Tech Workers Quit Jobs to Run Cybertruck-Powered Coffee Shop

Moonwake Coffee Roasters, a coffee business in California, operates from a Tesla Cybertruck, which powers their espresso machines, water heating, and various coffee-making equipment. The owners, Ming Wood and Mabel Yeung, aim to keep the focus on their main product, coffee, and engage people in conversation about the coffee. The Cybertruck is a very polarizing vehicle, but they want to keep people engaged and focused on their coffee.

Wood, an engineer for Tesla, started a coffee club in the office to alleviate stress during his time at the company. After leaving Tesla earlier this year, Yeung joined the couple during the pandemic and realized running Moonwake Coffee Roasters was what she enjoyed doing more. Yeung quit her job at Meta in 2023.

The couple chose to use a Cybertruck because it provided more power, maintained open customer engagement, and allowed them to test and share insights on different equipment and workflows. They chose the Cybertruck because it had technical benefits that no other trucks could offer. Yeung said they wanted to maintain an open and transparent interaction with customers, which the Cybertruck provided.

Moonwake Coffee Roasters gave four reasons why they transitioned to the Cybertruck: more power, maintaining open customer engagement, flexibility to test and share insights on different equipment and workflows, and having fun. The full blog post on Moonwake’s website can be viewed on its website.

One of the pros of a Cybertruck-powered coffee business is its portability, which may not be possible if they operated out of a trailer. Powering the business from the Cybertruck is much more efficient, as it consumes less electricity than a trailer with all their equipment. The 10-mile drive from their residence to the farmers’ market consumes about 10% of the truck’s battery, and an entire day of business consumes about 30% battery. In the previous setup, Wood would have to bring separate power banks and connect them together, which can be a problem if Wood had forgotten to charge one of the banks the night before. In the Cybertruck, all the plugs come from one centralized location in the back of the vehicle.

However, some cons with the Cybertruck include not being able to do pop-ups indoors, which means they have to hope for good weather. Another con, according to Yeung, is that some people have negative opinions about the Cybertruck, which turns them away from the coffee. She has seen people say, “Oh, I’m not gonna buy from this coffee roaster because of the Cybertruck.”

With the mobility of the Cybertruck, the couple tossed around the idea of doing a pop-up in Yosemite and plan to open a cafe roastery in West San Jose by the end of the year. Moonwake Coffee Roasters is open every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Cupertino Farmers’ Market at De Anza College.

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