Why I Started The Unknown Bar Company – My Journey into the Mobile Bar Industry
- Max Johnson
- Mar 14
- 3 min read
The biggest mistake anyone with big ideas can make is not starting them. This was the key realization I had in the winter of 2022, which gave me the push I needed to make the largest purchase of my life. That purchase put me in a make-it-or-break-it mentality, driving me to develop The Unknown Bar Company into what it has now become.
You might be asking yourself—why did you call it The Unknown Bar Company? I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t because I liked the idea of the most ironic business name possible. Naturally, I’ve had to explain that same reasoning to almost everyone I’ve met. Anyway, back to the beginning...
At the ripe old age of 21, I made the largest purchase of my life: a 2012 Wessex Horse Trailer for the grand total of £2,700.
Before this bold decision, I had known for quite some time that I wanted to own my own business—something I could style and craft myself rather than taking ownership of someone else’s. Not knowing where to start, I scoured the internet with one of mates and began enquiring about buying the bones of a business that I could adjust to my preferences. A young couple were selling their horse trailer–converted bar for £12,000 not too far from me. Knowing full well I couldn’t afford it, I went to take a look and saw the possibilities ahead.
And there I was, standing in a farmer’s driveway somewhere in Westbury, trying to scrape together £2,700 for a horse trailer I intended to tow back and park in the garden of our little uni house—using my boss’s company truck.
Over the next six months, I would come back from work and go straight into the horse trailer, working until 11 p.m. almost every night using borrowed tools, my old man’s endless streams of advice, and the little experience I had in building a mobile bar. Eventually, I ended up with a modern take on a rustic cocktail bar, inspired by a huge collection of Pinterest boards. My uni housemates were proud of me and impressed by my creation. Yet, at the time, I didn’t feel a sense of achievement—just the need to quickly move on to the next item on my freestyled list.
I’ve maintained that same opinion and mindset up until now, as I write this blog. Something recently became apparent to me: there are other people who share this drive—they’re just hidden among what seems like an infinite number of businesses out there. That’s not to say that’s the secret to creating a business like mine; plenty of business owners simply took that first big leap, much like I did. It’s a calculated leap but one that carries a high risk of failure if you don’t put the time and effort into it.
I digress. I toyed around with test events—hosting parties for my friends and sunny gatherings in our garden—where I could take my first steps into the events world and experiment with what did and didn’t work. That same summer, I received a call from a family friend asking me to run a bar for a party of around 60 people. My first proper gig! This was my chance to prove to those around me that I was serious. It went perfectly—almost weirdly perfectly, to be honest—but I wasn’t going to complain. I had great fun, and so did all the guests.
That was all it really took to get the ball rolling—a recommendation and a bloody good performance. After a lot of bar training, becoming skilled in cocktail bartending and mixology, my small team (consisting of friends and family) and I were able to start building, brick by brick, event by event. Our first full year of trading was the summer of 2024, when we had a total of six weddings booked around the Isle of Wight. It was a huge learning curve in understanding what it really took to run and, more importantly, grow a business in the mobile bar industry.
And just like that—from garden gatherings of 10 people to an order book that has tripled in the space of a year—The Unknown Bar Company was born.