Local coffee shops appear not to be following in Starbucks‘ lead by not having an open-door policy and welcoming customers whether they make a purchase or not.
Kane Ivey opened The Crucible in downtown Staunton five years ago and said he has not noticed a problem with customers spending a lot of time and not making purchases.
“We definitely have people come through and hang out,” Ivey said.
The Crucible has no policy planned for ensuring that customers pay to use space, but Ivey is concerned about coffee prices increasing thanks to droughts in Vietnam and Brazil. He said the cost of coffee has doubled in the past year.
“If you’re not planning ahead, you’re going to have a problem on down the road,” Ivey said.
The Crucible increased costs to customers in December to offset the increased cost of coffee and Ivey anticipates he will have to increase costs again in the spring.
Cat Nap Coffee of Staunton, which is sold online and at Art Hive, is owned by Ryan Brosmer, who said the industry is feeling the price increases.
“The same coffee I sourced even a couple of months ago is $2-$3 more per pound today from my suppliers. So some newer coffees I’ve brought in this year have been priced slightly higher. But anything I sourced prior to the skyrocketing prices has stayed the same. And luckily, at the smaller quantities I purchase at it is a smaller sticker shock…an extra $2/lb. is easier to adapt to when buying 50 lb. at a time compared to 500 lb. or more for high capacity roasteries,” Brosmer said.
However, Brosmer said that many are optimistic for a turnaround.
“Brazil, which accounts for 38 percent of the world’s coffee production, followed in distant second by Vietnam at 17 percent, is expecting a bumper crop following these droughts and the C price will hopefully return to “normal” and possibly even lower than it was before this crisis,” Brosmer said.
Aaron and Bethany Mallory own Happ Coffee at Basic City in Waynesboro. Between Happ and their previous coffee shop which was called Farmhaus on Main, the couple have been in business for more than eight years. They said the time that customers used their business space without making purchases has been negligible.
“We take great delight in being one of those “third spaces” mentioned and it is a priority of ours to get to know our customers and let them get to know us. Once our customers get to know us and our incredible team they seem pretty eager to support us with their hard-earned dollars. In our particular space the restroom is separate from our shop so we don’t have to police restroom usage. In the event that we did have someone using our space without purchasing anything, we’d likely reserve comments for when we need the table for a paying guest or if it started to become a pattern,” Bethany Mallory said.
She added that Happ Coffee does restrict bringing outside food and drink per health department regulations and also because Happ Coffee offers a selection of sandwiches, salads and other edibles.
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Rebecca Barnabi
