Pillar guide

The complete guide to coffee carts, barista bars and karak stations for events in Dubai (2026)

A coffee cart for an event in Dubai costs from AED 3,000 for a half day (1 barista, about 100 guests) and from AED 4,500 for a full day (2 baristas, about 200 guests), and the Coffee + Karak Experience is from AED 5,900. A live karak and gahwa station is AED 900 a day and a majlis station is from AED 45 per person. This guide covers the event formats we serve, what each package includes, how many guests each covers, venue logistics, booking and notice. It uses only the prices published on this site, all before 5% VAT.

Last updated 12 October 2026. Prices as published on this site, ex 5% VAT.

1. The event formats we serve

Events in Dubai ask for coffee in different ways, and the right package depends on the crowd, the clock and the venue rather than the label on the invite. These are the six formats we are asked about most, each with its own page.

• Exhibitions and trade showsA barista bar on your stand, with day rates and a technical pack with every quote.
• Conferences and hotel eventsBarista bars and karak or gahwa stations for the breaks between sessions.
• Launches and showroomsCarts and stations for property launches, brand launches and broker events.
• Weddings and private eventsWritten for hosts: a cart or a karak and gahwa station for your own evening.
• Community and sports eventsFinish-line carts and self-serve karak points for runs, rides and community days.
• Graduations and school eventsReceptions, open days and parent evenings, from a cart to a majlis station.

The company-event version of this page is the corporate event coffee bar, and the cart packages themselves are on coffee cart hire. Show-specific pages exist for GITEX and WHX Dubai.

2. The three cart and bar packages

A coffee cart is a staffed barista bar that makes espresso drinks to order. We publish three packages. Each is priced per package rather than per head, and every price is a "from" rate in dirhams before 5% VAT. Delivery, setup and teardown in Dubai are included, with no separate service charge.

Espresso Bar: half day, from AED 3,000

One ROAST barista for up to 4 hours, built for about 100 guests. It brings a branded ROAST cart and the full espresso menu, with all milks and consumables included. It suits an open day, a client morning or a product launch with a clear start and end time.

Signature Bar: full day, from AED 4,500

Two baristas on a twin-grinder setup for up to 8 hours, built for about 200 guests, with custom-branded cups or a latte-art stencil. It suits a conference day, an exhibition stand or a long reception where the queue must keep moving.

Coffee + Karak Experience: full day, from AED 5,900

Everything in the Signature Bar plus a live Cha Cha Chai karak and gahwa station with a dedicated server, and Cha Cha Chai street food: vada pav, samosa pav and momos. Quantities are confirmed on your quote. It is the showpiece option for about 200 guests.

Four add-ons are published. An extra hour is AED 400 beyond the 4-hour or 8-hour window, an extra barista is AED 600, a standalone karak and gahwa station is AED 900 a day, and custom branding on cups, sleeves and signage starts at AED 750. A multi-day event is the day rate times the days: a 3-day show with the Signature Bar is 3 x AED 4,500 = AED 13,500. Every add-on, with worked totals, is on the coffee cart cost page, which also has an estimator.

3. Karak and gahwa stations and majlis

Not every event needs a barista. Karak chai and Arabic coffee with dates are Dubai hospitality, and a station serves them without a queue for espresso. Our karak is made by Cha Cha Chai, which has been brewing it in Dubai since 2013, and everything we serve is halal. These are the published formats.

• Flasks. A 1L karak or saffron chai flask pours about six cups and is from AED 40. A gahwa flask with dates is from AED 55 and a 1L specialty filter-coffee flask from AED 65.
• Trays. A 10-cup karak tray is from AED 250, with samosa-and-pav bundles extra. Trays are ordered by headcount, one tray for every ten guests.
• Live karak and gahwa station. A staffed station at your event, brewed in front of guests, is AED 900 a day. It does not include street food.
• Majlis station. Gahwa poured from the dallah, premium dates and a karak urn, self-serve in a two-hour window, from AED 45 per person with a minimum of 30 people.
• Hosted majlis. A uniformed host for two to three hours, gahwa and dates plus ROAST specialty coffee, from AED 85 per person with a minimum of 40 people.

Majlis totals are the unit price times the guests, before 5% VAT.

Delivery in Dubai for trays and flasks is AED 250 minimum per delivery, free delivery above AED 500 and a flat AED 40 below that. Details are on karak trays and flasks and gahwa and majlis service. For a hosted evening such as a wedding or family gathering, start with weddings and private events.

4. Cart or station?

Choose a cart when guests will ask for lattes, flat whites or milk alternatives, and when the occasion is a showpiece such as a launch, a client day or a conference. Choose a station when the crowd is happy with karak or gahwa poured by themselves, when the headcount is under about 100 and you want to keep the budget lean, or when you want no staff in the room.

