Coffee Shop moving in the Sacramento Valley: Murdock's crew at work

Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality

Coffee Shop Moving in Chico, Yuba City and Sacramento

Your espresso tech handles the machine and grinders. We move the rest of the café: seating, condiment bar, retail shelves and back-room stock.

(530) 354-8089

Licensed & InsuredUSDOT 3421940 · MC 1416634
Locally OperatedChico + Yuba City
Sacramento ValleyChico · Yuba City · Sacramento

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Planning a Coffee Shop Move

A café can reopen without its lounge chairs. It cannot reopen without its espresso machine. So a coffee shop move is planned around one appointment: the day your espresso technician drains the boiler, pulls the machine and grinders off the bar, and the day they plumb it into the new water filter, bring it up to pressure and dial the grinders back in. Everything our crew does fits around those two visits.

What we move is the rest of the shop. Café tables and chairs, the lounge corner, the condiment bar, the bag and mug shelves, menu boards on stands, the stands under the pastry case, and the back room of cups, lids, syrups and sealed beans. Your baristas choose the pieces they need until the last drink, and we pack everything else ahead of time.

Chico cafés near Chico State plan around the academic calendar, which makes summer break the natural window. In Yuba City, Sacramento and Roseville the quiet day is more often a Sunday afternoon.

Who usually signs off: Coffee shop owner or café manager, coordinating the espresso equipment technician and the receiving landlord
Timing that works: Close after the afternoon rush, load out that evening or first thing the following morning, and reopen once the technician has the espresso machine plumbed, filtered and dialed in.

What typically moves

Café tables, chairs and lounge seatingTabletops lifted off bases where they unbolt; upholstered chairs wrapped so they arrive clean.
Freestanding condiment and milk-station cabinetsEmptied by staff and wiped down; the cabinet moves with its trash insert and lid holders taped inside.
Retail coffee-bag shelving and mug displaysMerchandise packed shelf by shelf so the retail wall goes back up the way your staff set it.
Pastry-case stands and bakery display risersThe case itself goes on the equipment list; risers and trays box separately.
Back-room shelving with cups, lids, syrups and sealed beansBoxed by shelf and marked by case count your staff provides, heavy syrup cartons on the bottom.
Menu stands, queue rails and pickup shelvesBagged hardware for each rail; loaded last so the counter area is set first.

Access and scheduling

Cafés run on mornings, so we plan the move for the hours after the last rush. Tell us the time you stop serving and when the technician is coming, and we build the load around that: seating and back-room stock first, the bar area only after the machine is out.

Most cafés are storefronts, and the truck parks where the landlord or the city allows. Downtown Chico and midtown Sacramento storefronts often mean a loading zone or an alley, with meters and posted hours that decide when we can stop. Shopping-center cafés in Roseville and Yuba City load from the lot, and the property manager may want a certificate of insurance and an after-hours start. Ask for the tenant move rules when you sign, and we can plan to them.

Protection and handling

Café furniture is light but finished, and much of it is reclaimed wood or powder-coated steel that chips at the corners. Tables and chairs are padded individually, not stacked bare. Glass pastry-case fronts, if the vendor has cleared the case to travel, are taped and padded in place and the case rides upright.

Dry stock packs fast but gets heavy: syrup bottles, cold-cup sleeves and cases of milk alternatives. Those cartons are kept to a weight one person can lift and labeled with the shelf they came from. Sealed beans travel boxed; opened bags, dairy and anything refrigerated stay with your staff. We do not pack the espresso machine, grinders, brewers or water filter. The tech's handling instructions for that equipment are the ones that count.

Who does what

Some of this job belongs to other trades. The written plan names each one.

Espresso machine, grinders and batch brewers: Your espresso technician drains, disconnects and moves them or tells you how they travel, then installs, pressure-tests and dials in at the new bar.
Water filtration, ice machine and plumbed sinks: A licensed plumber or the espresso tech connects water, drains and filters at the new counter. Every water line stays with them.
Built-in counter, bar millwork and the refrigerated pastry case: Your contractor or case vendor releases fixed millwork and plugged-in refrigeration; we carry what they release as ordinary freight.

Not part of our work

Draining, packing, installing or calibrating espresso equipment.
Water, drain or electrical connections at the bar.
Dairy, opened product and anything that needs refrigeration in transit.

Around Chico, Yuba City and Sacramento

Coffee shops cluster around Chico State and downtown Chico, in downtown Yuba City and out Colusa Avenue, in midtown and downtown Sacramento, and in the Roseville and Rocklin shopping centers off I-80 and Hwy 65. Each changes where the truck can stop and for how long.

The crew that shows up

Three Murdock’s crew members at the back of the box truck

Two Murdock’s movers carrying a pad-wrapped table up the truck ramp

Two Murdock’s box trucks staged outside a single-story building in the Sacramento Valley

Coffee Shop Moving FAQs

Another question? Call (530) 354-8089.

Should the espresso machine ride on your truck with our tables?

Only if your espresso technician says it can and has drained and prepared it. Many techs prefer to move the machine and grinders in their own vehicle, since they install them the same day. If they want it on our truck, it rides upright, padded and strapped, and goes off first so it is waiting for them.

We are moving near Chico State. When is the easiest time?

For a café that lives on student traffic, summer break or the week after finals is usually the quiet stretch. Pick your closing day, book the espresso technician for that afternoon and the reinstall, and we fill the gap between them with the seating, retail wall and back-room stock.

How much of the shop can you pack before our last day?

Most of it. The retail shelves, extra seating, décor, spare cups and sealed stock can be packed a day or two ahead. Your staff keeps the bar, one condiment station and a few tables in use. Those go last, after the final order and after the technician has taken the machine off the counter.

Who moves the pastry case?

If it is a plug-in case that stands on its own, the case vendor or your staff empties it and clears it to travel, and we carry it upright. A remote-refrigerated or built-in case belongs to the refrigeration contractor and the counter builder, and stays with them.

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Plan your business move

Tell us both addresses, the building rules you know about, and the dates you cannot move. We will send back a written plan and estimate.

Call (530) 354-8089

Mon–Sat 8:00 AM–6:00 PM · Sun 10:00 AM–4:00 PM