News about Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has taken the world by storm. Businesses all over the world have been affected due to the rapid decline of the economy. Unfortunately, due to quarantine restrictions, their doors are being forced to close temporarily. Different countries are responding to this pandemic at different rates; China is finally starting to return to a healthy life after two months, whereas Europe and the United States are just figuring out how to keep everyone indoors. 

As a result, small businesses have taken a hard hit – this is especially true of the coffee community. Many are trying to figure out how they can still run a shop using safe social distancing practices, or strategize for the future when this is all over. 

Sovda exists to help roasters be more successful. We recently completed a survey that showed most roasters who use Sovda equipment also operate coffee shops.  Today we share some stories from our demo site partners and users of Sovda about the struggles that they have faced recently due to the virus. When reading these stories, our goal is that you feel a sense of connection and hope. 

Here is an insider’s perspective from a few cafés that are dealing with this global pandemic from coffee shop owners in Yunnan, China, North Carolina, USA, and Sevilla, Spain.

Torch, China

An empty Torch Café in
Yunnan, China

China is in a unique place, as they are beginning to emerge from the pandemic. Marty, owner of Torch Coffee in Yunnan, China speaks to his experience in the past few months and how his café was able to come up with creative solutions for the problems that they experienced:

“[COVID-19] has had a huge impact on us. We operate a Roastery, training Lab and Cafe. All 3 were totally closed in the beginning and it was probably the most scary time business-wise we have ever been through. The main thing creating anxiety was not being closed but having no idea how long we would be closed for.” As Torch’s sales slowed down they made the decision to “open for takeout and delivery and start to work on systems and backlogged admin stuff.” 

However, many staff members started to become more afraid of coming into work, due to potential exposure to the virus.

Marty says that their focus shifted to “creating new items for customers who were all stuck at home like increasing our bread and other baked good offerings” as well as creating  “lots of short videos teaching people different brewing methods they could do at home from mason jar cold brew or how to grind coffee with no real grinder.” 

As many are experiencing right now, it is difficult to keep spirits high without having any idea what the future could hold. 

For Torch specifically, “though it was a fun time of being creative with the team it was also super stressful not knowing if anything we were doing would matter in the end. Trying to stay focused was the hardest part since when there is no long- term security” and “daily tasks seem really pointless. So we started encouraging each other that no matter what small thing we have to work on today or what idea we have that might help even just a little, to do it the right way,  believing that if we handle small things well in this season it will set us up well for things to go back to normal.”

However, now that businesses are able to reopen “we are already back to about 85% and getting better every week. From the trend I am seeing it looks like we will be back to normal sales in the cafe by April and the Roastery and Training Lab by May.”

In Yunnan, being able to come out on the other side of a pandemic “feels awesome [and] being able to open the cafe and see customers coming back in has been so good.” 

In fact, Torch’s training lab even has “a class starting tomorrow and though there are only a few students, getting back to normal life is awesome. Since the rest of China is also back open and returning to normal our wholesale customers are slow starting to order again also. We are still in a hard situation regarding cash flow but we can see that this too shall pass and that we are going to make it.”

For those of us in the U.S. and E.U. that are still trying to navigate through this period of time, Marty says that the best way to support cafés in your community is through “buying drinks or whole beans or ground coffee to brew at home. This will be the difference between staying in business or not over the next few weeks and months...if you want to have independent cafe’s in your area shop local.”

Most of all, Marty urges everyone to “keep hope, stay healthy. This will pass. Don’t give up on your long term goals and plans, they need to get pushed back a few months or even longer but don’t stop working towards them. Fight the motivation drain and do what you can do each day even if the future seems really uncertain right now daily execution will hope you stay sane and continuing to work on long term goals will put you ahead when this does blow over.” 

Black & White Coffee Roasters

Black and White Café

We had an opportunity to interview Black and White located in North Carolina with different locations in Rolesville, Wake Forest, and Raleigh. Kyle, co-owner of Black & White, says that COVID-19 has definitely had a negative impact on his sales as the cafés have gone down “40 percent and our roasting volume is down between 50 and 60 percent depending on the week.” 

However, their café was not totally unprepared for this crisis: “thankfully we had a pretty robust online sales concept, and we definitely had a large spike in retail purchases online...so we've had a large pick-up in retail purchases online, which is great because the margins are a little bit better than wholesale, which is a huge part of our business as well.” 

Despite this “the volume is still way down. So [online sales] didn't quite make up for it, but it's done a better job than I expected, which has been nice.” So far, Black and White has implemented some virtual strategies to keep their business afloat by doing things like “free shipping on orders over $25…[and] coupon codes.” As for online sales “we've done contactless payment only...so no cash.” Along with this they have taken extra safety precautions so that customers “can't come into the business just to protect the employees. So basically they have to stand in order at the door and they have to stay outside.” The same procedures apply for “retail customers...like ordering at curbside, for our retail locations.”

In the midst of this pandemic, Kyle has been working with his team to balance the line of being safe, while also trying to maintain a steady income for his employees: “I don't want to make a business environment or a work environment where you feel unsafe.” He tells his staff to not “feel obligated to come to work” assuring them that “we'll make it, and we'll figure out how to remove penalties” for missing work.

