Caffe Vita Coffee Roasting - Deming Maclise

Deming Maclise - Interview Transcript

You know, when this started happening, we started making adjustments to the shops and for a while, it was kind of business as usual with the cafes. But over time, as the mandates got more restrictive, we started to change the style of service, and once this shelter in place really was mandated, that's when we decided to close the cafes.

So, as far as our wholesale accounts, you know, so many of our accounts are restaurants and hospitality, so a lot of our roasting and that department has really slowed down. We also have grocery and online sales. So we've focused a lot on, how can we make our grocery wholesale better? And so we've been able to keep a lot of our roasting and fulfillment staff employed for grocery and for online sales. We've been really working on our website, working on more offerings. And so our team that does all that has been working really hard and doing a great job.

Pretty earlier on, while this was all happening, the idea of having a COVID-19 Relief Blend came up and everyone immediately thought it was a great idea. So the roasters got on it right away and we had a label made and started putting it online and we challenged other roasters to try and do a similar thing. And a lot of them started to follow suit after a week or two, which was really cool. And we have sold so many more bags than we expected. So we are donating two dollars from each bag to COVID relief efforts and it feels really good to be able to do that. And the amount of support, like I said, has been way beyond what we had expected. And it continues. The momentum hasn't really stopped. It's actually kind of gained momentum even more. So, that's been really exciting for us.

Well, it's a way to acknowledge what's happening and also a way to give back in a time when we're actually, you know, our sales are way down because everyone's closed, including us. But we do have small avenues of revenue that we're able to nurture. And part of that is our roasting outfit. And so we were thinking, "Well, if we're roasting already, is there some way we can give back?" And that was one of the ideas–come up with a roast that's dedicated to this particular time and place and take what we can from those sales and give back to relief efforts that are happening to help take care of it.

Coffee's a great community builder, neighborhood builder, and just a connector in so many ways. It's like one of the last human rituals that we have left. And I love being part of trying to nurture that, and when you're part of seeing other people connect and helping them connect, there's something to it that helps you connect to that. And, you know, when you're connecting to a community and that community is getting bigger and bigger and that interconnectivity is just getting amplified and it's, it's a very satisfying, very human experience to be part of that.