They’re dreamers, coffee makers and young entrepreneurs doing their thing as the traveling coffee company, Franklin Coffee. Franklin Coffee is a renovated 1964 caravan, where the duo serves coffee around Australia. They offer other goodies as well in their newest addition, Franklin Bar, perfect for weddings and events.
Their drive and passion for doing what they love is contagious, and proof that only you can make your dreams happen.
Meet Lucy and Nathan…
Where are you in the world?
We live in the southern part of the magnificent Mornington Peninsula, Victoria in a little flat house, with our little white dog Lolly, a big veggie patch, and 15 chickens.
How do you follow your bliss?
Our bliss is working together, travelling, collecting vintage treasures, meeting new people and making coffee for them. We have incorporated all these activities into our little business, Franklin Coffee, which is a travelling café in a vintage 1964 Franklin caravan, which we renovated. We also have recently added a second 1969 Franklin to the fleet, Franklin Bar, who we take to weddings and parties!
When did the inspiration for Franklin Coffee first come about?
It’s hard to say exactly! We love vintage caravans (we have four!) and coffee!. We had had the idea to combine the two for about 5 years, but it wasn’t till 2012 that we decided to give it a go. We had both been working in hospitality for so long, the next logical step was to open something of our own, so when Nathan found himself out of work we started looking for a van and it went from there! People thought we were crazy, there was quite a bit of “why on earth would you want to do that” and “it’ll never work” but we’re both stubborn, so it just made us determined to prove people wrong!
Photo by Cait Miers
What would your biggest dream for Franklin be?
We’d love for Franklin work to support us full time. Whilst we consider the business to be running successfully, the seasonal nature of the work, and irregular cash-flow means we are both still working “real” jobs to fill in the gaps. To work full time for ourselves would be the ultimate!
If fear ever shows up in your life, how do you move passed it?
There have been times when we have been completely and utterly terrified! More so at the beginning than now – but I think fear and inspiration go hand in hand! It’s probably a good thing – the inspiration gets you firing and keeps you going, whilst the anxiety that it’s all going to collapse on your head makes you smarter in your decisions, keeps you conscious of the risks and hopefully helps stop you barreling headfirst into a stupid situation!
Nathan and I are a great team. We fill in the gaps for each other, when I’m afraid he steps in for me and vice versa. We’re always giving each other pep talks and bucking each other up. Working together for the same goal gives us courage because we know that we’re there for each other and have a pretty alright track record for working out tough situations together! I know we couldn’t do any of it without each other!
Why do you love what you do?
My favourite thing is the way Franklin introduces us to people we would never have met without him! We love travelling, seeing new towns and making new friends. We meet all sorts – grandads who want to talk about vintage caravans and restorations, tradies who love the timber work, people who had holidays as a kid in “a caravan just like this”, creative, artists, brides. We have worked at events we’d have never attended on our own – from a vintage car rally in Gippsland to music festival in Werribee, to selling coffee on the tram tracks in the middle of the Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne for the Cancer Council, and everything in between.
What’s one of the biggest risks you’ve taken, and how did it feel to go for it?
Like most businesses, big risks are big purchases! We found out about a thing that our local council offered – a 12 month permit to trade in a space in the beach carpark at Mount Martha. The application process involved making a blind tender, or bid. Without knowing what other businesses were willing to pay, we offered almost twice what we could afford, and got it. It was a huge gamble, we had no idea if we’d get any customers, or if we’d even make our money back, but it turned out to be the biggest boost for our business! We only made a little bit of money from actual coffee sales, but the exposure took our business name Australia wide. We were featured on blogs, in magazines, the local paper, and made so many invaluable connections, all of which ultimately translated into work for us when we launched the new bar at the end of Summer.
Photo by surfgypsea_photographer
Tell us a time when something totally synchronistic happened?
When we started with the first Franklin, we only had a small car to tow the caravan with. It managed okay, but we knew we needed to get a 4WD. Having sunk all our savings into the Franklin reno we had next to nothing left to buy a car, but started looking anyway. We enquired about a few cars we were interested in but they all sold for 15-20k more than our budget. We heard about an ex-lease car auction in Melbourne so went and had a look. We thought the auction started at 11, but it started at 9! As we cruised in the door at 10:45, the 4WD we were interested in was pulling on to the auction floor. Nathan had wandered off to look around – I yelled “They’re selling it NOW!” We ran across the massive warehouse as the bidding began – and it was below our budget! Nathan whipped our number in the air, and bid as he was running! We won the auction, for 6k less than we were prepared to spend. If we had been 3 minutes later we would have missed the auction entirely! It was the best ever!
What advice could you give to someone who knows what they love to do, but haven’t gone for it?
If you truly love something, and you are inspired about it – YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO IT! Of course other people might be doing something similar, but if you have an original idea, and are passionate about it – you have a responsibility to yourself to have a go! You don’t have to go crazy, get a massive business loan and spend the next ten years slaving to pay it off – start small, take little steps, and build your dream through hard work, networking and being true. I think that is the key to success. Don’t try to give your business or work or project a “style” or “voice” that isn’t yours already. People appreciate authenticity, and real-ness above flashy production and on- trend insty posts. Just be you – wonderful you with your wonderful dream!
Learn more about their fleet here and be sure to follow their journey on Instagram x
