Finally, a gourmet coffee truck—Julie Bean Espresso Mobile Café (914-564-6792). “I bring top-grade coffee [Tarrytown’s Coffee Labs Roasters] to the cubicle-y confined,” declares Hastings resident Julie Gifford. “My husband, knowing how much I love coffee, told me, ‘You have to do this.’”
Gifford quit her job as dental office manager (a gig she “hated”) and found a truck for sale on craigslist.com. Besides a full complement of coffee drinks including lattes and cappuccinos ($2.50 for 12 oz), Gifford sells Italian sodas (a combo of club soda, one of 11 fruit flavorings, and a dash of cream; $2 for 16 oz), smoothies ($3 for 12 oz) and an assortment of sweets (try the chocolate covered espresso beans; $3 a bag). Among her stops: Riverkeeper in Irvington, Hartsdale Farmers’ Market, and the Mack Cali corporate offices in Elmsford. The 29-year-old Gifford, who drinks three double shots of espresso a day, cites low monthly overhead ($1,200) and being her own boss as positives of her job. But the coffee business can still be a grind. “A Good Humor ice cream man in Dobbs Ferry yelled at me for parking near him. He even asked me for my permit. I told him, ‘I don’t sell ice cream and you don’t sell coffee—what’s the problem?”