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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think this is a brilliant business idea and ask why it doesn't exist already?

37 replies

peppinagiro · 25/07/2014 10:24

Picture the scene. I've been pushing my baby round and round to sleep in her pushchair for an hour. It is boiling. I am hot and thirsty and hungry. I can't go inside anywhere to buy anything because she'll wake up, and obv can't leave her outside on her own. In France or Italy I'd stop at a cafe with outdoor tables and get served, but there aren't many places with outdoor table service in the UK.

I need coffee and cake. I have passed lots of others in the same boat.

What is needed are some sort of napping-baby-parent coffee kiosks in key places, where I don't need to go inside and people make the coffee quietly withour all the exuberant banging of the ground- holder thing

Who's in?

OP posts:
FrankSaysNo · 25/07/2014 10:25

Take a flask?

bayrans · 25/07/2014 10:28

How about a motorised rotary drier that you can attach a buggy to in the comfort of your own garden (if you have one) then you can eat, drink and pee in peace.

Or take a drink and a snack with you.

NickNacks · 25/07/2014 10:30

Is it just not easier to stop pushing the baby to sleep?

SarcyMare · 25/07/2014 10:31

in america they have coffee huts, but they are designed for cars, as nobody walks :)

GodDamnBatman · 25/07/2014 10:31

Is it just not easier to stop pushing the baby to sleep?

You're cute. You're really cute. :)

Staryyeyedsurprise · 25/07/2014 10:31

peppinagiro
In France or Italy I'd stop at a cafe with outdoor tables and get served, but there aren't many places with outdoor table service in the UK

Um, in the nicest possible way, are you visting the 80s? There are millions of them!

In the style of Dragons Den bods "I'm out".

McFox · 25/07/2014 10:32

There are loads where I live!

trufflesnout · 25/07/2014 10:33

Why would you want coffee when you're already boiling?

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 25/07/2014 10:34

Loads of coffee kiosks round my way as well.

peppinagiro · 25/07/2014 10:35

nicknack no. Because then I'd have a non-sleeping angry baby. Believe me, her willpower is far greater than mine wrt staying awake. And pushing is far easier than jigging 2 stone+ in a sling for miles in 80 degree heat, so her recent concession to going in a buggy is one I'm grateful for :)

Flasks are of course an option. But that requires time and forward planning, and the coffee would be shitter.

Garden is too small for pacing, sadly :(

OP posts:
PintOfWine · 25/07/2014 10:35

God I remember those days. The baby finally fell asleep and I'd be passing a cafe, longingly look at the coffees being served inside, knowing the minute I stepped in, the baby would wake up and start crying. Flask isn't quite the same, and if you sit at an outside table, chances are the surrounding tables are all smoking.

There's a lot of pop up type of kiosks serving food, coffee and even alcohol around southbank in London in the summer that allow you to do just that.

peppinagiro · 25/07/2014 10:38

Damn, I'm in SE London and there are NONE. Well, there is one but it's shit, noisy, and always got a massive queue of tourists. There is acafe with outdoor seats about two miles away which I am walking to. No table service but I shall bellow from the door Grin

Coffee is necessary, despite being boiling, as I have had approx 90 mins sleep. All week. But I will agree that an iced coffee would be even more welcome.

OP posts:
Andrewofgg · 25/07/2014 10:39

The kiosk will have a sort of conveyor belt which will push the buggy backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, while you have both hands free!

JellyBeansHaveNoAgeLimit · 25/07/2014 10:40

I don't know anywhere you can sit at a table outside & someone will come out to serve you. Perhaps in London or big cities but not your average town.

A kiosk type place sounds good although you'd still get the noise of the coffee machine etc.

Have you tried a sling OP? My ds hated the pram as a baby but would fall asleep whilst walking around the shops quite easily & actually stay asleep! Although i appreciate in this weather a sweaty baby strapped to you isn't the best!

peppinagiro · 25/07/2014 10:41

Yay, PintofWine you get it! Only trouble with the Southbank is maintaining a good pace while navigating all the bloody tourists.

I like your username. Would love a pint of wine with my coffee.

OP posts:
JellyBeansHaveNoAgeLimit · 25/07/2014 10:42

Cross post, am a slow typer sorry!

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 25/07/2014 10:43

The problem with sitting outside is that all the fag smokers are there and it is horrible.

OP - you would love Chester zoo. There are millions of those types of little huts. We have a 6 month old and a 19 month old. They snoozed off and DH and I spent a happy day going from hut to hut eating ice creams!

peppinagiro · 25/07/2014 10:43

Yep she's lived in the sling til now - was the only place she'd sleep. Still woke up if I went indoors though :( she's a massive 91st centile 13mo though and it's too hot, so DH forced her to learn to sleep in the buggy last month...

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 25/07/2014 10:45

I went to a club in Germany, and along the queue of people waiting there was a guy on a bicycle mounted kiosk serving coffee. It was a genius idea! Sort of like an ice cream cart for hot drinks. That's what you need, though - an ice cream cart/van somewhere. Coffee has limited appeal when it's hot. I was in the queue with another mum friend and we both agreed he'd make a killing rotating through all the parks.

peppinagiro · 25/07/2014 10:46

Am loving the conveyor belt idea! And Chester zoo sounds amazing. Pity it's a million miles away :(

Aaaargh baby awake! Must go :(

OP posts:
Scrumbled · 25/07/2014 10:47

You know those trolley lock ups they have in supermarket cafés? So you can shop then put your trolley in one safely whist you eat?

Those for buggies and prams. Shove sleeping child in and have a coffee. They could put air con, heating in, plus a gently rocking floor to keep the child snoozing.

ChickenFajitaAndNachos · 25/07/2014 10:48

I guess places like theme parks already have that type of thing.

RedToothBrush · 25/07/2014 10:49

Apart from the obvious point that there are already cafes, its a very limited narrow market in an already very competitive market. In addition the chances are, it would have to limit its hours due to when demand dropped and they would struggle in bad British weather.

Its not really economically viable. Thats why it doesn't exist in the format you are proposing.

You just need to learn to buy and make better coffee at home!

Chippednailvarnish · 25/07/2014 10:52

You can't move for coffee drinking pavement hoggers where I live!

IScreamForIceCream · 25/07/2014 10:52

Even if you do live in a part of the world with no outsidey coffee shops, could you not pace outside a normal one until a friendly-looking person passes, and ask them to pop in and get you a coffee - giving them the money of course, maybe offering to buy theirs? I reckon that if you asked 3 people, def 1 would say yes.

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