Ditching their corporate gigs, two tech entrepreneurs launched a unique venture: A mobile coffee shop housed within a Tesla Cybertruck.
Every Sunday at the Cupertino Farmers' Market in California, Moonwake Coffee Roasters, a husband-and-wife team led by Ming Wood and Mabel Yeung, serves coffee from a one-of-a-kind mobile cafe – a Tesla Cybertruck!
Moonwake's coffee-making operation, including espresso machines and water heaters, draws power from the Cybertruck. While Tesla's high-tech truck certainly grabs attention, the owners' priority remains serving exceptional coffee.
"It is a very polarising vehicle — for better or for worse. We hope we catch people's attention with the visuals," Yeung said. However, she admits the real star is the coffee. The duo wants to draw people and want them to stay, chat, and discover the delicious brews Moonwake offers. The truck's just a tool to spark interest.
Wood admits that running a whole coffee shop out of a Cybertruck was definitely a wild idea. And leaving their secure tech careers wasn't the most traditional path either.
Couple Launches Coffee Shop On Wheels
Wood's coffee journey began in 2018 while he was still an engineer at Tesla. To combat the workday stress, he started a coffee club where he and his colleagues could bond over brewing delicious coffee.
The casual office coffee sessions sparked a passion, and Moonwake Coffee Roasters officially began roasting in 2020, per their website. Wood left Tesla this year to dedicate himself fully to their brewing venture.
As the pandemic unfolded, Wood convinced Yeung, working at Meta, to join his coffee adventure. Fueled by a growing customer base, Yeung realized her true calling lay with Moonwake. Following Wood's footsteps in 2023, she left Meta to embrace their joint venture fully.
Hospitality runs deep in Yeung's blood. A first-generation Cupertino native with parents who immigrated from Hong Kong, she comes from a family steeped in food service – her grandparents even ran a Chinese restaurant in Fresno. "Serving food and drinks is one of my ways of showing love," she said.
"There's only so much time that you have to spend on Earth. For me, it was to do something that was impactful to the people around me," Yeung said. Before this, she reflects, it's easy to feel like a tiny cog in a machine when working in a big company.
In contrast, "when you serve someone coffee, you can see that reaction," she said. That's also really powerful. Not something you get every day in a big company."
Born in Indiana to a Chinese mother and white American father, Wood spent his youth in Singapore. After graduating, he landed his first full-time job at Tesla and has lived in California ever since.
Why Did They Decide To Use A Cybertruck?
Before the February launch of their Cybertruck, Moonwake Coffee Roasters relied on multiple battery packs from their gas-powered pickup truck because generators were not permitted at the farmers' market.
Juggling the power demands of two machines, hot water kettles, and a sink pushed their existing setup to its limits. Faced with a choice - a full trailer or a new vehicle - Wood's experience at an electric vehicle company made the decision clear: An electric truck.
"It was a perfect fit for the equipment we wanted," Wood said about the Cybertruck. "When it came to electric trucks, you don't have many options to power that. There are a lot of technical benefits that the Cybertruck has that no other trucks have."
Moonwake Coffee Roasters detailed four motivations for their Cybertruck switch in a blog post:
- Stronger power capabilities
- Fostering open customer interaction
- Equipment and workflow adaptability for testing purposes
- Overall enjoyment of the unique setup
Moonwake Coffee Roasters' experience highlights a practical application for the Cybertruck, showcasing its capabilities beyond initial criticisms. Tesla's electric truck has faced scrutiny lately, including an incident where a sharp edge reportedly caused a minor injury during delivery.
Last month, a report surfaced alleging that Tesla was aware of potential issues with the Cybertruck that may have similarities to challenges encountered with the Model S a decade ago.
