RUMCars Forum
General Category => Unusual Microcar Discussion => Topic started by: g76pp on February 03, 2016, 07:44:16 AM
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Alright guys, my name's Tony and I live in London, UK. I'm after a Piaggio Ape Coffee Cart for me and my wife's cafe business so thought I'd join up the forum to see if anyone knows a good place to buy one and what to look out for?
Thanks, Tony
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D A Classics
South East London
tel: 07950338604
As on Car and Classic, the rarer box backed version, which is I assume what you need. These guys are importing so they might have access to ready made versions. All lots of dosh, but there you go.
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Talked to the owner of a fairly modern one that was actually selling coffee at one of the events in Monterey last August.
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Thanks for the responses. Yes it would be the boxed back version that I'd need. I have found one at a for sale auction (http://www.for-sale.co.uk/piaggio-ape) in black for £4,200 with a coffee machine included and have been emailing the seller but there hasn't been a handshake yet as I wanted to weigh-up my options. This one's over in Sutton so its not too far from where I live being collection only. I'll give DA Classics a call for sure as sounds like they might have what I'm after. Thanks Big Al
Tony.
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A lot of money for a coffee maker.
Are you intending to go into the mobile coffee sales business?
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Coffee outlets are the big thing over here. A cup costs about 5p each to create and seems folk will pay about £3 for them, especially if they have shaving foam in. Faringdon has a Costacoffee now. It is full of folk, not least the Mum's who have offloaded their kids at school. Shows how profitable children are in our handout economy. But if the market is there, and the prospect of good business, who am I to knock it.
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Sounds like we are both in the wrong business.
Pig Ape coffee cart franchise partners?
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Still hard work, there is competition and Gov clipboards to deal with.
I prefer Rock Ape Coffee.
Heavy metal, my Russian friend?
Polonium please.
An R and B, Sir?
Only if its traditional Southern Slave, matey.
Oh yes. Freshly whipped.
Pop?
Sadly no, mam, Only Barrs Irn Brew, made from Girders
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There's usually half-a-dozen Ape coffee carts on Ebay, plus several companies eager to sell you a custom made vehicle as a franchise, buying the vehicle is the easy bit! I'd approach a few current and former owners to find out a few of the pitfalls, probably finding decent pitches and keeping them.
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To buy a franchise is to have your overheads fixed. I bet it would not be 5p a cup then. But the pitch problem is a good point. There have been ice cream wars and burger stand wars. We had a series of incidents round here when the local Mazzotta family were challenged on there plots. It got nasty in tradition Italian fashion with burger vans going up in smoke all over the place. I believe the locals won the day.