Coffee Catering

It’s neat to see a company pop up that provides coffee catering. The Flying Barista is a team of two people who are providing a coffee cart at weddings and other events. One person from the team is a barista at Gold Bar Espresso.

They were featured in an Arizona Republic write up. Here are a few choice quotes from the article.

Last year, as visions of a coffee service ran through their heads, Engelman answered the phone at the coffee shop where she worked to find a woman selling coffee equipment.

“Her shop was going out of business and our shop didn’t need the equipment, but Sean and I did,” she said.

The Flying Barista made its maiden voyage when a friend, Mesa restaurant owner and chef Timothy Rogers, asked if they would complement his catering at a wedding reception.

Now, Engelman’s employer – Gold Bar Espresso of Tempe – refers catering leads and sells the Flying Barista its Allann Bros. Coffee Co. beans for fresh roasting.

“Our goal has been a high-quality product delivered in a classy style, but without attitude,” said Engelman. “We want people at events to feel like they are in a coffee shop.”

Engelman, 24, began working in a coffee shop in high school and continues full time at Gold Bar. Phillips, 33, is an assistant production director and on-air radio personality.

Ironically, when they met several years ago at the Coffee Plantation, where Engelman worked at the time, Phillips didn’t drink coffee. He’s now a convert, favoring a white chocolate 40 percent espresso. Engelman, surrounded by coffee, said she drinks a couple of cups a week.

Changing gears now a little bit I thought I’d point out a link to a blog I enjoy called A Thought Over Coffee. It’s about a coffee start up in Bozeman, MT. They’ve just started their coffee catering business (Cafe Evoke) so it’s interesting to read what they are doing.