How A $6,000 Airstream Became A $500K Coffee Trailer Startup

“Out of all the jobs that I've ever had in my life, not one of them was a coffee shop job.”

That line sums up this story perfectly. Byway Coffee Company is a mobile coffee trailer in Memphis that crossed $500,000 in revenue in its first year, and the founder, Avery Amstutz, 28, had zero coffee shop experience before she started.

What she did have was a clear vision: create experiences worth chasing. She took a $6,000 vintage Airstream, turned it into a tiny café on wheels, and built a profitable startup that parks all over town, serves lines of loyal customers, and still keeps overhead low.

This breakdown walks through how she did it, what the day-to-day looks like, the money behind it, the mistakes, and the mindset that holds it together. There is a lot here for anyone thinking about a mobile coffee startup or any small, scrappy business.

From No Barista Experience To Coffee Trailer Founder

Avery grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, in a family where both parents were entrepreneurs. That background made starting a business feel normal, even if the idea was unusual.

Her uncle is now her business partner in Byway Coffee, and that relationship goes way back. He was the one who bought her first camera when she was 16, which helped start her first business.

Before Byway, she was already running several ventures:

• Destination wedding photographer, traveling most weekends
• A photo studio in downtown Memphis
• A mobile cocktail trailer that pulls up to parties and weddings and serves craft cocktails, beer, and wine

On paper, she was already a classic startup founder: multiple income streams, lots of creativity, and a full calendar.

But constant travel for weddings started to wear her down. Being on the road every weekend, always packing, flying, shooting, editing, and doing it again created burnout. She began to crave something rooted in one city, something that served a local community instead of airports and hotel ballrooms.

Then came the idea that changed everything: a coffee trailer.

She loved visiting coffee trailers herself. She loved how special it felt to walk up to a small window in a parking lot and still get a high‑quality drink and a smile. At some point the question shifted in her mind from “How cool is this?” to “Other people do this, so why can’t I?”

That was the spark.

The $6,000 Airstream That Started It All

The physical startup began with a 1973 Airstream trailer that Avery bought for $6,000 in 2024. It was not a glamorous ready-made food truck. It was a used camper with a toilet, shower, gas lines, bed, closet, and stove.

She called her uncle and told him she had bought the Airstream and would need more money up front than with her past projects. On that call, he made a simple offer:
What if he gave her a loan or investment and they partnered on the business?

They hung up, and she screamed. It was the moment the dream shifted into a real plan.

Then came the dirty work.

She demolished the interior herself. Hammer in hand, she ripped out:

• The toilet
• The shower
• Gas lines
• The bed
• The closet
• The stove

She took it down to the shell. When she was done, it was just an open floor plan in a space about 25.5 feet long and 8 feet wide. Tiny, but workable.

Designing A Coffee Shop In 200 Square Feet

Avery had never worked behind an espresso bar, so she did something smart: she asked for help.

Friends in the Memphis coffee scene walked through the trailer with her and helped plan the flow. Simple details like:

• The knockbox should sit in front of the grinder
• The trash can needs to be within arm’s reach of the barista
• Fridges must be latched so they stay closed while driving

Those might sound small, but they are the kind of details that make or break a workable tiny space.

She then outfitted the trailer with:

1. Custom countertops that fit the curves of the Airstream
2. A custom display window for pastries at the front
3. Three refrigerators and one freezer
4. A drip coffee machine and a drip grinder
5. A large ice bin
6. An espresso machine, the heart of the operation

Her friends from Comeback Coffee in Memphis, Hayes and Amy, encouraged her throughout the build. They also became her coffee partners. Byway Coffee buys all its beans from them, roasted locally in Memphis, which gives the trailer a strong neighborhood connection.

To get comfortable with the espresso machine, Avery had a one-hour crash course. Her coffee friends came in and showed her how to:

• Turn the machine on and off
• Tamp an espresso puck
• Fill and adjust the grinder

It was not a months‑long barista training program. It was focused, practical, and just enough to get started.

