We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melissa Conklin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melissa below.

Hi Melissa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Opening a new business is intimidating . We had a dream about opening our own business for many years. In 2022 My wife who was law enforcement suffered 2 stroke’s. She had to medically retire. After her surgery and life calmed down a bit we decided it was time to go after our dream. We found an old 1968 two horse trailer and began converting it into a mobile beverage bar. Starting this from the rusty bottom was alot of work . There were times we doubted if we would be able to do the work to get this thing off the ground. My wife and an incredible friend brought our vision to life. Behind the scenes I was working on the legality, insurance, and marketing end of things. Once “Sweet Iris” our trailer was ready it took off. We began doing private events, weddings, and even community events with kids drinks and lemonades so the kids could be involved in the business. My favorite part of the process is when we do a wedding or a party, decorating the trailer, customizing the menu and making the whole experience personal and memorable for our clients.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Melissa Conklin. Me & my wife Chase are members of the LGBTQ+ community and the owners of Sweet Iris Mobile Beverage Service. Named after my grandma Iris “Gayle,” who passed away when I was 18 & has a very special place in my heart. We are originally from Virginia and moved to North Carolina. We have 2 incredible boys Kaden and Skylar.

We have always wanted to own our own business, so when the opportunity came up to convert a 1968 horse trailer into a mobile drink bar, we jumped on it! We offer many drink options fun for everyone. We serve community events with coffee , hot cocoa and fun kids’ drinks also adult-only options for weddings and private parties.

This has been such an amazing adventure for us. Travleing, meeting new people, and being a big part of peoples special celebrations. I love working closely with our clients to undertand their vision with personal touches like favorite flavors, garnishes, colors, theme, and even a customized drink menu.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

We love doing community events like fairs, vendor shows, festivals, anything to get us out into the publics eye and meet new clients and friends! I also love working with other businesses in the industry. Such as wedding planners, DJs, florist, caterers , etc. Its nice to have someone to recomend and help each other grow.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When we started this journey we had alot of people that did not think our idea would work. The trailer was rusty and old when we got it and many people did not have the same vision as we did. Several people thought there was not a market for it and did not think it would take off. The comments gave us more motivation to work harder to make our vision come to life and be the success we knew it could be. We have only been doing this 1 year so we are excited to see whats next and how to expand the business.

Contact Info:

• Website: sweetirismobilebar.godaddysites.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetirismobilebeverages/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SweetIrisMobileBar