Coffee Van Hire in Southampton

Based in Southampton, Tea Leaves & Coffee Ltd. is a family business, run by a mother and daughter. From catering smaller events such as fetes to carnivals, to larger events they use locally sourced ingredients. Also supplying home baked cakes, they cater for events across the UK.

What do you need to know from an organiser in order to provide a comprehensive quote?

The most useful information for us to provide an accurate quote aside from the usual date, time, and type of event is usually numbers/footfall, what food/snacks you'd like provided (if any), and whether the organiser will be paying up front or the public are paying for themselves. We find it helpful to know beforehand if the organiser has any information about the last time the event was held (if applicable), such as an estimate of attendees who purchased food items. It's also useful to know if there are any spacial/height restrictions at the venue and if power will be available.

What advice would you give to a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?

The first question I would always ask a coffee vendor would be who are your tea and coffee suppliers - for me, if the ingredients aren't first rate, I would question the vendors passion for providing a truly quality product. Secondly, I would ask what is different about their menu that sets them apart from their competition i.e. do they offer speciality coffees, or seasonal drinks? Lastly, I'd make sure there's nothing they wouldn't strive to provide (within their abilities) for me as a client e.g. can they be on site 2 hours before the public, would they be willing to stay longer if customers were still hovering around after closing. All 3 of these questions would give me a sense of who is truly passionate about their business and what they offer, and who is really putting the customer first.

Please tell us a little bit about how and why you started the business.

We're a mother and daughter team who have always been extremely close. Having both grown tired of our office jobs it made sense for us to go into business together. The foundations were all there - Dee was a Finance Manager and Tara was an Office Manager, who used to be a Coffee Shop manager. Tara has loved making coffee since managing a coffee shop, and Dee has sampled every loose leaf tea going, so there was never a question as to which area we would choose to go into in Event Catering! Since the start Tara has taken the reins on everything creative, building the company website, managing the social media, and creating a unique menu, while Dee has kept the purse strings in line. Quality has always been at the forefront of every decision - we won't use products that aren't special, which is why our tea and coffee suppliers have both won Great Taste Awards, and none of our ingredients are "cheap", including the real flaked chocolate that we use in our hot chocolates and mochas.

Please tell us about a booking you've had through Add to Event, how did it go? Would you recommend us to others?

Our converted horsebox was booked, rather appropriately, for an equestrian event. Our customer asked us to provide a savoury food offering, which wasn't something we'd normally do, but we were happy to accommodate. We stayed true to our passion for quality and made fresh roast chicken, thick cut gammon, and free range egg rolls. We pre-prepared lunch bags for 20 staff and also prepared and sold to the attendees of the event, and seemed to please everyone, including a gluten-intolerant attendee! The organiser left us a lovely review and was happy with our service and products. Add to Event made obtaining the job so easy and we're experiencing a high volume of responses to our quotes in recent weeks. We can't believe we didn't sign up to Add to Event sooner - it has really helped us at a time when our events were starting to die out for the winter. We display our Add to event supplier badge on our website and will always promote them through social media as we've learnt that this industry is very much about give and take and looking out for one another.