Coffee shops are important for different people in different places. I have argued in some of my previous work that coffee shops are important spaces for people to connect, and important places of community creation. For the next couple of years, I’m exploring some aspects of this in relation to social isolation and loneliness as part of a research project for the Chatty Café scheme.
The Chatty Café scheme has several elements which are designed to help reduce social isolation and loneliness. It began with the creation of Chatter and Natter tables, predominantly in cafes and coffee shops, where a designated table would be allocated for people who were happy to sit and chat with others. The scheme grew, and after the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic has also expanded to one-to-one phone calls from volunteers and online Chatty Café sessions.
I am working with the Chatty Café scheme to try and understand the impact of the Chatty Café services on peoples live in terms of reducing loneliness and social isolation. The research project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and Tudor Trust seeks to explore the impact of the services, but also aims to try and find out where improvements could be made to inform future activities.
An initial stage of this research is to try and gather views on the Chatty Café scheme services through a short survey. The research at this stage focuses on England as this is predominantly where a lot of the activities take place, but I would welcome anyone to complete the survey as it would be fantastic to gain views from people further afield too.
If you have a few minutes to spare it would be really helpful if you could complete the survey, whether you have encountered the Chatty Café scheme before, or not.
If you choose to read one publication about coffee this year, I suggest it is the new book by Karl Wienhold called ‘Cheap Coffee: Behind the Curtain of the Global Coffee Trade’. This book provides an overview of how and why the coffee industry as it is today is not sustainable – as the headlines on the website suggests:
”The green coffee value chain is broken….. Bold ideas and actions are needed to fix it. But a thorough understanding of the context is required for any efforts to be successful.”
The book explains the different elements of how the coffee industry works, highlighting the inequalities that exist, the issues faced by different stakeholders, and the complexity of the issues that face the industry. Importantly the author raises lots of questions, and asks the reader to raise questions about what a sustainable, egalitarian, constructive coffee supply chain would look like.
There is no easy response to this question or others, as is highlighted in the book, the nature of the coffee industry is complex and will require a lot of effort from all involved to foster change:
“It is the responsibility of the entire industry and supply chain to economically incentivize the activities and conditions that it wishes to promote. Producers, many of whom live in poverty and most of whom control less economic resources than the consumers of their products, should not be expected to take on the responsibility and cost of improving environmental sustainability. If you want a farmer to implement shade-growing, humane treatment for workers, and other sustainable practices, you must be prepared to pay for it.” (p.350)
There are so many quotes from the book I want to refer to, but I think the one above is useful in reinforcing the point about responsibility for changes comes from all those involved, including the consumers. As the author states: consumers ‘need to know what real sustainability looks like in coffee, what exactly they need to demand from suppliers, and how to verify it and cut through the fog’ (p.384). I think this book is a great starting point for consumers to understand the problems with coffee industry and inequalities that exist, but also that there is a role for them to promote change.
It also highlights how what sustainability means for the coffee industry is to some extent uncertain, and this is something I’ve been exploring in our recent research project focusing on Indonesia. The understanding of sustainability and how to be more sustainable differs depending on the context, and often the stakeholder you are talking to. The author makes the important point that:
‘coffee companies must ask themselves if they are investing in ensuring sustainability, or just creating the impression of working towards sustainability. Both are effective, but one is cheaper’ (p.281). And I would add to this to say that one is more effective than the other, and it is important efforts are made to work towards encouraging all actors in the coffee industry to recognise the importance of fostering sustainability in the industry, not just to be able to put labels on products that indicate they are produced more sustainably, but to really ensure that the industry has a sustainable future for the millions of families involved.
I usually deliver various lectures to students on the coffee industry and issues related to sustainable coffee, and this will most definitely be used added to the reading list. For those just starting to explore how the industry works, way coffee is traded, and the price of coffee, but this book managed to explain everything in a really accessible manner, which I think will have wide appeal.
I’ve often argue how the coffee industry is a useful lens to explore so many different geographical concepts and processes, and for me this book reinforces that point, from globalisation, agricultural change and climate change to trade, labour issues, sustainable development and more. Hopefully one day I will get the opportunity to teach a whole module on coffee to explore some of these issues.
I have now digressed from the point of this blog post which was to highlight how interesting and useful I found this book. There is no one solution to the challenges facing the coffee industry, but a more collaborative approach that recognises these problems need addressing, and a commitment to trying to support a sustainable industry is a good start.
In 2019 the International Coffee Organisation launched their first Coffee Development Report. This focused on supporting economic viability in the coffee industry. I found this an incredibly valuable report, not only in terms of demonstrating the breadth of issues affecting the sustainability of the coffee sector, but also in terms of seeing where there was a need to find out more. It has been an incredibly useful document in terms of my own research projects, but also as a tool for teaching different aspects of the coffee industry. The ICO has now published their second coffee report, the Value of Coffee: Sustainability, Inclusiveness, and Resilience of the Coffee Global Value Chain. There was also a virtual event to launch the report which led to some great discussions; you can view the video of the event here.
