![]() ![]() Andrews explains that the post was intended to convey the message, “Hey, we appreciate that everyone’s being careful with health, but we’re small businesses. Cloud City Coffee Roasters also sells coffee through subscription company Bean Box, which is an additional source of income.Ĭhristos Andrews, owner and coffee director of Ghost Note Coffee, made an Instagram post to address the flagging sales. Killen has considered starting a localized delivery service if foot traffic slows even more, or partnering with an established service like DoorDash. It’s just about being smart, cutting your orders down, lowering your pars, trying to get some of your bills lowered, as you go into what you project to be a slower time.” “It’s not like any of us are just sitting on this great amount of wealth to say, ‘Well we’ll just close for a month and we’ll pay you anyway.’ That’s just not possible. “This type of business doesn’t have high profit,” she adds. Cafés and their employees still have bills to pay. Killen asserts that after the two slowest months of the year, being hit with an additional lack of traffic is exceptionally hard. Photo courtesy of Jill Killen.Įven though she’s taking coronavirus concerns seriously, she also questions, “What point should I go all in and do what feels like overboard, or am I gonna look back in two weeks and think, ‘Man I didn’t do enough’? Walking that line is the thing keeping me up at night right now.”īoth Coleman and Killen say they might reduce café hours, or close on certain days if business continues to dip. ![]() ![]() There’s blatant issues of racism and ignorance that has been shown.”Īn employee at Cloud City Coffee wipes down the front doorknob. I may catch the virus.’ So we know that the stigma is there, and the ignorance of people because of the origins of this particular virus. “People have been posting ignorant statements like, ‘Oh I don’t want to go there. “Most food establishments around us have seen a 40 to 50 percent decrease in foot traffic,” says Coleman. While last week brought a significant drop in business when more people started working from home, Hood Famous’ Chinatown neighbors have felt the effects for a month or more. Hood Famous is next to a light rail transit station, downtown offices, and close to CenturyLink Field. “It’s been an eerie difference to walk out around that time and it’s super quiet. around 12 to 2 p.m., people are out finding food, or getting coffee,” says Coleman. Starting last week, Anton Coleman, the manager and barista trainer at Hood Famous Bakeshop’s Café + Bar in Seattle’s Chinatown/International District, has seen a drastic change. With an increasing number of people staying at home, Seattle cafés have seen a marked decrease in business, even before an employee tested positive for the virus at a downtown Starbucks. Companies including Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft are urging employees to telecommute, Governor Jay Inslee is restricting large gatherings, “ social distancing” has entered common parlance, and the initial panic wiped stores out of hand sanitizer. Since Seattle became the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., life for many people in the city has changed. Café Owners and Managers Meet the Challenges of Staying Open in the Epicenter of COVID-19 Anton Coleman, manager and barista trainer at Hood Famous Bakeshop, reported “at least two to three times a day, wipe every sort of touchable surface: the door handle to the store, the exit handles, the bathroom, the portafilters, general things we touch the most, we’ve just been doing an extra wipedown.” Photo courtesy of Anton Coleman. ![]()
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