For more context and local color, you can see how the trailer operates around town in this Daily Memphian feature on Byway as a coffee shop on wheels.

Launching Byway Coffee: “Coffee Worth Chasing Around Town”

Byway Coffee Company opened as a fully mobile coffee trailer, not a fixed café. The concept is built into the name and tag line: coffee worth chasing around town.

This is not a shop where you visit the same corner every day. Instead, Byway:

• Parks in different spots across Memphis
• Sets up at parks, schools, and neighborhoods
• Is open seven days a week

Customers follow the trailer. Part of the fun is checking where it will be next.

A Menu That Keeps People Curious

Byway’s menu changes often. They create a new menu every month, test new ingredients, and keep things fresh for regulars.

Their most popular drink is the ube vanilla cold foam latte. It is so loved that, unlike most of the menu, it stays on year‑round. Bright purple ube, vanilla, espresso, and cold foam make it both Instagram‑ready and repeat‑worthy.

Social Media As The Growth Engine

Avery calls social media the catalyst for the business.

Every Sunday, Byway posts its full weekly schedule. Customers know exactly where the trailer will be each day, which removes uncertainty and makes it easy to plan a visit. That predictable communication helped the startup grow fast.

If you want to see how the brand has expanded, this short piece about Byway launching a second mobile trailer in Memphis shows how demand pushed the concept forward.

A Day In The Life On The Trailer

Running Byway is not a typical barista job. Avery is very clear with her staff that it is physical work.

Here is what a normal weekday looks like.

Morning Setup

Byway usually opens at 7:00 a.m. during the week.

About an hour before opening:

• The driver arrives
• Picks up ice for the day
• Hooks up the trailer
• Drives to the selected spot

When they park, the road is often uneven. To keep espresso from sliding and milk jugs from drifting across the counter, they use building blocks to level the trailer.

Then the team:

• Restocks the trailer with one day’s worth of milk, pastries, syrups, agave, matcha, and espresso beans
• Makes fresh cold foam for the day
• Prepares matcha batches
• Sets up pastries in the display window
• Dials in the espresso

By the time the serving window opens at 7:00, there are often 5 to 10 people in line.

Customers walk up, look at the hanging menu and pastry case, and order right at the window.

How A 3-Person Team Runs The Line

On a typical day, there are three people working inside the trailer.

Role	Main task
Person 1	Takes orders and runs the register
Person 2	Pulls espresso shots
Person 3	Finishes drinks and passes them out the window

In less than 26 feet of trailer, everyone has a zone and a rhythm. Space is tight, so good systems matter more than fancy décor.

For a small mobile startup, this kind of lean setup is powerful. It keeps payroll reasonable while still moving a steady line.

Inside The Numbers: How A Coffee Trailer Hit $500K

From the first day, Byway Coffee has been profitable.

Their profit margin sits between 20 and 26 percent, which is impressive for a food and beverage business.

Here is how the money breaks down.

Costs And Margins

Some of their biggest costs:

• Coffee beans are expensive, especially when buying quality, locally roasted beans
• They are always investing in new ingredients to test drinks and monthly menus
• They buy cups in bulk, around 75,000 cups at a time

At the same time, their operating expenses stay low because:

• They do not pay traditional rent for a storefront
• They do not pay a separate electric bill for a building
• Gas costs about $25 per day
• Ice costs about $15 to $20 per day

That mix, high‑quality ingredients plus low overhead, is a big reason the startup could be profitable so quickly.

Revenue Growth

The first few months, monthly revenue landed between $11,000 and $18,000.

As momentum grew, Byway started hitting $30,000 to $50,000 months. The original forecast had been a modest $150,000 for the entire first year.

Instead, they finished that first year at four to five times that amount, crossing $500,000 in revenue.

One day in particular stands out.

The $10,000 Anniversary Day

On their one‑year anniversary, Byway celebrated by doing what they always do: serving coffee.

Seventy people lined up and stayed in line for four hours straight. One customer waited an hour and 15 minutes for a drink.