This report complements three shorter publications produced by the ICO over the last year which focus more specifically on the impact of covid-19 on the global coffee sector: coffee break 1 focuses on the demand side; coffee break 2 focuses on covid-19 and market fundamentals; and coffee break 3 reveals findings from a survey of ICO exporting members. While covid-19 has inevitably dominated the concerns of industry stakeholders for the last year, the report focuses on broader issues facing the industry, acknowledging the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
“The coffee sector has also been hit by the coronavirus. The future of coffee and its resilience and adaptation to changes are threatened. The coffee value chain is facing an unprecedented situation, since coffee production, trade, retail and consumption have all been negatively impacted by the pandemic.” P.8
It considers the different dynamics and governance of the coffee global value chain to consider the value of coffee, for all those involved, and how to foster sustainable pathways for the future. The report is formed of four key sections, Section A which considers the rise of the coffee Global Value Chain, Section B which examines the concept of resilience for the coffee global value chain, Section C which explores the economic, social and environmental impacts of the coffee Global Value Chain in producing countries and part D which outlines policy implications and recommendations to work towards a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient Global Value Chain.
As a geographer who has been following the developments of the global value chain framework since it’s earlier days in the 2000s, and observing how over time it has been applied to the coffee industry it was interesting to see this framework at the forefront of the discussion. The report provides an outline of what the coffee Global Value Chain looks like (see page 11), and recognises that crucially this needs to move beyond the dichotomy of exporting/producing countries and importing/consuming countries to recognise the complex nature of the international trade involve in the coffee industry. This prompted me to think how this compares to the Specialty Coffee Association’s (SCA) coffee value chain systems map which I think tries to capture the complexity a little more by not showing the value chain in a linear format. Nevertheless, the diagram presented in the report is a helpful reminder of the different stages in the value chain and provides a basis for discussion about strategies for upgrading within the coffee global value chain: upgrading of green coffee; functional upgrading and upgrading at the farm level. These are explored in detail in the report.
There are lots of findings and recommendations in the report that I could write about, but I think one of the most important is how it demonstrates that working towards a more sustainable and inclusive has the potential to contribute to a range of the Sustainable Development Goals.
As well as this, it highlights the importance of co-operating in addressing the challenges facing the industry, and some of the activities that are already working towards this.
“The coffee price crisis and the covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of international cooperation between the public and private sectors to address the immediate challenges faced by coffee stakeholders and to build a sector that is inclusive, resilient, and sustainable”.p.21
There are so many challenges facing the coffee industry, from the coffee price crisis, to issue of labour shortages, and there is potential for future shocks like the covid-19 pandemic to have further impacts that the industry needs to be prepared for – from immediate issues such as political instability or pandemics, to the longer term issues around climate change. A more resilient industry needs to be fostered, and the report indicates in a number of areas where more research is needed to work towards this, and the different platforms being created to support dialogue, such as the Coffee Public-Private Task force.
The report refers to a range of existing research, reports and activities which provide a good foundation for understanding the issues facing the industry, with some I hadn’t seen before. There are examples from different countries about activities taking place, and how different issues have been investigated. For example, when discussing how different countries are supporting the development of their coffee industry it refers to the course programme for the Coffee Technology Centre at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Kenya which offers a certificate in coffee technology and quality management, a pathway for encouraging young people to remain (and become) involved in the coffee industry. Another interesting data portal I ended up looking via the report was the Food Security Portal where you can track the volatility of commodity prices for various products from coffee to soy beans, and view tools such as the Excessive Food Price Variability Early Warning System. I was pleased to see some discussion of the potential for the circular economy to be important for practices in the industry to work towards a more sustainable future, which is an area of research I hope to continue contributing to. These were just a couple of examples, and there are many from across different countries, regions and stages of the coffee value chain that make this report really interesting, but will also once again be a useful teaching tool.
It’s clear in this report that the challenges facing there are many challenges facing the industry, and that the industry in complex, but there is the potential to foster a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient value chain.
The research for this article, and indeed the writing of the article itself, was completed long before the covid-19 pandemic had begun. There is much more to write about how the pandemic has affected the coffee shop industry, with current restrictions in the UK only allowing for takeaway business, and the ‘stay at home’ guidance meaning that the number of people visiting coffee shops is only a small fraction of what it was this time a year ago.
The article explores how coffee shops have the potential to play various roles in urban spaces, how they can facilitate connections, foster community development and enrichment, through business and consumer activity.
Coffee shops have been described as ‘third places’ in urban lives separate from the work and home, providing places for people to meet, relax and develop connections. However, the growing presence of coffee shops in the urban landscape has meant that they increasingly take on a wider range of roles, becoming spaces of both leisure and work but also providing spaces of sociality in which people can develop connections, and potentially communities. The roles of coffee shops in five cities in England are explored in order to consider how they can be understood not only as spaces of consumption, but spaces which facilitate connection in increasingly isolated urban lives, and generate the potential for communities to develop. By understanding the varied ways in which businesses and consumers co-create these spaces, it may be possible to increase their potential as ‘spaces of community’.
