Good wine, great food, excellent shopping, creative people, amazing countryside, beautiful beaches… South Australia has a lot to offer! And if you have a small business idea for coffee, wine, food, arts or retail, and just need a tiny space to start, then a shipping container may be just the thing for you!

If you’re considering joining the fast-growing band of entrepreneurs opening cafés all over Adelaide but are struggling to come up with the funds, why not consider a shipping container café? Recycled from Shipping Containers Adelaide’s robust, steel sea containers, they provide a relatively cheap, forward-thinking way to launch your new business.

Adelaide’s café culture has become something of a national institution, vying with Melbourne for Australia’s top spot. Coffee-crazy Adelaider folks are constantly seeking out new experiences and the best latté or Americano in the city. This is the perfect time to launch your own venture, especially with the redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval bringing a welcome feel-good factor to the capital and the $1.5 billion Adelaide Riverbank project still to come. All you need is the land, planning permission and a top notch barista, and you are away!

Adelaide property prices have been rising by an average of around 8% over the past 15 years, meaning that it’s become increasingly tough for prospective café owners to get a foot on the ladder. Thankfully, a converted sea container café, built by Shipping Containers Adelaide, is a more affordable possibility. Our customers appreciate the option of either permanent or portable cafés, meaning they can test the water at one location then simply up sticks if there’s insufficient footfall or too much competition. You could spend the summer months down by the ocean at bustling Glenelg then move on in winter to Norwood, an inner suburb rightly famed for its cosmopolitan, café culture.

You could be forgiven for imagining a shipping container café as a utilitarian, grey box with serving hatch, yet with our conversions nothing could be further from the truth! Shipping Containers Adelaide will work with you and any designers you commission, to create a stylish and enticing space that will have those hipster espresso quaffers queuing around the block. You could opt for chic minimalism or a themed look – American diner or surf shack perhaps. Our containers really lend themselves to serving fast food on the go – kebabs, curries, noodles or simple sandwiches. You could even set up shop on one of the main routes in and out of Adelaide and start serving drinks and snacks to all those hungry truckers and travellers.

Although many see beauty in the post-industrial lines of a shipping container, particularly in cool urban locations, you can choose to disguise your cafés origins by adding windows, doors or brightly coloured plastic panels, along with the usual eye-catching signage. For a more rural look we could even clad the whole container in timber for you. If you need more seating, it’s also possible to add a stairway, deck out the roof and provide tables and chairs to lounge in. Our engineers love a challenge, so just let your imagination run riot!

Naturally, Shipping Containers Adelaide can also install all the utilities you require – water, lighting and power sockets to run all your cooking equipment. lighting and that all-important sound system. We could also install heating, air-con or even solar-panels. Comfortable customers tend to stay longer and spend more.

Container portability is often one of the main attractions for catering entrepreneurs. In Adelaide, as with all cities, neighbourhoods can blow hot or cold. What was yesterday’s hipster coffee-drinking paradise can become today’s sleepy suburban ghost-town. With a shipping container business, you can simply up sticks and head for a lively new location. You could even move to a new city. But don’t forget. you should always seek planning permission from your local authority before committing to a shipping container café.

Once you become aware, there’s a surprising number of vacant lots all over Adelaide, from Cobbler Creek to Henley Beach. A bit of simple research should reveal the owner, who may well be ecstatic to have some rental money coming in rather than leave the site idle and unprofitable for months or years.

With the resurgent Adelaide Oval bringing a real sporting buzz to the city, crowds are flocking in and more and more people are participating in sports. All these people need feeding and watering, so what better than to open a shipping container café? Instead of having to head for the nearest fast food joint, they will appreciate an onsite option, serving chilled drinks, snacks and even light meals. You could install seating and parasols to provide a welcome oasis for fans during a long game of cricket or Aussie rules.

Construction and mining companies will also be attracted to the idea – providing subsidised food and drink for their hungry and thirsty workers, so they don’t have to drive miles for lunch or survive on boring sandwiches. Shipping Containers Adelaide also provide rest-rooms, offices and store-rooms that can be rapidly deployed on remote sites.

Thanks to their previous incarnation as marine shipping containers deter all but the most determined thieves.  With shutters and lock boxes installed they are vandal-proof and will ensure that your business is well protected when you’re away.

Call Now to Discuss Your New Container Café

Shipping Containers Adelaideship

(08) 6166 3598