For other cart operators
If you run a coffee cart, you know the two emails that hurt most. The one asking for a date you’re already booked. And the one for an event three hours outside your range that you’d love to take but can’t make work.
Saying no to those costs you the booking and often the client relationship behind it. We’d rather you had somewhere to send them.
We take overflow work from other operators, and we hand ours out the same way. No competition framing, no poaching. This industry is big enough, and a client served well by a partner comes back to you next time.
Three ways we work together
Overflow and date conflicts
You’re booked, the client still needs a cart. Send them to us and we’ll deliver at a standard that reflects well on your referral. We’ll tell them plainly that you sent us, and we won’t chase the account afterwards.
Out-of-range events
We cover DC, Virginia, Maryland, Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York City. If an enquiry lands outside your radius but inside ours, pass it over. We do the same in reverse — if you’re the right operator for an event we can’t reach, we’d rather send it to you than let the client go elsewhere.
Multi-cart and large-format events
Some events need more than one cart — a 1,000-person conference with three service points, a multi-day activation, a campus event with simultaneous locations. We partner with other operators on these rather than turning them down or stretching thin. Shared logistics, clear scope, agreed rates in advance.
How referrals work
Simple and stated up front, because vague arrangements between vendors go wrong.
- Referral fee — we pay a percentage on any event that books from your referral. Agreed before the client is introduced, paid after the event settles.
- Subcontract — you hold the client relationship and invoice them directly; we run the event under your booking. You keep the account.
- Straight handoff — no fee, no strings, you just want the client looked after. We’ll take that too, and we’ll remember it.
Whichever suits the situation. Tell us which you’d prefer when you send the enquiry.
What we bring to a partner event
- Trained baristas — not staff who’ve been shown the machine once
- Small-batch, ethically sourced beans roasted for espresso
- Homemade syrups
- A compact, collapsible cart that gets into venues trailers can’t
- Full insurance, with certificates of insurance to venue specification
- Custom branding capability — cart wraps, branded cups, ripple latte art printing
- Turkish coffee service, prepared traditionally
- Clean setup and breakdown, on schedule, without drama
What we ask from partners
The same things we hold ourselves to. Real espresso equipment and someone who knows how to use it. Insurance in place. Turning up when you said you would. Telling the client the truth about what you can and can’t do.
If that’s how you work, we’d like to know you.
Where we can reach
Washington DC · Virginia, including Richmond, Williamsburg, Hampton Roads and Charlottesville · Maryland, including Baltimore and Annapolis · Philadelphia and King of Prussia · New Jersey, north to south · New York City, all five boroughs
Get in touch
Send us the event details you can’t cover, or just introduce yourself. If you’re an operator we haven’t worked with yet, we’d rather have the conversation before an event lands than during one.
Call 571-201-1804 or email info@ateliercoffeeco.com. Put “Partner” in the subject line and we’ll get to it quickly.