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coffee van


purplekipper
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 with all these bars in France and all the coffee beans...why is it so hard to get really good coffee?Do they clean the machines properly I wonder...each night the machine needs  a special clean...not talking about the areas visiable...talking about the arears where the coffee and water pass through ...as, of course stail coffee collects.Also are the bars interested in quality beans?

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The trouble with coffee in france is that it is often stale. I don't know why. I had a cafe in UK and we would only grind a small amount of beans at a time so the coffee was freshly ground. The machine was also back flushed and cleaned every night. It would not surprise me if this was never done in some of these cafes. Also WHY oh WHY when you ask for a creme here in france do they BOIL the milk. From what I can remember from making lattes etc in UK the milk only needed to get to 75 degrees for a lovely frothy coffee. I say go for your van - I would certainly visit if you did decent coffee something very rare in the carcassonne area. (by the way if you ask for a cappucino here you get whipped cream and hundreds and thousands on top!)
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[quote user="heidi h"] I say go for your van - I would certainly visit if you did decent coffee something very rare in the carcassonne area. (by the way if you ask for a cappucino here you get whipped cream and hundreds and thousands on top!)[/quote]

Yes Heidi I have found this in Carcassonne and every cafe will make it different and in different size cups as well , when asking for a cafe creme i have been given , black coffe with a small side jug of milk and once creme, filter coffee with milk in , an epresso topped up with far to much boiled milk and filter coffee with boiled milk, never once though have i ever been given instant like you would get in england!![:)] I have given up asking for a cappicinno as I hate squirty creme especially in the morning . One place I did find in carcassonne ( johnzob will corect the name if i get it wrong) is the Petti Moca on the square on the same side as the sociecty general bank. They make nice coffee .

So take your van to the canal side in Carcassonne give us good coffee and Heidi and I will join you there one morning and Im sure we can drag Johnszob there with us [:D] as long as you take dogs as well 

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thanks for the positive feedback, have friends near carcassonne but sorry, will be moving to brittany, better for soft english horses, you are right about not getting good coffee in france. we noticed that most of the market stallholders seemed to find a local hotel if one available to get their coffee . also  dont want a cafe/bar as we are hopeing to slow down a bit, dont want to make a fortune ,just enough to get by, also thought  it would be a good way to integrate into community. thought maybe selling coffee near to university might work, french youngsters are great fun and always willing to try new things. anyway im sure that sarkosy is going to make it easier for people to start a new business venture.    hear lots of bad things about beurocrasy but im sure thats the same everywhere, hey we are going to give it a go anyway, better to fail trying, isnt that what they say
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  • 7 years later...
Hello, I was just wondering if you ever got the coffee van idea going, as I would like to do one myself and would love any help / good advice. I have lived in France for 10 years now and all that time worked in Bars and restaurants, but for the last 5 years I have worked in a cafe and have became a pretty good Barista, I love what I do but would love to work for myself. The coffee van seems to me like a good idea, as I could move around, ( outside of schools for the moms at the end of the school day, beach car parks at weekends and so on) Well thanks for any advice.

Yours

Matt
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  • 2 years later...
You should have been a member here when it first started - ?2000? I joined in 2001, and there wasn't even an Earning a Living forum until a few years after that, when some members suggested it was essential.

So many people influenced by Place in the Sun type programmes where everything in France is so simple and easy. Us included, but we didn't need to work TG.

Whatever you say about people having to go back, I still think it's a good learning experience, find out for yourself. So I certainly wouldn't ridicule them, as you do, ALBF.

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[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Patf

Coffee vans, ice cream vans and milk floats are not going to work in France to be fair. Just being kind.

I do have a fab 'food' van idea that would work very well both in France and the UK !![/quote]

Utter tosh (as usual). I have a good friend (French) who runs a cookie van with his son. They have a good business. He restarted it last year after having run it successfully around Paris a few decades ago. He is imaginative and entrepreneurial about finding new markets. No reason at all this couldn't be applied to ice cream etc. In fact thinking about it I see ice cream vans at local night markets.

Of course this is the Dordogne so probably more worldly than the fantasy lands you inhabit.

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Not in the summer.....and you still need to eat whatever time of the year.

It does look alittlebitrubbish for the ski season this year.

4 weeks before we go skiing, and it does not look good to be fair.

All those driving around Petersfield with empty ski racks on their cars are looking very stupid at the moment. LOL

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I thought about selling my idea on ebay LEV but I think I might just go on Dragons Den instead. Not that I need any investment, I just want appear on the show.

Not so long ago there was a thread on another forum about a guy who wanted to set up a food van in Alpe du Huez. Now, I know Alpe du Huez very well (we have a flat there......which is why I do not need to drive around with empty ski racks on my car to impress my neighbours) and I so desperately wanted to pass on my idea to him. Sadly my login did not work. Must of been some glitch in the software methinks. LOL.

Such is life. Poor bloke, with my help he could have fulfilled his dream. A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon and all that....it was just never meant to be. Our paths never crossed.
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That's how it goes, the right pkace at the right time - or not.

There are many vans doing good business around France. Local to us in the Gard there's a travelling artisan coffee business also with a fixed home base; he uses the last machine (torréfacteur) in France, dating from 1905, running on wood and charcoal.

The business has happily built up, and he takes groups of visitors round his home basebto see the process. I first used to see him at local events, selling a cup of very good coffee for €1, which he still does.

The other travelling business is a fish and chip van, that we have had at 2 big events we've been involved in, the second time by popular request by French members.They adore having their fish and chips meal out of newspaper -actually printed on computer paper, so very clean. That business isn't very local to us, they come from further west and are booked up every weekend from late spring, travelling in their jolly van which is delightfully decorated, it makes everyone smile.
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Normally I charge for my expertise Chancer, but as its you.

So, if you want to reduce your occupancy by 20 % I would ask 'Leven' to renovate one of your bedrooms for you. I guess that would permanently put it out of action for life.

Alternatively you could employ them as an 'in house' entertainments 'redcoat' type person for a week for your guests. But that might reduce your occupancy by 100 %. I think he used to work for Butlins in Minehead. Not sure doing what though ???

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