For love of coffee
Nathan Kitner launches mobile Mia Piccola
“I also offer coffee consulting as well,” the Knox County entrepreneur said.
“While I offer espresso drinks and I host events and I do weddings and I do markets, I also have consistent places where I pop up, just to serve coffee,” Kitner added, “I also offer my expertise and services, whether it’s new businesses opening up that wants to serve coffee or existing businesses that already have coffee service that they want to improve or feel like they want to do a better job.
“That’s where I come in, and I can offer expertise, tips on how to improve”, noting he does events all over Knox County. You can acquire his services by Instagram, miapiccola coffee or by e-mailing to miapiccolacoffee@gmail.com
“My branding and website will be finished up by the end of this month,” Kitner said. “From that point, my website will be the quickest way to contact me.”
With the mobile coffee aspect of his new business, Kitner said he has an entire espresso bar built into a 4-by-8 foot trailer.
“A lot of people do coffee carts and mobile kind-of things,” he said. “It’s a lot of set up and tear down. You’re constantly moving to different places.”
Instead, Kitner thought he would build the bar into his trailer so he could hook the trailer up to his car and move around easily.
“It’s kind of like a miniature food truck,” he observed.
In the trailer, he has an espresso machine, and he brews drip coffee. Kitner also has a refrigerator. He simply has to open the door, turn on the generator and he is ready to serve espresso.
Regarding the coffee he serves, Kitner is working with a local roaster, Otto Coffee Club of Knoxville, who has been roasting for close to a decade.
“I worked for (the business) while I was in high school,” he said. “It has a very curated selection of coffees that are all direct trade, meaning it knows the farmers who are growing the coffee and purchases directly from them.
“That’s something that’s really important for me,” Kitner added. “Coffee is an agricultural product, and I want to make sure that the people I’m buying coffee from and using their coffee are getting a fair wage and we’re supporting coffee along the whole supply chain.”
Currently, his customer base is a lot of small businesses, such as shops and the Punk Rock Flea Market.
“A lot of those events are centered around vintage clothing and (other) retail,” Kitner said. “I’m reaching out to local businesses that don’t already have food and beverages at their establishments.
“I’m offering them coffee service in tandem with what they’re selling,” he added. “It’s a really good way to bring in clientele into the door because coffee is something that will bring people, and in turn, those people are probably going to be buying products at the establishment.
“It turns that retail environment more into a gathering, community space. It’s a good way to foster community and bring people together who, otherwise, wouldn’t have been together.”
His passion for coffee began in high school, when he visited Spero Coffee, a shop previously in West End Center, with his cousin.
“After (his cousin) left town, I just kept going back (to Spero Coffee), met a lot of friends there and I ended up begging the people who owned for a job,” Kitner recalled.
“I was 15 at the time.
“After enough persuasion,” he was hired at the coffee shop.
“I worked there for probably a year or two,” Kitner recalled. “There were days when I had a break from my school schedule … and I would work for an hour or two.
“I met a really solid community,” he added. “I’m always someone who appreciated hospitality, growing up in the South, but I also have Italian heritage.”
While he grew up in Farragut and his family still lives here, Kitner lives in Knoxville.
