Mobile Specialty Coffee · Chicago
Nobody remembers the coffee.
So we built a bar where it is the part nobody can ignore. Weighed to the gram, timed to the second, brought to wherever your people are.
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Measured to the ratio.
A complete specialty coffee bar and a professional barista, brought to your wedding, office, or celebration anywhere in Chicago and the suburbs. Every drink is included in one flat rate — small gatherings typically start around a few hundred dollars, with weddings and full-day corporate service scaling from there.
Mobile Specialty Coffee · Chicago
So we built a bar where it is the part nobody can ignore. Weighed to the gram, timed to the second, brought to wherever your people are.
Everything else gets planned. The coffee just appears. We think the smallest thing in the room is exactly the thing worth measuring.
Every RATIO morning opens the same way. The barista weighs the dose, pulls a shot, times it, tastes it, and adjusts — in the open, where people can see it. Temperature and humidity shift every day, so the numbers shift with them.
The day's figures go on a card on the bar. Origin, roast age, dose, yield, time, ratio. It takes a quarter of an hour, and it is the whole point.
Occasions
One morning, one afternoon, one long evening. A complete specialty bar and a barista who stays for the whole thing — set up, poured to order, and cleared away without anyone noticing the work.
The same standard, week after week. A fixed morning on a fixed schedule, run the same way every time, so it stops being an event and becomes something people plan around.
Work with RATIO
Tell us what you have in mind — a wedding, a birthday, a Monday, a launch. We'll come back with availability and a tailored quote, usually within one business day.
Questions
Everything we get asked most often about our mobile coffee catering in Chicago — pricing, lead time, weddings, offices, dietary options, and the small logistics.
Every RATIO booking is priced for the specific event — the number of guests, the length of service, the menu, and the location. Small gatherings typically start around a few hundred dollars, and weddings or full-day corporate service scale from there. Tell us what you have in mind through the booking form and we'll come back with a tailored quote, usually within one business day.
Two to three weeks is comfortable for weekday events and small gatherings. Weekends — especially wedding season, May through October — book earliest, so four to eight weeks out is safer for a Saturday. We will always try to help with shorter notice when the calendar allows.
RATIO serves the entire city of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs — Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, Kane County, and Will County. If your venue is a little further out, ask us; travel is often possible with a small mileage add-on.
Yes — weddings are one of the things we do best. Specialty coffee and espresso feel right at cocktail hour, dessert, and the late-night send-off, and we handle everything from setup to breakdown so the couple never has to think about it. See our wedding coffee catering page for the full offering.
Yes. Baby showers, birthdays, engagement parties, graduations, retirement celebrations — anywhere your people are gathering. See celebrations & showers for menu ideas and setups tailored to smaller intimate events.
Absolutely. We do one-off launches, offsites, and conferences, and we also run recurring weekly or monthly office coffee mornings for Chicago companies. See our corporate coffee catering page for details.
Matcha latte leads the menu, alongside americano, cappuccino, mocha, and lattes in Spanish, pistachio, and caramel. It's a deliberately short list — a short menu is what lets every cup come out the same. Every event gets a printed card with the day's beans and figures.
Yes. Oat, almond, and lactose-free milks are on the cart at every event, at no extra charge, and every drink on the menu can be made with them. Matcha is what most guests reach for when they want something other than coffee.
The cart footprint is roughly 8 by 4 feet with room for the barista to work behind it. We need one standard 120V, 15-amp outlet within reach of a normal extension cord. Outdoor setups need a level surface and, ideally, shade or a small tent — we'll confirm all logistics before the event.
A single barista comfortably pulls 40 to 60 drinks an hour without rushing quality. For larger crowds or short service windows, we can bring a second barista and a second machine so a 200-guest wedding cocktail hour still gets full specialty coffee, on time.
The host pays a flat rate for the service, and every drink is free for guests at the event. No tipping is expected either — we've built that in.
Yes. We carry general liability insurance and can provide a certificate of insurance for any venue that requests one — most Chicago venues do, and we handle it as part of the booking.