Music pro turns day job into ‘Espresso on the Run’
A little more than a decade ago, professional musician Del Hungerford was looking for a flexible day job.
She had recently returned to her hometown of Moscow, Idaho, after spending several years away earning a Master of Music at Yale University and pursuing her doctorate at the University of Washington.
During her time in Seattle, one of her several jobs was teaching clarinet lessons at a local music store.
“Many times I would see this delivery wagon that sold espresso drinks to workers in the surrounding stores,” said Hungerford. “I thought the idea was quite interesting, and when I moved back to Moscow I decided to try a mobile espresso business here.”
Within a few months she started “Espresso on the Run” using “an old, ugly truck camper” set in a 1985 yellow Chevy pickup.
That RV configuration lasted about three years, during which time she established an espresso delivery route during the week and became a regular at the Saturday Moscow Farmers’ Market.
Along the way, she landed a part-time music instructor position at Whitworth College in Spokane; signed on as a substitute teacher in the Moscow School District; and, about seven years ago, became house director for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority on the University of Idaho campus.
About the same time as Hungerford took on the house director job, her espresso camper gave out on her.
“The jacks were broken and we had to set it on a couple of barrels to keep it stable,” she recalled. “Finally I had to get rid of it. I put a ‘Free’ sign on it and someone came by and hauled it away during the night.”
Her current espresso rig
Today her business-on-wheels is a 1973 class C motor home on a Dodge chassis.
“My mother gave it to me as a Christmas gift in 1998,” she said.
Hungerford spent that winter adapting the rig’s interior for its new commercial use. (Her personal RV is a 15-foot 1969 Ball travel trailer pulled by a four-cylinder 2000 Toyota pickup.)
Among other items, Hungerford installed a custom-made heavy-duty counter to hold her propane espresso equipment; and added a Xantrex inverter/charger to power such items as a grinder, blenders and cash register.
“I can go anywhere and I don’t need land power,” she said. “Before adding the inverter I had to run 150 feet of electrical cords at the farmers’ market for power.”
Moscow Farmers’ Market
Every Saturday between May and October, the “Espresso on the Run” crew of four can be found at the Moscow Farmers’ Market between 8 a.m. and noon.
“Smoothies are really popular during the summer,” she said. So popular in fact that she usually has two people on “smoothie detail,” plus one in the RV making espresso drinks and one on cash register.
“I seem to hire mostly music performance majors,” she said. “We are all a little goofy and get a kick out of entertaining people with silly songs.”
Over the past three or four years, they have come up with a song for every drink they make.
“Some customers will ask for the song if we don’t automatically sing it when they order,” she said.
For more information
• The Moscow Farmers’ Market is in the Jackson Street public parking lot off Friendship Square in downtown Moscow, between 8 a.m. and noon.
The market features local farmers’ goods, artists, craftspeople and musicians. Highlights include fresh produce, meat, delicious homemade baked goods, healthy nursery plants, beautiful flowers, quality handmade crafts and espresso. Local musicians perform from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. each week. Call Moscow Arts Commission at (208) 883-7036 with questions.
• Xantrex inverter/charger information can be found at www.xantrex.com. According to the Web site, “Xantrex power electronics provide clean, quiet AC power so you don’t have to constantly rely on shore power or a noisy generator to enjoy the comforts of home in your RV.”
• If you’re in the market for a propane espresso machine, start your research at www.espressotec.com, where Espressotec wants “to provide you with good information to help you in your quest for the perfect espresso.” What’s not to like about that?
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