That day, in five hours, Byway brought in about $10,000 between coffee and merchandise, with some hours hitting $2,000 in sales.

That single day pushed them over the $500K mark for the year.

For more background on the early stage of the trailer concept, the Memphis Business Journal preview of the mobile coffee shop gives a nice snapshot of how the idea was received locally.

The Hard Parts: Mistakes, Spills, And Extra Insurance

None of this happened without problems. Avery is open about the fact that they have made almost every mistake at least once.

Operating a trailer is very different from running a brick‑and‑mortar café. There is no landlord, but there are other headaches.

Some of the challenges:

• The business needs extra insurance, because the trailer is on the road a lot
• Avery has to be a driver as well as an owner, and she also has to train additional drivers since she cannot tow the trailer 365 days a year
• There is constant hauling, stocking, and lifting, so it is physically demanding

Then there are the everyday mishaps:

• Some days they run out of milk early, because they misjudge how many people will show up
• She has spilled entire quarts of cold foam because the fridge was not locked while driving and things tipped

When things go wrong, her support system steps in. Friends and team members help “pick up the pieces,” whether that means a last‑minute gallon of milk or jumping into the trailer to help during a rush.

About three to four months in, they were busy enough to open seven days a week. At that point Avery trained a manager to handle driving and some of the heavier stocking work so she was not carrying everything herself.

For any founder, especially in a hands‑on food startup, this mix of chaos and support is pretty familiar.

My Personal Experience And What I Learned From This Story

Hearing Avery’s story changed the way I think about starting a startup with no direct experience.

Here are the biggest things I took away, and maybe they can help you too.

1. You do not need to be an expert to start.
Avery had never worked as a barista. Instead of waiting until she felt “ready,” she learned what she needed in small, focused chunks, like that one‑hour espresso session. It reminded me that you can start before you have a perfect résumé and pick up skills along the way.

2. Design for real life, not for Instagram.
The trailer looks great, but the most important choices were practical: where the knockbox sits, where the trash goes, how to latch the fridge. That hit home for me. In my own projects, the most helpful decisions are usually the ones no one sees in a photo.

3. Social media works best when it is consistent and useful.
Posting the weekly schedule every Sunday is simple, but powerful. It gives people a reason to follow and a reason to come back. For any startup, that kind of predictable, helpful content is more powerful than random viral moments.

4. Low overhead gives you room to grow.
By skipping rent and big fixed bills, Byway had space to experiment, test new drinks, and handle weird days without sinking. It made me think harder about fixed costs in my own work and how they affect freedom.

5. Community can be your unfair advantage.
From Comeback Coffee roasting the beans to local customers waiting over an hour in line, almost every success in this story traces back to relationships. For anyone building a startup, that is a good reminder that “network” is not just a buzzword. It is people who answer your call when you spill a quart of cold foam at 6:30 a.m.

Stories like this sit right at the intersection of scrappy startup energy and everyday life. They make the idea of building something new feel a little more reachable.

Looking Ahead: Community, Balance, And What Comes Next

Avery is clear about one thing: she did not wish she had started this sooner.

All the businesses she ran before, from wedding photography to the cocktail trailer, taught her how to handle clients, money, and chaos. Those experiences gave her the capacity she needed for Byway Coffee.

She has always had a lot of different dreams and goals, and she sees them as waiting for the right doors to open, not as a race to do everything at once.

What makes this business special for her is the chance to invest in a community. Instead of hopping on planes every weekend, she is building something in Memphis that people can literally chase around town.

That shift has brought her more balance and more happiness. And even after passing $500,000 in revenue, her focus feels less like “How big can this get?” and more like “How can we keep serving people well?”

“I'm really excited for the future.” It is a simple line, but it fits.

If you want to go deeper into her journey and see how this coffee trailer fits into a broader wave of founders, you can browse more stories like hers in the startups section of CNBC Make It.

The big takeaway for me is this: a small, focused idea, backed by community and clear systems, can become a serious startup without looking anything like a traditional office or shop. It might even fit inside a 25‑foot Airstream parked at your local park.