Image by suhakaralar from Pixabay
Some people get passed a torch or a baton in a crisis.
My husband and I held up a coffee roaster in a world on fire, and made the best of things.
The pandemic came in the spring of 2020, but not in time to stop the mayor from having his 57th birthday bash somewhere in town.
The staff at Event Center and Caterer A all quit. They didn't think the mayor was worth their life.
Some of the people with Event Center and Caterer B got sick with the “local heavy flu.”
That left hubby and me at Coffee Castles, needing to figure out how to get on the map so that the company would have money to get us all through whatever was coming next. We were preparing to go to a full takeout model, but we knew the client base we had could not produce enough revenue for the company to survive, which would mean our staff would lose their jobs.
We also knew that the weather was forecast to break in the last week of March. The best weather models I could find on March 2 said the weather was going to improve and turn sunny from March 26-29, and the 29th was the mayor's birthday. We knew the governor was going to shut everything down by April 1 – we could see the Covid data moving in that direction – so it was now or never.
I called the mayor's office on March 2 and invited him to Coffee Castles for his birthday because of the great work he was doing for the city. The mayor accepted, and hubby and I got to work on two fronts: a menu, and an advertising campaign.
For the main course, I selected the “robust” coffee taste of Robusta to add depth to the dry rub for our signature prime rib roast, but in a light roast to avoid the “burnt” taste some people associate with Robusta. I added fire-roasted potatoes with a rub on the skin of oil and salt that would make those skins crackle and pop … and in the seasoning with the thyme, rosemary and and pepper just a hint of tart, fruity Excelsa, also in a light roast … just enough while the sauteed onions and bell peppers provided a coffee-free palette cleanser between bites of beef and potato.
Appetizers? We started with Coffee Castles' famous candied mixed nuts – espresso, brown sugar, butter, cayenne, and sea salt on almonds, pecans, and almonds – on every table. Next came the spring green salad with Parmigiano reggiano and coffee balsamic vinaigrette, along with the soft, dark rolls scented with the woody/earthy notes of a touch of dark roast Liberica.
Dessert and coffee – I ran a bar of every coffee, blended coffee, and coffee cake, scone, and pastry that was not with the Coffee Castles table blend that came with the meal.
Every table had takeout coupons for the nuts, the bread, the vinaigrette, and the cookbook, all with a 20 percent discount and where to download our new app. All of the coupons for the nuts were cashed out before the party was over!
“It's nuts how good these nuts are!” the mayor and many others were saying.
My daughter had to print new coupons for everyone to bring with their nut orders! I also handed out coupons for every single thing at the bar, so people left the party with fistfuls of coupons.
Coffee Castles had also let it be known for four weeks that we would be hosting the mayor, and we had been filling orders and handing out takeout coupons for everything to everyone who suddenly became interested. Business had doubled every week, and on the day of the mayor's party, my husband and one quarter of the staff had to hold down the takeout orders for the store because people wanted to feel they were as good and worthy as the mayor, buying out the front of the store because they couldn't use the patio. We apologized for the inconvenience with the same 20 percent discount coupons that were on the patio tables!
On April 1, the governor shut the state down, but left the exact implementation up to the cities.
Event Center and Caterer A and Event Center and Caterer B would never reopen – they were classed as non-essential, and the shutdown proved too long for them to survive.
“But restaurants, including coffee shops, are essential to the people,” the mayor said while holding his latest cup of mocha from Coffee Castles.
We sold out our takeout orders every day from April 2, 2020 to June 15, 2022, when we finished buying up Event Centers A and B and had our grand reopening at all three locations. During our takeout years, whenever we sold out, we gave the stragglers an apology, moved them to the front of the queue for the next day's orders, and gave them yet another 20 percent discount coupon. No one ever got so mad that they didn't come back the next day for their orders, so we kept rolling.
The mayor called last month and said, “I look forward to winning re-election, but that's not for certain – what is for certain is that I am DEFINITELY booking Coffee Castles for my 60th birthday party in 2023, no matter what, and if I win my election, plan my victory party for the weekend afterward!”
We turned out a new coffee cake in honor of his campaign. Of course he won, what with all our customers remembering to vote that way.
So much winning, here at Coffee Castles!
Gotta go now and plan the victory party and a 60th birthday party for our most influential customer!