Starting a pop-up cart with Breville Dual Boiler/Niche Zero
- aehernandez
Hey gang,
I have the opportunity to do a small pop-up coffee cart in my local area early next year and I'm starting to really hone my workflow. I plan to offer: cold brew, batch brew, and latte/cappuccino from my espresso machine with homemade syrups.
As far as equipment on hand, I have:
- Breville Dual Boiler
- Niche Zero
- Baratza Virtuoso
My idea is to use the Niche and BDB as the main espresso drivers. What are the upper limits to # of coffee served with this equipment? Should I seriously consider upgrading to commercial equipment, or will this suffice for a small specialty pop-up?
I have the opportunity to do a small pop-up coffee cart in my local area early next year and I'm starting to really hone my workflow. I plan to offer: cold brew, batch brew, and latte/cappuccino from my espresso machine with homemade syrups.
As far as equipment on hand, I have:
- Breville Dual Boiler
- Niche Zero
- Baratza Virtuoso
My idea is to use the Niche and BDB as the main espresso drivers. What are the upper limits to # of coffee served with this equipment? Should I seriously consider upgrading to commercial equipment, or will this suffice for a small specialty pop-up?
How many drinks do you have to prepare at peak? That's the main problem I see with you using the BDB. It's going to take a long time to steam milk.
I'd be concerned with the longevity of the BDB on a coffee cart. it's made with a lot of plastic parts and overuse may result in a lot of heat stress on these parts causing them to warp. I'm also not quite sure how well it would perform in high-volume moments. if you got 10 lattes back to back I don't think the steam boiler could keep up.aehernandez wrote:Hey gang,
I have the opportunity to do a small pop-up coffee cart in my local area early next year and I'm starting to really hone my workflow. I plan to offer: cold brew, batch brew, and latte/cappuccino from my espresso machine with homemade syrups.
As far as equipment on hand, I have:
- Breville Dual Boiler
- Niche Zero
- Baratza Virtuoso
My idea is to use the Niche and BDB as the main espresso drivers. What are the upper limits to # of coffee served with this equipment? Should I seriously consider upgrading to commercial equipment, or will this suffice for a small specialty pop-up?
If I were to start a coffee cart right now I think I would look at a Decent Espresso (DE1PRO, XL, etc..) because of its small footprint, versatility, and its ability to heat on demand (and keep up to demand). The cost of a new BDB is $1600 USD, cost of a decent (ranges from $3500 to $4300 USD so the cost is significantly different. I have the DE1PRO (which right now is their lowest model) and I can assure you the machine can keep up, steaming is like a commercial espresso machine and takes seconds, not minutes. The workflow is well suited for a coffee cart and it would pair with a Niche very well.
Maybe you want to use the BDB for a bit to see how well it can keep up and if it gets too busy then look at investing in another machine.
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- Supporter ♡
The thermal cycling is what's hardest on most components. People turn their BDBs on and off every day, so that won't be an issue.DamianWarS wrote:I'd be concerned with the longevity of the BDB on a coffee cart. it's made with a lot of plastic parts and overuse may result in a lot of heat stress on these parts causing them to warp. I'm also not quite sure how well it would perform in high-volume moments. if you got 10 lattes back to back I don't think the steam boiler could keep up.
I'd also be concerned about how high volume of steamed milk drinks you could achieve.
- cannonfodder
- Team HB
You may need NFS-rated equipment along with the department of health inspections and such. There is a lot more to it than just showing up with an espresso machine. You need to check with your local municipality about the requirement for a food service startup, business licensing and such.
Dave Stephens
I've done some catering with one and seen many carts with b2b. A fast grinder for espresso like k30 was used. The good thing about the Breville is that you can have 2 machines in parallel or a backup for the price of a decent and will have plenty power to steam. My concern would be for the niche as the workflow require low to very low volume. Best of luck in your endeavor