April 27, 2020
STORIES CORNER: Impact Roasters
Navigating the crisis
Impact Roasters
Missing cafe culture? A great cup of coffee is a big part of many people’s day, making it all the more important to source sustainably. Our CloudHub member, Impact Roasters, is on the mission to provide high quality coffee without the negative impacts. They source their bean directly from Ethiopia, streamlining their supply chain and increasing their awareness of the production process.
We heard from Atam Achu of CSR and Sales of Impact Roasters to learn about how they’ve been adapted to manage the COVID-19 crisis. Read ahead to hear how their operations have changed, their ethos, and feelings about the future:
What challenges have you faced in light of the present COVID-19 crisis? How are you overcoming them?
Atam: We’ve faced a whole lot of challenges, some of which includes:
- Closing down one of our shops and sending home some of our staff
- Drop in sales
- Trying to make the shop a bit more safe for visiting customers
- Also the crisis has slowed down our plans of opening up our 3rd new site. We’ve been working on this project for some time now and could not proceed with the hibernation of the real estate agent
To overcome the challenges, we have also done a few things:
- Fully activated our digital strategy. We had not really pushed hard on our digital strategy before the crisis since we had been busy with other things. But with the sudden loss of in shop customers we decided to fully go digital. So our customers now have access to our products online and we deliver to them directly for those in the Copenhagen area and via post to those living further off.
- Serve customers directly at their homes if they buy coffee beans for more than a certain amount.
- Make an appeal to our loyal customers and friends through social media to support us and it’s amazing how much support has poured in.
How has your company ethos shifted? Are you still focusing on achieving the same goals as before, or are you focusing on new goals?
Atam: Our ethos have not overall shifted, but rather re-enforced. Being a socially responsible business, we have mostly just redeployed resources towards other areas of the company that we had not really prioritized before the crisis. So rapid re-deployment has been easy because we had long term goals for the company.
How can people help you continue to develop?
Atam: To help us continue developing we encourage our friends during this crisis period to keep on buying their coffee from our online shops, follow us on our different online channels, share our posts and rate us across the different platforms. Once the crisis is over, we will be happy if you can visit our coffee Roasteries in Valby.
How has the crisis altered where you see your business 2 years from now?
Atam: We cannot really give a verdict on how the crisis has altered our long term vision, since a lot of pieces of the chess are still moving. We can do a full analysis once the crisis is over. However, our long term goals as a company remain the same and we hope to still achieve them subsequently.
Visit Impact Roasters profile in the Cloud Hub
What advice can you share with others about maintaining momentum at this time?
Atam:
Stay Dynamic and Flexible: As a small business, survival is closely tied to dynamism and agility. One must be able to move fast and transform itself in case of crisis or generally when the need arises.
Ask for Help: If things are getting difficult its ok to ask for help or extra support from your customers and you will be shocked by how amazing they can be. We’ve had unbridled support from our base and we are really proud of it.
Being Responsible and Loyal: We don’t see our customers as numbers but as part of our community. We try to stay as responsible as possible and engage them in things that keep them loyal to our brand. Now that we are in a crisis situation, we can now see how its paid off.
Stay Dynamic and Flexible: As a small business, survival is closely tied to dynamism and agility. One must be able to move fast and transform itself in case of crisis or generally when the need arises.
Ask for Help: If things are getting difficult its ok to ask for help or extra support from your customers and you will be shocked by how amazing they can be. We’ve had unbridled support from our base and we are really proud of it.
Being Responsible and Loyal: We don’t see our customers as numbers but as part of our community. We try to stay as responsible as possible and engage them in things that keep them loyal to our brand. Now that we are in a crisis situation, we can now see how its paid off.
“Give me peace of mind to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to see the difference”
– Markus Aurelius
– Markus Aurelius
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