MARYVILLE — The Coffee Box in Maryville has a second location but it’s not a stationary one.
The company’s co-founders and co-owners are Erik Bowman, who serves as active duty in the U.S. Air Force, and Neal Polk, a U.S. Navy veteran.
“Roughly three weeks ago, we deployed our Mobile Coffee Bar into the streets of Madison and Saint Clair counties,” said Polk. “Within the past three weeks, we have attended numerous local events generating interest from Scott Air Force Base and many local schools, hospitals and local veteran organizations. Our kick-off event was during the Collinsville VFW Car Show on Sept. 4.
“The show, presented by the VFW auxiliary, was to raise funds to support the VFW and local veteran organizations. Even in overcast conditions, there were over 1,000 people participating.”
He said first the pandemic, then later, supply chain issues forced them to refine their menu at the store but on the positive side, they are back to regular operating hours – 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday; 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday; and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. The store is located at 2615 N. Center Street (Route 159) in Maryville.
Bowman and Polk weathered the lean times of the past couple of years with what Polk termed “a great staff – some are actually on-call, if needed,” he said, citing an example of an Air Force member at Scott Air Force Base who is also a substitute teacher but who also offered to work weekends at the Coffee Box.
“Going through COVID has shown the industry what survivability looks like,” he said. He said he, Bowman and their employees learned how to be resilient and nimble, especially when a traditional source was suddenly without their product. They located and dealt with other providers as needed. They also looked for ways to cut costs without cutting quality.
Polk said he and Bowman came up with the mobile coffee bar separately but almost simultaneously. He had had a 12-foot long, enclosed trailer already and he had a friend modify it to become a rolling coffee bar. Meanwhile, he acquired a decommissioned fire chief’s SUV from Ohio, a Ford Expedition, to haul the trailer. He said the cabinets in the cargo area that used to contain firefighters’ gear and other equipment work well for storing things like sleeves of coffee cups and other supplies.
How much longer the mobile coffee bar will be used to help determine the next storefront location is to be determined, he explained. Instead, demographic data from sales, the company’s website, Facebook page, YouTube page and LinkedIn page are more valuable in determining that. He said currently, demographic data points to most of their customer base resides between Collinsville and Maryville and the majority of Coffee Box customers are women between the ages of 28 and 42. Polk said a majority of his employees are also women.
When it comes to non-coffee items, Polk said they keep a seasonal menu so it would be difficult for a customer to find the same item on the menu all year long. Currently, it is possible to find pumpkin spice items on the menu but don’t wait until Christmas.
Polk said they are in negotiations with officials at Scott Air Force Base to bring the mobile coffee bar on to the base, especially at times when personnel cannot make it to the base exchange.
When it comes to competition, whether its a global chain like Starbucks or a newer competitor such as Scooter’s Coffee, Polk said they don’t waste time and energy focusing on what others do in this market. Doing that would detract from his company’s mission and its customers, he added.
“We don’t let it bother us,” he said of the competition.
“We hope to find the next ideal market where we can get back to our roots and original plan of using modified shipping containers for our drive-through,” he said.” They also want to include a central hub on-site that could serve as a commissary for both stores and the mobile trailer. The commissary would be logistically efficient for the company, he said.
Polk said he and Bowman designed their own water filtration system for the coffee and they use computerized barista machines, data from which gets sent to the data cloud.
Some upcoming Coffee Box Mobile events include Wingate Community Yard Sale in Shiloh Saturday, Relleke Farms and Pumpkin Patch first vendor fair on Oct. 1 in Granite City; and Oct. 22 at Tribe Salon and Spa’s Fall Vendor event in Glen Carbon. For more information on the company or details on the upcoming events, visit The Coffee Box website.