The pandemic opened the door for multiple mobile businesses to flourish in Tampa Bay. From picnic companies to food trucks to pasta packs, people found ways of creating opportunities for themselves while providing unique, socially distanced fun for everyone. And they found ways to catch a buzz, too.
College sweethearts Terry and CJ Thompson’s mobile beverage business Booze & Bubbles opened in November. Terry is a teacher and girls’ basketball head coach at Wharton High School; CJ is a public health specialist focusing on epidemiology.
In an email to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, CJ said they opened their business—an eco-friendly truck named “Boozie,” which they can take to different homes or backyards—after noticing people were bored. CJ said she and Terry just finished designing the truck and have plans to unveil it next month, adding that she and Terry are fabricating the truck themselves after ordering the parts from a source she can’t disclose. Pictures of the cart on the company’s website aren’t the cart itself, but to give folks an idea what to expect.
“We designed our truck to be Insta-worthy,innovative and eye-catching plus leave a lasting impression on all our clients and their guests,” CJ said.
CJ added that she got inspiration for her truck—a six-tap ride with custom wooding shelving as well as a custom sliding glass door—struck when she herself was scrolling through Instagram and saw photos of Palm Beach Gardens’s Boozie Bluebell truck.
“She custom designed her cart from ground up. I thought it was really neat, innovative, and eloquent on her business stood out,” CJ said, adding that she hadn’t seen anything similar in Tampa.
“There are mobile bars that were once horse trailers transformed beautifully but this particular vehicle was totally different. It had three wheels and it was eco-friendly. I wanted something to sets us a part from our competitors as well as serve a purpose that was related to us. And that’s how we started design process of our truck. We out sourced a lot of the parts, however, our family members who does wood work recreationally and own auto repair shops, helped make the process more seamless.”
Booze & Bubbles partnered with mobile bartending service Native Cociktail Events plus brands Mimmo Wines and St. Pete’s Mermosa Wines for its curated “Contemporary” or “Luxe” packages, which are customized to fit whatever party needs a customer requests. For an extra bit of fun, the Thompsons rent any of their four signature champagne walls for up to four hours.
The walls were inspired by a Pinterest post, so CJ and Terry went to the hardware store and got to work making their prototype. “It was trial and error at first but now we have it down packed,” she said.
Alcohol isn’t provided with the walls but customers are advised how many bottles is required depending on the size of the party. CJ and Terry (pictured below) will travel up to 40 miles from area code 33647 depending on the service.
Customers can fill out the online contact forms for parties or book the champagne wall separately. Follow Booze & Bubbles on Facebook and Instagram.
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This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2021.
