As more Australians embrace alcohol-free alternatives, a new Adelaide drinks cart is giving traditional event catering a creative shake-up, replacing the usual cocktail bar with mango sticky rice matcha, Vietnamese coffee and seasonal mocktails.
Launched in September, LenKen is bringing their drinks experience to Adelaide’s weddings, private parties and corporate events.
For LenKen’s founder, the idea began with a simple question: what could she offer guests at an event that went beyond the usual drinks menu?
The concept took shape while organising her son’s birthday party in September. Wanting to create something enjoyable for the adults as well as the children, she imagined a cart serving matcha and cold brew.
“Obviously, at a kid’s birthday, you can’t have alcohol, so matcha came to mind straight away,” she said.
After looking around Adelaide and struggling to find a cart offering the kind of drinks experience she had in mind, she decided to create her own.
“A lot of my friends already have kids, so they’re not really into alcoholic drinks anymore. And we’re kind of at the age of moving away from alcohol as well.”
“So I thought, if I’m already looking for this for my own event, perhaps some other people would too.”
Drawing on her background in hospitality and event coordination, alongside her interests in creativity and design, she developed LenKen as a drinks cart that could become part of the event itself, rather than simply a place to grab a beverage.
The menu has since grown beyond matcha to include specialty-bean cold brew, Vietnamese coffee and mocktails, with an emphasis on distinctive flavours and ingredients.
Matcha was the natural starting point, inspired by the founder’s own love of the drink and her experiments making different versions at home.
The cold brew, meanwhile, was developed by her husband, who shares a passion for specialty coffee. Using beans sourced from Adelaide coffee shop DEUX, he created a recipe that highlights the distinctive flavours of seasonal beans.
The mocktail menu follows a similarly creative approach, with seasonal fruit and herbs shaping the drinks on offer; “I make my own syrups in-house and then create the drinks from there,” the founder said.
“It means the flavours change with the seasons as well.”
Her own observations of changing social habits also helped shape the idea, particularly among friends who were starting families and drinking less alcohol.
“I feel this trend is already very big in Melbourne and Sydney, but in Adelaide, not many people have started doing it yet,” she said, mentioning that less people in Australia are drinking alcohol.
The founder also has a background in interior design, developing the concept herself.
“It’s not just a cart that’s serving drinks, but it’s more like part of the event as well, a focal point as well,” she said.
Even the name LenKen carries a personal story, being inspired by a childhood memory from Vietnam.
“LenKen is like the ringing of the bell from the mobile ice cream vendor cart,” she said.
“So as a child, hearing that bell, it’s just a happy moment. Before I could see the vendor, you knew that he was coming.”
“I love the idea that sound could announce a little moment of happiness, and something like the arrival of the cart could change the mood of the event as well,” she said.
“So I hope that my cart can bring a sense of anticipation, a little bit of curiosity, and the pleasure of something lovely arriving.”
LenKen Drinks Cart
Where: Adelaide (Travel within 15km of the CBD included)
Cost: packages starting from $550
To find out more, click here.
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