Kenny Peterson leaves Tandem Coffee to focus on Side by Side Coffee

Kenny Peterson has left Tandem Coffee + Bakery after a decade and is putting his full attention on Side By Side Coffee, the mobile espresso cart business he started about three years ago. For Sagadahoc County, the shift is more than a job change. A photo of Peterson with the cart in Woolwich in May showed how far his business has already moved into the Midcoast event market.

Peterson’s path at Tandem tracked the company’s growth. He started as a barista in May 2016, became lead barista and then wholesale manager in 2018, and since the pandemic he also helped oversee Tandem’s e-commerce. Tandem Coffee Roasters was founded in Portland in 2012 by Will and Kathleen Pratt, and Tandem Coffee + Bakery opened in the West End in 2014. Peterson spent nearly the entire modern life of the business climbing through its ranks.

Side By Side Coffee has grown beyond a side project by leaning into event work. The company says it provides mobile coffee cart catering for weddings, corporate events and brand activations across Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. It also uses Tandem coffee in its espresso service, keeping Peterson tied to the company where he built his career even as he branches out on his own.

That arrangement matters in a region like Sagadahoc County, where small food businesses often depend on a steady stream of private events, seasonal gatherings and repeat local bookings rather than one permanent storefront. A mobile cart can move where the demand is, from Woolwich to other Midcoast venues, and can scale with a business owner’s ability to book enough weddings and corporate jobs to make the model work year-round.

Peterson said the cart has reached the point where it needs his full attention. He will remain a wholesale customer of Tandem, and the Pratts have been supportive of the move, underscoring that this is an off-ramp from one small Maine business into another, not a clean break. For the local economy, it is a reminder that growth in independent food service can come from specialization, shared supply chains and the kind of regional event demand that keeps a coffee cart moving from town to town.