Alicia Smith

Turning my home barista passion into my dream job

I’m 22 and have just graduated with first-class honours in BA (Hons) Business and Management. Last month, my partner, Mathew, and I launched Cuple Coffee – a vintage coffee van serving speciality brews and home-baked sweet treats – at Penydarren Boys and Girls Club in Merthyr Tydfil.

I was inspired to start my own business thanks to a module on entrepreneurship, which encouraged us to turn start-up ideas into reality.

Studying at USW was an easy decision for me – I wanted to stay close to home for university, and USW has one of the best business schools in Wales. The University has also been ranked top in Wales for new graduate start-ups for five years running, so I knew it would be a great place to hone my entrepreneurial skills.

I’ve always had an interest in business, and I knew I needed a degree to be able to progress in my career. So as soon as I turned 19, I decided to go for it. During my second year, my lecturer Anthony Thomas asked us to come up with a business idea with a theoretical budget of £1,000, which really sparked my creativity and helped form the start of our plans for Cuple Coffee.

I also took part in USW’s Bright Ideas Den – a funding scheme that awards up to £1,000 to students and graduates to support their business or freelance ideas – which gave me the opportunity to present my first-ever business pitch.

From idea to reality

After years of making our own coffee and baking everything from banana bread to croissants and Welsh cakes, Mathew and I decided to take the plunge and turn Cuple Coffee into our full-time jobs – starting with finding the perfect van.

We found a beautiful 1978 Peugeot van and drove up to Peterborough to collect it. As it was originally imported from France, it’s a left-hand drive, which made the long journey home quite eventful for Mathew! But we absolutely love it – it’s so unique.

Mathew’s dad set about renovating the interior to accommodate our specialist coffee machine and equipment, and Cuple Coffee was ready to open to the public in early July.

Penydarren Boys and Girls Club is where Mathew plays football, and they kindly agreed for us to be pitched in the car park, which is close to lots of local businesses and a popular dog walking route.

We’re excited to be getting our brand out there and offering something a little different to the coffee lovers of Merthyr. We’ll also be doing pop-ups at food festivals and other events throughout the rest of the summer, which will give us the chance to try new products and see what works for our customers.

There have definitely been moments when we’ve wondered what on earth, we have let ourselves in for! Putting everything into the business is intense – we’re up at 4am to bake everything fresh, then heading home mid-afternoon to prep for the next morning – but we’re so proud of ourselves for making Cuple Coffee happen, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Cuple Coffee is open from 7.30am – 3.30pm Monday to Friday, and from 8.30am – 2pm on Sundays. Follow Cuple Coffee on social media:

Instagram: @cuplecoffee_
TikTok: Cuple coffee
Facebook: Cuple Coffee