The cost gap is real at small sizes. At 30 guests, three karak trays are AED 750 against AED 3,000 for the half-day cart, so a station is the sounder buy. At 100 guests the half-day cart is only AED 500 more than ten trays (AED 3,000 against AED 2,500) and brings a full espresso menu. For about 200 guests who want both menus, the Signature Bar at AED 4,500 plus the staffed station at AED 900 is AED 5,400, or the Coffee + Karak Experience at AED 5,900 adds street food.

The full comparison, with a three-row worked example, is the decision guide coffee cart or coffee station in Dubai. If you are weighing a mobile unit instead, see coffee truck or mobile barista bar.

5. How many guests does each package cover?

Only the capacities we publish are listed here. Where none is published, the table says so rather than guessing.

Capacity is a guide, not a promise. A high-footfall stand can need more baristas than the headcount suggests, so tell us your expected visitors and we crew it honestly. Confirm the headcount before you choose a cart size, because the half-day and full-day packages are built for different crowds. The event planning guide lays every format side by side for 50 to 200 guests.

6. Venue logistics: power, water, access and approvals

Venues set their own rules, and the rules decide more events than the menu does. We do not publish a footprint or a power figure for a cart or a staffed station, because it depends on the set-up. Tell us the venue and the quote confirms what the set-up needs.

• Power. Tell us where the nearest power point is. What we need is confirmed on the quote.
• Water. Water arrangements for the set-up are confirmed on the quote, not assumed.
• Access. How we reach the spot, where we unload and park, and any venue passes, badges or contractor rules. Send these early.
• Approvals. Many venues have their own catering and contractor rules, and some allow only their own caterer inside the halls. Approvals, badges and power orders take time, which is why major exhibitions need two to three months.
• Timing. The date, when service starts and ends, and when we can set up and must be out.
• Fees. Any venue or organiser fees are itemised separately on the quote, never buried.

We name venue types only to describe the kind of place an event is held: hotel ballrooms, exhibition halls such as DWTC and Expo City, business-park offices and showrooms. Naming an area is not a claim of any arrangement with the venue. An exhibitor should always check the organiser's catering rules first. The exhibition and trade show coffee guide covers stand planning in detail.

7. Events outside Dubai

Dubai is our home, but enquiries from Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and the rest of the UAE are welcome. The published prices are the Dubai-delivered prices. For other emirates we confirm what we can do and quote in writing, with travel, crew and logistics shown as their own lines before anything is agreed. We have no outlets outside Dubai.

• Coffee cart hire in Abu DhabiWhat we bring, what we need from you and how the quote is built.
• Coffee cart hire in SharjahThe same packages as the base, quoted individually.
• Events in Abu Dhabi and SharjahThe overview page for events beyond Dubai.

8. Seasons and the events calendar

Event dates cluster around festivals, national days, trade shows and Ramadan, and the best slots go first. The UAE corporate calendar 2026-27 puts the dates in one table with a calendar file. Ramadan and Eid depend on moon sighting, so those dates are expected dates only. Show weeks are the tightest, so settle those dates early.

• Diwali, 8 November 2026Karak and samosa-and-pav trays for the office.
• UAE National Day, 2 December 2026Karak and gahwa stations, dates and coffee carts.
• GITEX Global, 7 to 11 December 2026Stand coffee carts with a barista bar and karak station.
• Year-end staff partiesA coffee cart, live karak station or karak trays.
• Christmas and New Year partiesCarts, stations and trays for parties and client mornings.
• WHX Dubai, 25 to 28 January 2027Stand hospitality with a barista bar, karak and gahwa station.
• Ramadan, expected on or around 8 February 2027Karak, gahwa and dates for iftar and suhoor.

9. How an order works, deposit and notice

Send the venue, date and number of guests. We reply within one working day (Monday to Friday) with an itemised written quote, valid for 14 days, with 5% VAT shown separately. A 50% deposit confirms the date for coffee carts and live stations. We then confirm the details in writing, prepare in our licensed Dubai kitchen and deliver or set up, and you receive one VAT tax invoice with our TRN and no service charge. Purchase orders are accepted.

Coffee carts and live stations need from 5 working days' notice for private and corporate events, and two to three months for major exhibitions. Trays and flasks can often be delivered same-day to nearby Dubai offices when ordered in the morning. The full sequence is on how a corporate order works. For reference, we hold 4.5–4.9★ on Google across our Dubai cafés (October 2026).

10. Frequently asked questions

11. The event planner (PDF)

We publish a two-page corporate event planner (PDF) with a checklist, the nine steps from enquiry to invoice and the published price ladder. Print it for the planning meeting and bring it to the quote conversation.

Related

Keep planning

• Coffee cart and barista hire →
• What a coffee cart costs →
• Coffee cart or coffee station? →
• Plan coffee and karak for an event →
• The complete guide to corporate coffee and karak →
• All guides and planners →

• Licensed halal UAE F&B operator
• VAT tax invoice with TRN
• ROAST since 2018 · Cha Cha Chai since 2013
• Dubai-based