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                                                                                                                                       Darmawan has a significant advantage over
                                                                                                                                   fixed cafes though. He and his team made
                                                                                                                                   Cangkruk Coffee Bike themselves and installed
                                                                                                                                   their own power system so the cafe is self-suffi-
                                                                                                                                   cient. “It doesn’t need electricity from outside,
                                                                                                                                   so wherever we go we can make coffee.”

                                                                                                                                   The Remodelled Cart

                                                                                                                                       A creative mobile cafe owner who avoids
                                                                                                                                   using electricity altogether can be found in north-
                                                                                                                                   ern Thailand’s Pai, a town about 70 kilometers
                                                                                                                                   from the Myanmar border that sits on the banks   his goal. Analog Cafe is rustic, whimsical, and
                                                                                                                                   of a river at the bottom of a densely green tropi-  super cool all at once. It is little wonder most of
                                                                                                                                   cal valley. Suphamit Khaospoa, who prefers to go   Ja-ae’s customers are tourists. Watching him
                                                                                                                                   by the nickname Ja-ae, transformed a typical Thai   ‘manually making’ your coffee is an experience
                                                                                                                                   cart into Analog Cafe. This barista does not use a   in itself. “The way I do coffee, it’s like a TV show.”
                                                                                                                                   single kilowatt of power to make coffee. “I do it   Plus, Ja-ae uses beans harvested from the moun-
                                                                                                                                   with a moka pot and pour over system, a gas stove   tain of Pai that are roasted by his friend, giving
                                                                                                                                   and manual grinders. It’s kind of the old way to   visitors the chance to taste local produce and
                                                                                                                                   make coffee.”                            support the region.
                                                                                                                                       Like Darmawan and the Bakers, Ja-ae want-  Ja-ae created his mobile cafe three years ago
                                                                                                                                   ed to create a unique mobile business stamped   with a few personal aims. He wanted a coffee
                                                                                                                                   with his personal style. “Here in Pai, there are a   business that could be set up with little money
                                                                                                                                   lot of fixed cafes already so I wanted to try and   and little disturbance to his local community. This
                                                                                                                                   do something different.” He certainly achieved   is where the electric free mobile cart idea came
                                                                                                                                                                            from — although Analog Cafe is usually stationed
                                                                                                                                                                            in the same spot on a small street that connects
                                                                                                                                                                            with Pai’s main drag of markets and food stalls.
                                                                                                                                                                            Still, a cafe that requires no electricity source or
                                                                                                                                                   Photo / Cangruk Coffee Bike  generator has the benefit of great flexibility.

                                                                                                                                                                            Hard Work Yields Success
                                                                        Photo / Analog Cafe

                                                                                                                                                                                Polglaze said his company making mobile
                                                                                                                                                                            cafes is booming. “It’s been a huge success because
                                                                                                                                                                            they make amazing businesses. The main reasons
                                                                                                                                                                            for that are low overheads and mobility.” His
                                                                                                                                                                            advice for anyone wanting to run a mobile cafe:
                                                                                                                                                                            “The main ingredient for success is people’s abil-
                                                                                                                                                                            ity to work hard and just get out there and have
                                                                                                                                                                            a crack.” And don’t fret if it doesn’t work out, he
                                                                                                                                                                            said. “At the end of the day, you can sell the cafe.
                                                                                                                                                                            The buyer doesn’t care if you weren’t successful
                                                                                                                                                                            like with a fixed cafe. They’re going to take it
        Analog Cafe is rustic,
                                                                                                                                                                            somewhere else and rebrand it.”
        whimsical, and super
                                                                                                                                                                                The Bakers, Darmawan, and Ja-ae all echo
        cool all at once. It is little
        wonder most of Ja-ae’s                                                                                                                                              similar sentiments. Their collective tips for running
        customers are tourists.                                                        The word ‘cangkruk’                                                                  mobile cafes: Back yourself, love coffee, put in lots
                                                                                       roughly translates to                                                                of effort, and have a creative mobile cafe concept.
                                                                                    gathering and chatting...in
                                                                                       Indonesia cangkruk is                                                                    “There are lots of beautiful and successful
                                                                                          about social life.                                                                bricks-and-mortar stores,” Polglaze said, “but they
                                                                                                                                                                            can’t move.”

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