How to Start a Mobile Bar Business: Where to Begin

Start a mobile bar with a narrow concept, a short menu of 5–7 cocktails and clear per-guest pricing, not with an expensive bar counter. Then add core equipment and glassware, 2–3 reliable bartenders, first clients from your own network and partnerships with venues. Check company registration, tax and alcohol permits with the official bodies before your first event.

1. Choose a concept

The concept answers "who is this for and why you". A bar "for any event" is harder to sell than "a cocktail bar for country-manor weddings" or "coffee and alcohol-free drinks for conferences".

Concept options:

• wedding bar — welcome cocktails, champagne tower, a signature list for the couple;
• corporate bar — fast service for 100+ guests, simple menu;
• premium cocktail bar — fewer guests, higher price, complex drinks;
• alcohol-free and coffee bar — conferences and daytime events.

Pick one direction for the first season. It's easier to widen the offer later than to explain how you differ from everyone else.

2. Get the equipment

A minimum kit for a mobile bar serving 50–100 guests:

Ice guide: about 1–1.5 kg per guest for 4–5 hours with a cocktail menu. Ice is the thing most often in short supply at a first event.

3. Work out glassware

Glassware is the biggest source of losses for a mobile bar. First decide whether you will wash on site.

• No washing on site: 1.5–2 glasses of each main type per guest.
• With a barback washing: about 1 glass per guest.

Start with 2–3 versatile types: rocks (old fashioned), highball and a flute or coupe for sparkling. Example: 80 guests without washing — 120–160 glasses of the main type and 80–100 sparkling glasses if there's a toast. Transport glasses in divided crates and count them out and back.

4. Build the menu

A short menu sells better than a long one and is faster to serve. 5–7 cocktails cover almost every request:

• 2 classics (Aperol spritz, mojito, gin and tonic);
• 2 signature or seasonal drinks;
• 1–2 alcohol-free options;
• sparkling wine for the toast.

Keep a spec for each cocktail: ingredients in ml, cost, prep time. At a large event any drink that takes more than a minute creates a queue.

5. Price per guest

The typical model in Latvia is "all inclusive" per guest, excluding VAT (21%), with 2–3 tiers by guest count. The market range is €29–50 per guest. Other models exist too: pay per consumption with unopened bottles returned, coupon bar, cash bar (guests pay themselves), and hourly bartender hire (around €15–55 per hour on the market).

Worked example: 50 guests, 5 hours, about 4 cocktails per guest.

At €33 per guest (€1,650 excl. VAT) there is room for equipment wear, breakages, prep time, tax and marketing. Set a minimum order — for example 20 guests or a fixed minimum spend — so small events don't run at break-even. More in how to write a catering quote.

6. Find bartenders and freelancers

You don't need staff on payroll at the start. You need 2–3 freelance bartenders you can rely on and 1–2 barbacks.

• Guide: 1 bartender per 40–60 guests with a cocktail menu, a barback from 80–100 guests.
• Run a trial shift before the first paid event.
• Agree the rate, setup and breakdown time and dress code in advance.
• Every shift is explicitly confirmed: address, arrival time, role.

How to schedule a team made of freelancers: how to schedule bar staff shifts.

7. Sort out the legal side

In Latvia the legal requirements depend on whether you sell alcohol yourself or serve the client's own alcohol. Don't start trading before checking the requirements with the official bodies. Outside Latvia, the equivalent questions go to your company registry, tax authority, food safety authority and local licensing office.

Where to start in Latvia:

• Company registration — the Register of Enterprises (Uzņēmumu reģistrs, ur.gov.lv).
• Tax and VAT (PVN) — the State Revenue Service (VID, vid.gov.lv), which also handles questions on alcohol trade and excise goods.
• Food and drink handling — check food business requirements and registration with the Food and Veterinary Service (PVD, pvd.gov.lv).
• Permits for selling alcohol at a specific event — check with VID and the municipality where the event takes place.

If in doubt, a one-off session with an accountant who works with hospitality businesses usually pays for itself.

8. Find your first clients

The first 5–10 events usually come through people you know. Do them well and photograph and film every one — that's your portfolio.

• Offer a bar to friends or a company you know at a reduced price in exchange for photos and a review.
• Set up Google Business Profile and Instagram with photos from your first events.
• Add a short enquiry form to your website and reply within an hour.

More on channels in how to get more catering clients.

9. Partner with venues

Venues — manors, banquet halls, lofts — are the main source of steady work for a mobile bar. Clients choose the venue before the bar and often ask the venue for a recommendation.

How to approach them:

1. Pick 10–15 venues that fit your concept.
2. Offer a free tasting for their event managers.
3. Give them a clear price list and an easy way to pass clients to you.
4. Work tidily at their events: venues value a clean handover as much as good cocktails.

How this works in Garnify

From your very first event, Garnify lets you set up packages with per-guest prices and tiers, send the client a quote on a link, offer shifts to freelancers through a Telegram bot and build the equipment and glassware list for each job. The first 2 months are free with everything included.