2 group GB5
More on that story later. It should be ready for pick up on Wednesday.

3. Did a shave ice event for a friend last weekend as a favor and it was a success.

Way more then quoted... as usual

Blender station

Thought about cutting laminate around water filtration. I'm glad I removed the unit and then remounted.

If I don't update more details on Monday someone needs to PM me.

Have a great weekend and Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there.

 

[Mr Shave]

This weekend flew by and the truck is really starting to show some progress.

1. Connected water filter to water pump
2. Cut holes for blenders
3. Ran more conduit
4. More laminating

Next project will be running conduit and wiring for shore power and installing ice bin.

Get ready for some teaser photos tomorrow

 

[shadow745]

Dude, why such a large pressure tank? Before anybody tries to tell me any different, I have a background in water treatment as well as maintaining a few well systems on a home level and know the value of proper sizing of tanks, pumps, etc. I also think the water treatment system is a bit radical. Now I'm all for a proper system to give great water quality/taste as well as total equipment protection, but a simple carbon filter and softener is quite adequate for most situations.

Also notice your plumbing looks quite large for a mobile setup utilizing that pump. Not saying it won't work, just overkill for the most part based on what I've experienced.

 

[Mr Shave]

From Italy - to Seattle - to California - to Hawaii

I'm wondering how in the world I will move this thing around with out a forklift

Some how I managed

Unpacking GB5 and all of it's glory

Tonight just ran more electrical.

Shadow thanks for the comment, I'll reply tomorrow. Time for bed.

 

[Mr Shave]

Dude, why such a large pressure tank?

Also notice your plumbing looks quite large for a mobile setup utilizing that pump. Not saying it won't work, just overkill for the most part based on what I've experienced.

Here are the list of my reasons
1. Exit strategy / end goal is to open a brick and mortar cafe. All of the equipment can be transferred to that cafe.
2. The way the truck is plumbed all water in the truck is filtered. Meaning if I'm rinsing something in the sink, I am using filtered water. I did this because I don't plan on using that much water for rinsing and didn't want to run additional pipes for the sink and then separate lines just to have water for say iced americano.
3. Cost for the system with the booster tank wasn't that much more. Although, could of saved money going with a more compact system.

The booster tanks allows for consistent water pressure to the equipment. You can clearly relate to the frustrations of not having adequate pressure at the machine, right?

Went with 1/2" plumbing over flex just to make it cleaner and out of the way. The difference between 3/8 and 1/2 is pretty minor. All of the plumbing for the water tanks and under the truck is flex tubing. For those tight spots it was much easier to manipulate and work with flexible tubing.

And finally, yes when I opened that box up I was thinking WTF did I read the measurements wrong hahaha

Shave ice machine before being bolted down

Finished running wires for transfer switch and shore power.
Laminated ice bin and shave ice area.

Positioning ice bin

Ordered a Flojet bottled water pump
As soon as I get that in I can fire this thing up.

Next week I will get all of the outlets put in and finish the remaining electrical projects.
Install ice bin and drain.

Have a great weekend

 

[shadow745]

Most any building you would happen to choose would/should have steady water pressure and have no need for a pressure tank. Even a well water supplied location would have a pressure tank already in place. Of course the filtration system would be a good fit for that.

I installed a high volume carbon filter and softener so all 90 gallons onboard is conditioned when pumped in. Then it's simply fed to the sinks, spro machine, icemaker, etc. as needed.

I did think of installing an accumulator/pressure tank on a much smaller scale to smooth out brew pressure, but I'm not totally convinced a steady 9 bars is the way to go. I find lower pressure, in the 7-8.5 bar range to be ideal. That's one of the reasons lever machines are capable of producing some of the best spro possible. I find the slight pump pulsing to be like pressure profiling during an extraction and the spro I get from my Aurelia is superb. Have tried many variations of brew pressure, grind fineness, tamp pressure, dosing, etc. and still decided to keep things as they have been all along.

 

[shadow745]

Pretty decent spro machine by the way. I have had the opportunity to tinker with a few LaMarzoccos and they were OK.

 

[Mr Shave]

I spent a few days on Maui and haven't worked on the truck at all.
Had the chance to visit several cafes and might write up some reviews later this week.

Tonight I was working on hooking up the espresso machine. I have a couple of questions I couldn't find the answer to so I'm planning on calling technical support tomorrow.

Ice bin is now locked in place.

We love to laminate. Actually, I didn't do any of this.
Thanks for the birthday present and help dad.

Another problem I encountered today, is the outlets I ordered don't fit in the boxes. I will either be changing the boxes or outlet. I plan on changing the one that is cheaper and takes less time.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

 

[Mr Shave]

Post got deleted.

More to come soon

Pulled 1 horrible shot tonight. Need to calibrate the grinder tomorrow.

It is past my bed time. Night

 

[Mr Shave]

I now have 24 days to clear out the kitchen. If not, there might be some great deals on CL.

Me: I told my gf for the next 24 days just think, you can have lattes every morning.
Her response: I hope they are good lattes. Do I have to finish this (while sipping latte I made her)?

Have been tweaking the pressure and the grind, but I am still not happy with the product. Will tinker on it this week as time permits. Anyone with advice please chime in.

Last night ran into some plumbing issues.

It works!

Couldn't find a alen wrench that would fit. The bike tool came through for the rescue. FYI 5mm is the size needed to bleed the groups.

Electrical project

Turns out the GFCI outlets I picked up won't fit in the boxes that are already installed.

Even with the 4" boxes the tabs on the outlets were sticking out. Grinding each one down is all it took to make them fit perfectly.

Ta da! 5 of new outlets are installed. At the rate I've been redoing things I could have finished two trucks.

 

[Mr Shave]

Still alive. Just busy and exhausted as usual.

The name has somewhat been decided

Generator box - needs more soundproofing material and laminate

Espresso machine counter - TBL To Be Laminated

Cup dispenser - recessed so cups don't stick into the isle

 

[Mr Shave]

More has been done in the land of the coffee truck

What you are looking at is a switch to turn on a fuel pump to refill the generator from the truck tank. The other switch is for turning on the fuel sender to monitor fuel levels.

The fuel pump

Blender station

Before. Stuff sure piles up fast

Espresso machine counter is laminated on top and ready for the rig to be installed.

The equipment should be going in soon.