The Barista (Mobile Coffee Bars)

What The Barista (Mobile Coffee Bars) does

The Barista (legally Wigwood Limited) is a UK-headquartered mobile coffee bar service provider founded in 2011 by Sam Fletcher and Matthew Carr after the two met working in events and café management in Sydney, Australia. The company operates from a Leeds (Farsley) facility that houses its own micro-roastery and 33-machine equipment inventory, and delivers fully managed mobile espresso bars with trained baristas to corporate exhibitions, conferences, product launches, roadshows, brand activations, and office events. Services are priced per event on a custom-quote basis with a 40% deposit to secure bookings, and the company complements its core barista service with juice and smoothie bars, comprehensive branded materials (cups, stencils, aprons, bar units), and a tablet-based lead capture tool called SmartServe.

The underlying technical and product stack centers on counter-style self-contained mobile bar units powered by 2 Group traditional espresso machines with grind-on-demand grinders, paired with an in-house micro-roasted proprietary coffee blend (Northern Espresso) sourced through direct trade relationships and refreshed seasonally. The company maintains ESSA Tier 5 Sustainability accreditation (highest tier, ISO-aligned) and ESSA Health & Safety accreditation, with risk assessments and PAT test certificates provided for every booking, and offsets travel emissions through a partnership with Ecologi. There is no public API, SDK, or AI/ML product surface documented in available materials; SmartServe is a digital workflow tool for GDPR-compliant visitor data capture rather than a machine learning system.

The Barista's go-to-market is B2B enterprise field sales targeting corporate event organizers, exhibition managers, conference planners, and brand activation teams primarily in the UK and Europe, with documented service across 16+ countries worldwide. Customers include HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Nike, H&M, Salesforce, Red Hat, and Coach, and the company has completed 2,600+ events and served over one million coffees since inception. The business is founder-owned and independently operated with no disclosed external investment, no parent company, and a core team of 1-10 full-time employees supplemented by a vetted freelance barista network for peak demand.

Name

The Barista (Mobile Coffee Bars)

Legal name

Wigwood Limited

Website

https://thebarista.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Barista (Wigwood Limited) provides mobile coffee bars, juice bars, and branded barista services for corporate exhibitions, conferences, product launches, and brand activations across the UK, Europe, and 16+ countries, serving enterprise clients including HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, and Salesforce.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mobile Coffee Bar and Event Barista Services

NAICS

Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515), Caterers (722320), Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (31192)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Beverage Service (Coffee/Tea/Juice) & Refreshment Stations (HSACAGAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Specialty Coffee Shops (Single-Origin, Third-Wave) (THAFADAA), Cafe-Bakeries (Coffee + Pastry Focus) (THAFADAG), Specialty Coffee Adjacent Beverage Bars (Chai, Cacao, Alternative Lattes) (THAFAKAH)

Keywords

• Mobile coffee bars
• Event barista services
• Exhibition coffee hire
• Corporate coffee catering
• Branded coffee carts

Headquarters

HQ city

Leeds

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Event Coffee Bar Hire & Barista Service: Full-service mobile coffee bar hire for corporate events including exhibitions, conferences, product launches, roadshows, activations, and office events. Package includes professional barista(s), equipment, freshly roasted coffee, consumables, branding options, setup/takedown. Pricing is quote-based per event, with 40% deposit to secure booking. Multi-day and multi-location events supported.
2. Juice & Smoothie Bar Hire: Mobile juice and smoothie bar service for events, fully staffed and managed. Includes portable bar, equipment, ingredients, consumables, and professional server. 250 drinks per day standard capacity.
3. Branding Options: Custom branding on cups, cappuccino stencils, bar units, aprons, juice bottles, cupcakes, and clothing. Artwork needs approval three weeks before event. Revenue added onto base service package.
4. Extras (Food & Specialty Drinks): Additional offerings including artisan brownies, branded cupcakes, iced coffees, iced matcha lattes, Belgian hot chocolate. Partner bakery Anaïs & for gluten-free traybakes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Barista provides fully managed mobile coffee bar hire and professional barista service for corporate events, exhibitions, conferences, product launches, roadshows, brand activations and office events across the UK and Europe. Each booking includes trained baristas, self-contained mobile bar units, espresso equipment, freshly roasted Northern Espresso coffee, branded cups and consumables, plus setup, teardown and on-site logistics, with optional juice and smoothie bars, custom branding and the SmartServe tablet lead capture tool.

Product overview

The Barista is a mobile coffee bar and event barista service provider operating in the UK and Europe. The core offering consists of the Barista Service (mobile coffee bars with trained baristas for events), complemented by Juice & Smoothie Bars as an alternative or addition. The company's proprietary signature blend, Northern Espresso, is freshly roasted in-house for each event. Additional value-add modules include SmartServe (a lead capture and survey tool using tablet-based ordering), comprehensive Branding Options (cups, bar units, aprons, stencils), and Extras (iced drinks, artisan bakes, cupcakes). The service package is fully managed from setup through teardown, covering equipment, staff, consumables, and logistics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Barista Service Professional mobile coffee bar and barista hire for corporate events including exhibitions, conferences, product launches, activations, pop-ups, roadshows and office events. Package includes trained baristas, equipment, freshly roasted Northern Espresso coffee, consumables, branding options and full setup and teardown, scalable up to 500 drinks per barista per day.
• Juice & Smoothie Bars Mobile juice and smoothie bar hire for events including freshly squeezed juices and blended smoothies, portable bar equipment, professional servers and branding options, with a standard capacity of 250 drinks per day.
• SmartServe Tablet-based event lead capture and survey tool in which visitors place orders through a tablet, data is gathered GDPR-compliantly and a branded display screen announces when drinks are ready, enabling lead generation and visitor data capture for marketing teams.
• Branding Options Custom event branding service covering branded cups, bar units, cappuccino stencils, aprons, clothing, juice bottles and cupcakes, with artwork approval required three weeks before event.
• Extras (Iced Drinks & Bakes) Additional refreshments menu including iced matcha lattes, iced coffees, artisan traybakes (brownies and flapjacks) supplied via partner bakery Anaïs & (including gluten-free and vegan options), cupcakes and branded juice bottles from partner Brand Juice.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,305 hot drinks served over 2 days at Leica Geosystems GEO Business exhibition
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• EcologicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCarbon offsetting partnership through Ecologi's verified 'Gold Standard' projects. The Barista contributes to offsetting travel emissions, and customers can choose to join or offset their entire event. Projects include afforestation in coffee-producing nations such as Brazil and Kenya. Track impact on Ecologi profile.
• Anaïs &minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerBakery partner providing artisan traybakes including salted caramel brownies and butterscotch flapjacks. Gluten-free with vegan options available, served in trays of 60 bite-sized pieces.
• Brand JuiceminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership for branded juice bottle giveaways. Provides sleek reusable glass bottles or recycled PET bottles with client branding.
• Damn GoodminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerStand design/build partner who built the custom U-shaped bar for Leica Geosystems at GEO Business exhibition.
• Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerESSA accreditation for Tier 5 Sustainability and Health and Safety. Independently audited and accredited member. Provides framework and principles for sustainable events planning.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/TheBaristaUK
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thebaristauk
• Instagraminstagram.com/thebaristauk

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Barista (Mobile Coffee Bars)