A food truck for coffee: Victoria’s new mobile cafe

Plenty of Victorians are used to getting their coffee while on the go—but that usually means they’re the ones moving around, not the café.

The latest local coffee shop to open is inside a trailer, moving around town like a food truck. But instead of tacos, the trailer’s offerings include a full espresso bar menu, cold brew from Discovery Coffee, and caffeine-free “superfood powders” by Vancouver-based Bloom.

Coffee To Tow is an idea brewed up by owner Olivia Vallee-Burns, who had a vision about 6 years ago of a mobile coffee shop that would bring café service out into the many beautiful spots around the Island.

She’s been in coffee since she was a teenager, from chain jobs as a teen to administrative work at a roastery.

“I’d worked in the coffee industry for quite a few years,” she told Tasting Victoria, “… And I really wanted to figure out how I could have a piece of it.”

Working at local mini-chain Discovery during the pandemic made her realize how much the value of coffee had, and how it was more than just a drink.

“It’s not just getting your latte every day,” she said, “It’s saying ‘hi’ to your barista, it’s checking in, and just being somebody to someone.”

“It’s wild how it keeps us going and keeps [the customer] going.”

Going mobile

Starting an entire brick-and-mortar would have been a tall order, but after travelling to Europe, Vallee-Burns had seen coffee carts everywhere, outside museums and other popular attractions. When she started seriously planning the mobile business in 2021, she planned to use a UK-made 1969 Sprite trailer.

“It had so much potential, and [it] was so cute,” she said, “That really drew me into the shape and the concept of being in a vintage-style trailer and just towing along and plopping down wherever you want.”

But the amount of work its “old bones” would need in order to become what she wanted was an obstacle. She realized it couldn’t be the “workhorse” she needed. She found a Hamilton company, Nomad Customs, who could build exactly what she wanted.

“[Nomad] pretty much [already] built what the vision was for this trailer,” she said.

She sold the Sprite trailer to someone on Salt Spring, and had Nomad build her a custom three-metre trailer made specifically for coffee vending, with an ordering counter, room for two people, and all the equipment a barista could need.

Running a café alone is still a challenge—she cites electrical issues, or “hiccups” with the espresso machine. But “being challenged is exciting,” she says, and she’s looking forward to adding more equipment and decoration to the trailer.

The other side of Coffee to Tow is the service, and Vallee-Burns has done plenty of work building that up too. She says Discovery has given her and other local baristas opportunities to really learn about coffee well beyond the training that larger chains give.

To Tow is ready to grow

This spring she went with Discovery to Portland for her first Specialty Coffee Association Expo. There, seminars teach about everything from coffee-producing countries to what colour of bag will make beans look most appealing, and attendees taste dozens or even hundreds of coffee to discern the differences and build up their palates.

“Diving into the whole background of coffee is so interesting—it makes you appreciate it on a whole new level.”

Coffee to Tow officially launched last month at the Peninsula Country Market on the Saanich Fairgrounds, and she’s planning appearances at festivals and markets across Greater Victoria this summer.

“I can’t think of a better way to spend my weekends,” Vallee-Burns told Tasting Victoria, saying she’s loved getting to be a vendor at events she’d usually be going to as a visitor.

She has a Saanich municipal business license that allows her to operate in Greater Victoria, but because Saanich limits food trucks–a classification the coffee trailer falls under—she’s ended up gravitating to setting up in other municipalities such as Victoria and Langford.

While some mobile operations stop running in the winter, she says she plans to do events like fall orchard markets and Christmas fairs.

First, though, she wants to get it out to summer events and try to book some outdoor weddings for people who want to give their guests non-alcoholic drink options.

“Traditionally at weddings and celebrations, it’s about the alcohol. A lot of people aren’t drinking [alcohol] and there’s no reason we can’t make awesome drinks for those people too.”

One of the first weddings the cart will appear at this summer is her own—there, at least, she’ll be getting a rare break from being the one-woman show behind the counter.

You can keep up with Coffee to Tow on Instagram to see where the mobile cafe will be this summer

Pictured: Coffee To Tow “CEO” Dolly Pawton