Festival Catering in England

The Rollin' Inn is a festival style wood-clad mobile bar based in Berkshire. With rustic decor, colourful bunting and good vibes they offer a large variety of drinks on tap and are great for festivals, sporting events, country fairs and more! And they have some useful advice to give anyone looking to hire a similar provider for their event.

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

We would require the basics- date and times and the number of guests.
This would then be further influenced by what drinks they wanted to be served behind the bar, whether they required glassware or if they were simply happy with disposables, how many bar staff they wanted.
If they wanted any additional extras (such as additional selection of drinks, gazebo, specific decoration, style of service etc). All these factors may influence hire price and minimum spend requirements.

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

Ask what drinks are available and tell us if there is a specific drink of choice that they prefer. They know their guests better than us, what would make them happy? What will they be wanting to drink? Is there a theme that we can dress the bar (and our staff!) to suit? The more information we get upfront the more personal the event and the bar and bar service can become. Be clear about what drinks you would like and agree on this up front, ask us for recommendations as to what works and what doesn't, what's popular and what's not.

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

Charlie's dad owned a pub locally for years and ran a mobile with his friends right up until he sadly passed away just before Charlie's 21st birthday. The family moved out of the pub but Charlie's dad's friends kept the mobile bar running, but it started to look neglected and in 2018 Charlie decided to buy them out and restore the trailer into something to be proud of again. Claire (me!) Worked in the events industry for nearly 9 years so was used to running events and I started to get involved with the design and pretty detail stuff and together we have slowly built her back into a little business again. We love the vibes at the events we attend and love feeling part of something special and important and do our best to create relaxed good vibes at each of our events, and hopefully make the celebration special and the bar a real focal point for the day/night.

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

We have now been booked for 2 events through Add to Event. One was a 50th birthday party in a field with a band which was great fun and the client was delighted when we presented her with a birthday card and personalised bunting. The second was a wrap party for a young lad who had just finished filming his first feature-length film, we use the pop-up bar and personalised this with film Clapper boards and congratulations bunting bringing in their favourite cider to celebrate! We had great fun! I would recommend Add to Event definitely, the fact that I only have to pay when there is an event worthwhile quoting for is extremely helpful it makes it feel much more worthwhile and like not wasteful like some promotional websites!