Buzz surrounds portable coffee shop

West Australian drive-through coffee chain Muzz Buzz will launch a new set of 50 portable cafes, with one of the first coming to Geraldton.

The store-on-wheels will spend most of its time outside Bunnings on North West Coastal Highway, but can be moved with a tow hitch at any time.

Muzz Buzz director of special projects Richard Giannini said the mobile cafes were perfect for regional areas like Geraldton, where another full-size building wouldn’t work.

“Normally there’s a lot of lead time, it’s very expensive, lots of concrete and digging, " he said.

“With the mobile units we don’t need infrastructure to get a lease, so we can go up to someone who has a parking area and say ‘can we lease this for six months?’

“And if there’s a special event we can just hook it up to a car and roll right up next to the space, get right to where people actually want it.”

However Mr Giannini wasn’t a fan of the always-on-the-move coffee trucks that are quickly becoming part of the metropolitan coffee scene.

“The problem with the completely mobile coffee trucks is when you’re driving you’re not making any money,” he said.

“You’ve gotta have a little bit of the big city taste with your country town feel.

“Coffee is a very habitual thing, people like to come to the same place every day, it’s part of their morning ritual.”

Muzz Buzz are waiting on a franchisee to take up the Geraldton mobile cafe, but expect to have it on the streets in the next three to six months.

The portable units will use the trademark Muzz Buzz shape, which is the only structure in Australia apart from the Sydney Opera House to be protected by copyright.

Muzz Buzz already has a presence in Geraldton, with a drive-through coffee shop operating at Bluff Point.