September 20, 2005
 |
Scharie Bostrom serves up drinks from her mobile coffee business, in which she makes rounds to satisfy customers’ caffeine cravings.
Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli
|
Jamocha Express brings the caffeine to you
By GREG STILES
Mail Tribune
In a town where coffee stands and kiosks are virtually anywhere one looks, is there room for a coffee shop on wheels?
Scharie Bostrom thinks so.
Jamocha Express cuts across the ingrained mode of espresso operation build a coffee stop and theyll come. Instead shell roll the coffee, espresso and other caffeinated
favorites to her customers.
"Im not trying to compete with the other coffee places," Bostrom says. "A lot people have places they like to go on the way to work, but once they get to work, a lot of
people cant really take off."
Thats when Jamocha Express motors on over.
Bostrom has developed routes to connect with her regulars, going some places several times a week and hitting others, who have requested her service on a particular day.
Bostrom owned and operated Milky Way cafe in White City from 1987 to 1992 and more recently managed the now defunct Medford Bowling Lanes. When an attempt to purchase the bowling center failed,
she decided to look for something she could do while she home-schooled her son.
She considered leasing a stand, but figured she could make a go of it on her own. Although she was looking for a smaller vehicle, the price was right for a 25-foot 1987 Jayco motor home on the
consignment lot.
"When I bought it, the gas prices werent like they are now," she says. "I put a lot of money into equipment and redoing this and that. I didnt want to have any
issues."
She equipped the motor home with a grinder, blender and three sinks to code.
"The biggy, of course, was the espresso machine," she concedes.
She gets her beans from Oregon Mountain Roasting on North Phoenix Road.
Her routes consume four or five hours in the morning, but shell make runs in the afternoon as well. She plans to sell her coffee and smoothies at weekend events as well.
"Im up to 20 or 25 regulars, but I havent been beating the pavement, Ive just handed out fliers and let them call me," she says. "Traffic is horrible right now,
so it limits what I can do."
Bostrom and her son, Mathew, have been getting help from her sister Jeannie Golden as they motor about town.
"I wanted to do this with my son, but my sister was gracious enough to let me drive her along," Bostrom says. "I know how to make coffee, but you have to be fast and two pairs of
hands are better than one."
The phone number for Jamocha Express is 944-9730.
Reach reporter Greg Stilesat 776-4463 or e-mail
business@mailtribune.com.