The Coronavirus disease pandemic has quickly impacted all areas of life, no matter what continent you inhabit. As a result of the widespread disease, we as humans have faced the necessity to socially distance ourselves from one another. This is problematic as it is generally against our evolutionary human nature to remove ourselves socially. To be human is to be social, with rituals and routines that form the social structure we run our daily lives with.
At the heart of our rituals is coffee, specifically the coffee shop. In most cultures, most of us have incorporated visiting the neighbourhood cafe into our daily routines. Some of us even visit multiple cafes throughout the day, in order to get their quota of conversation, culture, and caffeine.
It has become apparent to us, the culturally rich social environment of the cafe, will be avoided by many people in an attempt to protect those they love, who are vulnerable to the Coronavirus disease. While this act is a moral responsibility and essential in the pursuit of flattening the curve, small businesses, and more specifically, coffee shops will begin to suffer.
Within the coffee shop trade, many entrepreneurs have an abundance of passion and enthusiasm, but unfortunately a shortage of business knowledge, technical coffee skill and capital in order to purchase assets and maintain their operations.
For this reason the local cafe is at extreme risk during this COVID-19 illness, as many shops have a very tight marginal existence at best of times. Profits aren't extravagant to begin with and most of these coffee shop owners are first time entrepreneurs. Some even entertain the idea that opening a coffee shop can be easier, or cheaper than other types of small businesses. Now it may be true, that compared to opening a restaurant or bar, less start-up cost is required in opening a coffee shop due to less equipment investment, and less pressure to look like the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotels. However, as far as ‘easier ’ is concerned, there is nothing about coffee that exempts it from the perils that all other businesses face.
Ultimately, the artisan café can be at increased risk due to their lack of experience and education that is needed to sustain a business in the midst of a serious widespread illness. They must continue to monitor their cost of goods, labour, rent, utilities, liabilities, lawsuits, efficiencies, transaction speeds, competitive forces and customer service.
As a result, the small independent coffee shop owner will see their sales dwindle down to nothing while their operating costs continue. Leading to a trickle-down effect of mass layoffs and suppliers like bakers and food prep kitchens to be limited at large.
Fearfully, there is a real possibility that when we inevitably emerge from this period of quarantine, that our neighbourhood cafe will no longer be in business.
What Can You Do To Save Small Local Businesses ?
Rather than be saddened and depressed by this dark and dour prediction, let us instead think of what we can do to support our local independent coffee shops.
3 Quick Steps To Help Keep Small Cafes In Business
- Purchase your daily coffee fix online or through mobile phone apps. If your local shop isn't equipped to do this, by all means PHONE THEM AND TELL THEM TO GET SET UP! There are endless home delivery apps available now for the food service industry, such as (SkipTheDishes, Foodora, Uber Eats and DoorDash) that it will take just a matter of days, even hours for their shop to be able to keep you caffeinated and full of pastry in the comfort of your own home.
- Purchase gift certificates and show some financial support while you turn into a potato, watching Netflix. Of course this comes with some insolvency risk to you, so I would encourage you to ask the coffee shop owner about point number 1 if you plan on doing point number 2..
- Buy whole beans from your local coffee shop. If you haven’t been doing this already, now is the time to start. It’s a strange phenomena that customers who are loyal to a particular coffee shop for their daily latte or drip coffee, do NOT make it a habit of buying coffee beans from that same shop. So start doing this asap. Don’t buy from the roaster directly as this would bypass the coffee shop. Doing this will keep the gears turning in both the shop and roaster.
Of course this all means that you will have to *GASP* make your own coffee at home like a Barista ! I know this sounds daunting but you can do it. We will help!
If you stick with our series of articles we will educate you on some of the real facts about coffee, coffee making and we will do it all for free!
But wait, you say.... wouldn't teaching coffee shop customers to make their own coffee actually hurt coffee shops in the long term by teaching people to be barista-self sufficient? And, why would you give away lessons for free?
Teaching customers the truth about coffee and how to make it will not lead to mass defections from coffee culture, because we are social creatures. We will still meet at coffee shops, even if we become part of the coffee enlightened. This argument is pointless anyways, because it is like saying “ oh.. don't teach people how to cook because they will stop going to restaurants.” When in fact the opposite is true, the virus called Food Network TV, emboldened several generations to become foodies, who basically have overrun the planet with their judgmental ways and endless food selfies. If only we had a vaccine for THAT.
