BeTheBoss.ca: What’s the story behind Coffee Bike?
Vladislav Priadko: Entrepreneurship has always been something inspirational for me since a very early age. Being an immigrant in Canada, my resources were limited, so I wanted to start a business not only with relatively low startup costs, but what was more important for me at the time, with minimal or no fixed monthly liabilities/costs. I have always been a coffee lover, and coffee profit margins have always excited me, however, opening a retail coffee shop was completely out of my budget, and also assumed those “annoying” fixed costs such as rent, bills, payroll, etc. This is what led me to the idea of creating a mobile business where I would make money if sales were happening, and wouldn’t lose money if sales were not happening.
After a long-lasting research of local regulations, I managed to build the first “Coffee Cart” and it was far away from being a mobile business due to the final weight and overall structure. I managed to operate it for few months in 2017, but closed down the operations eventually as it did not bring me any joy or prospects for future development. However, in those few months I received tons of support from local community, which made me realize that the concept was great, but the execution had to be reconsidered. And after further research with a trial-and-error approach, I managed to come up with the final model of the Coffee Bike, which you can see in action nowadays.
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BeTheBoss.ca: What made you decide to create this business?
Vladislav Priadko: After 4 years of successful operations of 4 Coffee Bike in Vancouver, we decided to offer this opportunity to aspiring entrepreneurs around Canada. The idea of a low startup cost business with a possibility of fast scaling can be a great opportunity for someone who wants to start their first enterprise, as they can skip all the struggles we experienced during the development stage and start to operate a proven concept from day 1, with our head office as a continuous support and backup agent.
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BeTheBoss.ca: What was your background prior to forming Coffee Bike?
Vladislav Priadko: I was in the fitness industry and worked as a personal trainer while at University. After graduation, I launched my first private personal training business, which was basically me creating a brand around my persona and pursuing my previous position, but in a self-employed format with much higher profit margins (as opposed to corporate wage rates). I managed to reach an above average income level pretty fast but understood that this business is limited with my personal time and physical availability. This was when I started to look for some ideas that could be operational without my constant presence, and can eventually become multi locational.
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BeTheBoss.ca: Can you tell us about the coffee Market?
Vladislav Priadko: Coffee is a 5B dollar market with most players being retail locations, which limits their area of coverage for potential customers. Being mobile is a key to reaching locations and customers, which otherwise wouldn’t be reached. If one location does not work out – you can always move to another, which is not the case for brick n mortar opportunities.
Also, the catering industry is developing very quickly nowadays, and event organizers are looking for unique concepts to surprise their guests, where a Coffee Bike “rides in”.
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BeTheBoss.ca: Could you describe your corporate culture?
Vladislav Priadko: Being an immigrant in Canada, I completely understand how hard it can be to adapt to a completely new environment. I believe that everyone deserves an equal opportunity and should be treated with a high level of face value respect. I don’t judge people by their appearance, background, or beliefs, however, adjust my commitment based on their effort and continuous personal involvement. Human resource worth is not in time, but in value.
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BeTheBoss.ca: Who or what has been your greatest inspiration?
Vladislav Priadko: My dad. He has been working hard his entire life to sustain our family and show us the world. It is my turn now, and my biggest personal achievement would be to retire and move my parents to Canada by continuous personal development and growth of my businesses. This is only possible with a relatively solid financial background, which I have been trying to improve since my very first job in Canada.
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BeTheBoss.ca: What are the advantages in being a Coffee Bike entrepreneur?
Vladislav Priadko: The goal is not only to offer a fully equipped Coffee Bike unit, which can generate revenue from Day 1, but also to create a Canada wide (and perhaps, Worldwide) community of aspiring entrepreneurs through the Coffee Bike internal platforms. Coffee Bike owners can expect our full support throughout their entrepreneurship journey, and I want to be alongside every single person who believed in my concept and decided to join our movement.
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BeTheBoss.ca: What differentiates Coffee Bike from its competitors.
Vladislav Priadko:
- Environment friendly and sustainable concept (no gas generators, unlike bigger food trucks/carts)
- Mobility of the concept and flexibility of application to the different revenue streams (public sales, events/festival, private events and caterings)
- Low startup cost (35-40k as opposed to 250k+ for a retail coffee shop)
- Unique presence (well-developed brand identity and overall design)
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BeTheBoss.ca: What advice do you have for someone looking to acquire a business?
Vladislav Priadko: Get ready to become a business owner and accept all the risks, as this is what separates an entrepreneur from a regular person – ability to take risks and step out from the comfort zone.
While the financial aspect is very important, don’t start your conversation from “how much money will I make”, but rather think how you can apply the concept or idea and generate the maximum result from it. It does not matter how famous the brand is, don’t expect to make one time investment and enjoy profits right away for the entire term of your agreement.
You are not only investing into the brand or product, but also investing into the time that has been spent in the development of the entire company and into the knowledge and experience of the business owners. They have developed this over many years of struggles, research, and development.
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BeTheBoss.ca: In your opinion, why do you think that Coffee Bike would be a great opportunity for someone?
Vladislav Priadko: Coffee Bike is a great low start up cost first business experience as it offers a well-developed proven platform and concept, which allows life flexibility and can be either a new full time opportunity or a side hustle to an existing job/business. However, it is also a great opportunity for a well-established business owner to expand their business portfolio by accruing a multiple Coffee Bike unit deal, which is proven to have a high performance, based on our 5-year operations experience in Vancouver.
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