Although St. Petersburg's BikeCaffe offers made-to-order espresso-based drinks, bagels, muffins and a variety of baked goods, it's far from your average coffee shop.
Rolling -- literally rolling -- into St. Pete just months ago,
BikeCaffe is a mobile quad bike fully equipped with a state-of-the-art espresso machine. With the ability to park itself just about anywhere, BikeCaffe is currently located in the lobby or parked outside of
BB&T Bank at 360 Central Ave.
“I wanted to open my own restaurant because I've always managed them in the past, but they're very expensive and you have to worry about location,” says St. Pete franchise owner Mike Ash. “With BikeCaffe, you can change locations whenever you want.”
Founded by Will Shakeshaff in London, England, Ash's
BikeCaffe is the first in Florida. BikeCaffe bikes have the ability to run on both electricity and/or battery, offering organic, fair trade coffee to its tired, thirsty customers.
“I came to St. Pete because it's a cool city and it's really vendor friendly,” Ash says. “So far, everybody that I've come in contact with has received the idea very well. I think any city would want to have a BikeCaffe or any other cool, trendy concepts that allow you to be near different people in different areas of town. We're a constant change of scenery.”
BikeCaffe is now open weekdays from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Writer:
Alexis Quinn Chamberlain
Source: Mike Ash,
BikeCaffe
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