And, as for the giving out free information part. Frankly, we have been quiet too long and our complacency has meant there has been nobody calling out all the misinformation that exists about coffee on Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook et al. Not to mention the copious amounts of websites masquerading poorly executed, and pathetic sales pitches as education.
We are doing this so that you finally get the real information and in the process help out the small independent coffee shop owner. That's our motivation. Nothing more, nothing less.
Enlightened Specialty Coffee Consumer
But wait, there has to be a catch? How will this help save independent coffee shops?
Because, you will emerge from this blog lesson, a smarter, savvier, and wiser coffee consumer. And, now that you see all that is evil and wrong about the pretend coffee world, you will emerge from your chrysalis as a sophisticated coffee consumer who will no longer be swayed by swindler, and con artists who currently have the whole world bamboozled with their snake oil.
You do this simply, by buying beans from your local independent coffee shop, ( whom you harassed into making online sales a possibility ) and following our website for enlightened recipes. That's it.
So what are you doing for two weeks?
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MORE ON THE COVID SURVIVAL COFFEE GUIDE
CHAPTERS:
Chapter 1: If you’re ready to make a change and freshen up your coffee game, consider making your coffee at home. To produce quality coffee at home, like the ones you normally find in the coffee shops, follow these 3 simple rules... Read More >
Chapter 2: Now that you understand freshness as it pertains to coffee beans (3-14 days from its BIRTH DATE or Roast date, and only buy enough to last a week) . This will give us a good starting point because we finally have some quality ingredients...Learn More >
Chapter 3: Ok.. you managed to escape the matrix and now that you have acquired the supplies needed to take on the coffee universe on your own, we are here to offer you some help!
4 Tools Needed to Brew Coffee At Home... Read More >
Chapter 4: If you have Italian friends, and they offer you a "caffe" , chances are they pull out a stove top device that unscrews in four parts, (base, top pouring chamber or pitcher, basket and basket cover) called a Moka Pot...Learn More >
Chapter 5: I have a personal problem with pour over people because they tend to hold the opinion that pour overs like Hario v60, Chemex, Kalita, are great, but that batch brew Drip Coffee Makers suck. The reality is...Read More >
Chapter 6: Let's explore further why the proponents of Cold Brew coffee are so maniacal in their support of this process. 4 reasons: ... Learn More >
Chapter 7: Frankly this viral hype surprises most of us in the industry but, in my opinion, it is a good thing that people are seeking innovation when it comes to coffee beverages. I just wish it didn’t involve instant coffee! ... Learn More >
Chapter 8: Prior to the cold brew fad, the go-to method of making a cold coffee was to utilize the alien👽 technology known as ice.
Apparently, when you add ice to things, they get colder...Learn More >
Chapter 9: If you survive this chapter, you will have my respect, and moreover, you will have learned about the basic principles of extraction...Learn More >
Chapter 10: We are revisiting a brewing device that was long ago dismissed as an alternative for espresso. Of course I'm talking about the Aeropress. Full admission. I was an anti Aeropress-er (not anymore). For those of you not familiar with the Aeropress way of making coffee it's a strange looking plastic device that looks like a giant syringe...Learn More >
Chapter 11: I'm going to tread into dangerous waters here and talk about one of the most controversial taboo subjects in the realm of 3rd and 4th wave coffee (aka pretentious coffee). What am I talking about? Blended drinks.. , AKA frappuccinos...Learn More >
Chapter 12: There is a false belief marketed that you need to spend a lot of money on specialized equipment in order to make good coffee and latte art. This insidious belief implies you need to...Learn More >
Chapter 13: The easiest way to avoid cream and sugar in your coffee is to buy higher quality coffee, you will taste that it is naturally sweet as opposed to the dark burnt, bitter stuff from chain stores, so try out a local independent coffee shop...Learn More >
Post Pandemic: Luckily, in the past the coffee industry has proven itself relatively recession-proof. Big question is, if it is pandemic proof ?...Learn More >