He reflects that “unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures, so we're doing everything we can to keep the cafés sorted and keep [employees] in good spirits. It's hard. A lot of people are very appreciative that we're staying open. All the employees are because they're like all of us. If they don't work, they don't get the money, and if they don’t earn money, they don't eat and pay their bills as well.”

Kyle thinks that the coffee market is going to be affected pretty heavily. In his personal experience as a roaster, he’s bought a lot of “long” which is a roasting term for “buying way too much green coffee.” The reason he does this is so that he can order ahead for the coming season, however right now Kyle “actually already bought all [his] coffee from Ethiopia. And most of the coffee Kenya already had started like it hasn't even left Addis or left Nairobi or wherever at least not yet.” 

He knows that “These people were well compensated for their green coffee. We need to sell it.” Black & White  has shied away from selling “more traditional, dark roasted espresso for a long time.” Because sales still need to happen, consumers are  “probably going to see a lot of not great tasting coffee hidden on shelves.” 

In Kyle’s opinion, the best way to support small businesses is by giving online support: “if you have the funds to like, you know, buy stuff online, that's amazing.” Along with this, Black & White has implemented safe social distancing strategies to distribute their coffee by doing “curbside pickup.” If one doesn’t have the funds to support local cafés, the next best option would be “Instagram [messaging] people and just saying...nice things and being encouraging” is always a great way to show support.

One positive thing that has come out of this crisis is the fact that many small coffee shops in the Raleigh/Durham area are “working together in a way that we haven't before.” For example, roasting companies and cafes “that don't use our coffee [are] just working together to communicate what we're doing more clearly. The communication lines are just open now rather than someone being scared that you’re going to take their  business or take your employees” Now, these small businesses are thinking “hey, how do we help each other get through this whole thing?” 

Torch, Spain 

Torch Café in
Sevilla, Spain

While China is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, other countries are just a week or two into trying to contain the virus. Some of the worst reports have come back from Spain, and the country is currently on lock-down.

Torch has a café located in Spain as well. Here are some thoughts from Sara, the co-owner.

She says that Torch Spain has “taken a huge hit during this COVID-19 lock-down.  Once they declared a state of emergency on 15th of this month here in Spain, in an effort to control the spread of the virus all coffee shops and non-essential businesses have been completely shut down and have not been able to open to the public at all.” It’s difficult for them to feel secure because “having just opened our online store, the sales have not yet been sufficient. For a coffee shop that does 95% of business in store (our online sales really account for less than 5%), our sales are suffering immensely.”

When asked what kinds of strategies that Torch has implemented to increase sales, Sara responded that “Since closing, we have had quite an increase in our online sales. This is one opportunity that has really emerged due to this period and are hoping that it will continue to grow and develop here after. Strategies we have implemented in order to push our online sales are primarily through our social media platforms by reminding people that they can order great coffee from us online to enjoy at home. We also started running paid ads online in order to broaden our customer base."

She urges and advises people to support their local coffee shop “by buying from them online, purchasing gift-cards if they are available, showing your support on social media and getting back to their coffee shop to consume as soon as they are open again. “

It’s hard to predict what this will all look like on the other side. Sara reflects on the future of coffee in Spain:

“It is going to be a tough couple months in the Spanish coffee market. Spain greatly relies on tourism for its economy which makes up around 15% of Spain’s total GDP. The highest tourism months are March-May with a very, very low season during the summer. In our case, our summer sales go down to around 50% in comparison to the rest of the year.”

A positive outcome of all this has been that Torch’s “staff has really pulled together as a team during this time. There is obviously a sense of worry about their future employment and income but are certain we will bounce back after this is all over.”

Sara partly attributes this to the importance of good internal communication: 

“From the beginning I’ve tried to help them manage stress by being extremely intentional in communicating everything that is going on, measures we are taking as a business to secure their positions and how different outcomes could affect them. I find that challenges are easier to handle when you have a clear sense of what's going on and that an open line of communication between everyone in place. Every decision we make as a business affects them in one way or another and we are all in this together. We have assured them that we will do everything in our power as leaders to get us all through this.”

She predicts that “this year facing the lower summer season will be extremely hard for all of us. I don’t for-see things getting back to normal until September- October of this year. Being hit with this crisis while starting up as a business is going to be very hard to recover from.”

However, Sara and her team in Spain “are hopeful that the specialty coffee community will gather in a joint effort to support one another to get through this.”

It is vitally important that we provide support to small businesses during this challenging season. These coffee shops and cafés provide spaces for gathering, working, and getting the day started. We must show our appreciation to the communities that we live in by showing support—even if it means buying something small online or sending a kind message to your favorite barista. 

Currently, we are working with our Demo Site Partners, Torch Coffee, and SCI on launching some resources for you specifically on Roasting and Cafe operations.  Please let us know any roasting or cafe topics you are interested in.
 

Stay hopeful, stay safe, stay kind,
Your friends at Sovda