Little Yellow Cafe

Aim

I want to bring an eco friendly pop-up coffee bike to Calderwood and Almonddell Country Park, to serve the local community.

Little Yellow Cafe: Bringing coffee, bakes, and community connection to Calderwood

If you live in Calderwood, you will know that while our community is growing, the facilities we need are not always where we need them. The promised community centre has not materialised yet, and the existing hub simply is not accessible to every playpark, residential corner, and walking route across the area. It can be a long trek just to grab a warm drink or find a spot to connect with neighbours while out with the kids. I want to help bridge that gap with something bright, simple, and mobile.

Introducing the Little Yellow Cafe: a pedal-powered mobile coffee cart bringing properly made specialty coffee and fresh homemade bakes directly to our local streets, playparks, and countryside paths.

Where This Comes From

Hospitality is genuinely in my blood. My dad, Roger, runs a coffee van back home in the Netherlands, and I love the idea of following in his footsteps over here in West Lothian. Being Dutch, doing this on a bicycle felt like a natural choice. Calderwood was planned with active travel in mind, so a pedal-powered setup fits the neighbourhood perfectly: delivering delicious drinks with zero emissions and zero environmental impact.

There is also a very relatable problem I want to help solve. As a parent, I have spent plenty of chilly mornings standing by the edge of local playparks while my little one runs around, or dragging them cold and unwilling through the country park. Most of our outdoor spaces do not have anywhere nearby to grab a warm drink. The Calderwood Bakery and Cafe is doing a great job over by Drovers Road, and the Veitches is a fantastic destination that's gaining some real traction. But the truth is that both of these are a solid walk removed from many corners of our estate, and not always a feasible option if you've got little ones in tow on foot. Parents deserve a proper, hot cup of specialty coffee to keep their hands warm on a brisk morning, and kids deserve a rich hot chocolate after tearing around the swings.

On top of that, I love to bake. My kitchen is constantly full of fresh bakes, and starting this business is the best way I know to stop eating everything myself and start sharing it with the community instead.

Local, Sustainable, and Homemade

Keeping everything hyper-local is central to the whole idea:

• Local Specialty Coffee: I am looking to partner with Forth Coffee Roasters, based nearby in Newbridge, to supply freshly roasted, high-grade specialty beans.  
• Homemade Bakes: Every cake, biscuit, and treat will be made by hand in my own kitchen, using proper ingredients and my own recipes.
• 100% Pedal-Powered: No noisy generator, no diesel fumes. Just a quiet, cheerful yellow bike rolling up to where people are already enjoying their weekend.

The Three-Phase Plan

To build this sustainably and make sure it truly serves what the neighbourhood wants, I am taking a phased approach:

Phase 1: The Honesty Box Bakery

Before the bike hits the road, I am launching a doorstep honesty box right here in the neighbourhood. This lets me share fresh batches of bakes directly with neighbours, introduce the Little Yellow Cafe brand, and learn what flavours and treats people love best.

Phase 2: The Crowdfunder & Equipment Setup

Every penny from the honesty box goes straight into our startup fund alongside this Crowdfunder. A fully equipped, commercial-grade coffee bike setup costs just over £10,000. Raising £4,000 through this campaign will help buy the dual-fuel espresso machine and power kit needed to get the bike built, licensed, and on the road.

Phase 3: Rolling Out Across Calderwood & Almondell

Once the setup is ready, Little Yellow Cafe will be out on Saturday mornings. Instead of sitting in one static spot, the bike will circulate: popping up near Calderwood playparks, rolling past residential loops, football grounds, and pulling up alongside walking paths in Almondell & Calderwood Country Park to serve people right where they are.

How You Can Help

By pledging to our Crowdfunder, you are directly helping fund the equipment to get this project off the ground. In return, you can lock in discounted passes to coffee and fresh bakes to say thank you.

Have a look through the reward tiers, pick the one that suits you and your family, and let us bring a little extra warmth to Calderwood together.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 15th December 2026 at 8:17pm