COFFEE
Getting Through with a Strong Brew Top Tips to Survive Lockdowns
P
aul Baker is the GM of Vivace Espresso, a 100% NZ owned and operated business, supplying high quality coffee to cafes, hotels and restaurants nationwide. With more than 25 years hospitality experience under his belt, Paul is no stranger to facing upheavals and challenges. He shares his insights with Hospitality Business and provides some advice for those in the trade to get through yet another lockdown and back on track as quickly as possible. Vivace Espresso supplies coffee to 260 hospitality operators nationwide. What
are you currently experiencing with your clients? It’s very quiet as most cafes are closed due to the lockdown. There was a mad scramble on the Tuesday after it was announced we were going into Lockdown with some cafes trying to cancel their orders that had already been dispatched via couriers. For some it was too late, and they just had to bear the brunt of not receiving any credit back for coffee that had already been dispatched. Most café operators are resigned to the fact that they may have to use old coffee when they reopen, if the lockdown carries on too long. Coffee in general should be used within
22 SEPTEMBER 2021 - HOSPITALITY BUSINESS
a maximum of 20 days from roasting, however, most coffee already sent to cafes was roasted a day before lockdown. When cafes do eventually reopen, they will be feeling the downturn for another week at least as they won’t be ordering from us, however, our costs and overheads will be still the same. What support, if any, are you are you offering them at this time? All we can do is to communicate and reassure people that we have done this before and can get through it again. We are also managing our client’s payments if required and would rather have payment plans put into place