When the first covid-19 lockdown restrictions were lifted last summer, people did start to go back to visiting coffee shops, although to previous levels, and given the ongoing situation it is likely to be a while before the kinds of interactions discussed in this article will be commonplace again. That said, in my current research project about coffee shops and consumption during the covid-19 pandemic many participants talk about the desire to go back to meeting friends in coffee shops, to go back to a similar routine they had before. It is likely we will see changes in the coffee shop industry, perhaps there will no longer be as many, perhaps we will start to see more in residential locations.
The newly published article reveals a glimmer of what coffee shops can be, and it is my hope that they are able to return to many of these roles in the future.
I used to spend a lot of time in coffee shops. It was the time spent in these spaces where I observed the multitude of social activities and interactions taking place. It was these observations, combined with an interest in why there were so many coffee shops appearing that prompted my journey into researching and writing about this industry.
One of the first ideas I wanted to write about related to coffee shops was how they acted as ‘spaces of community’. I wrote a brief report about this, and have some articles on this concept under review, and who knows they may actually get published at some point. But ultimately, even if they do, the coffee shop industry has changed so much this year, in so many countries that their ability to act as community spaces as I’ve have observed in the past will have changed.
In pre-Covid times coffee shops would be hubs of activity from hosting work meetings, friends catching up, right up to organised reading groups and other meet-up groups. Some types of coffee shops operate on a social model, for example board game coffee shops like the Dice Box in Leamington, where the whole idea is to have a place to go to be social out of the house. Those interactions are now more limited, and while many coffee shops (including some of the board game coffee shops) are open, many are experiencing much lower visitor numbers and revenues. Many coffee shops have made huge efforts to try and adapt their venues to accommodate social distancing, provide enhanced cleaning and so on. But for many people going to a coffee shop just isn’t part of their daily life right now, and this will inevitably have an impact.
A recent article in the Guardian provided some views from residents of Melbourne and how their coffee consumption has changed their year, and how some people miss the coffee shop. I have been doing some research about changing coffee consumption habits in the UK and Portugal, and for many people there is a desire to still visit coffee shops, and lots of people have been back to coffee shops once lockdown restrictions were eased, but regular visits aren’t part of their working lives as they were before. I fit into this category. I only visited coffee shops a handful of times since March, and when I have done so it’s for takeaway coffee when I’ve been out of the house for something else, like getting my flu jab.
I can’t help wonder what the future is for this industry, and I guess it’s my job as a researcher to try and consider this, but more importantly I worry about the impact on the people who work in this industry. Setting up and running a coffee shop is not easy, and for most businesses requires a high turnover of customers to remain viable. With ongoing restrictions, and the potential increase of restrictions as we head into winter, the prospect of people flocking back to city centres doesn’t seem to be on the horizon.
I did not intend this to be a bleak blog post, it was really just a reaction to going into a coffee shop and it being empty, and not the vibrant place I was used to visiting. If you’re thinking of buying coffee from home, perhaps think about supporting a local business near you to try and ensure we can support these businesses and the people who run them, so that they can continue to be spaces of community and part of our activities.
Before coronavirus hit, the UK had a thriving coffee shop culture, with around 26,000 coffee shops across the country. But by the end of March 2020 many coffee shops were closed, or only open for takeaway. Up to 92% of coffee shops are estimated to have closed at some point during the lockdown, as it was not viable, or possible, to continue on a purely takeaway basis.
By September 2020, many have reopened, although it is thought that around one third of coffee shops remain closed and some may never reopen. The Eat Out To Help Out scheme, which gave diners big discounts, boosted sales in August. But the amount spent in coffee shops remains significantly reduced, with spending on takeaway hot drinks still at 50% of 2019 levels.
Coffee shops had become important places in many people’s lives, for some as a place to get a caffeine fix on the way to work, for others as a place to gather and meet friends, or as a place to work. In a previous research project I explored how coffee shops were important community spaces in the urban landscape. But this landscape has been completely transformed by COVID-19. The pandemic forced coffee shops to close, or shift their business to a greater focus on takeaway and online sales. And coffee consumers, suddenly with much more time at home, shifted their consumption patterns too.
Coffee drinking during the lockdown
I’m carrying out some ongoing research with coffee drinkers to find out how their consumption patterns have changed over the course of lockdown. So far, a survey I’ve conducted of 1,000 people who regularly visited coffee shops before the pandemic offers some insights into what the future holds for the coffee industry.
Unsurprisingly, people bought more coffee to drink at home, as well as coffee making equipment, during lockdown. Numerous reports detail how sales of coffee soared in supermarkets, as well as direct from coffee roasters too. My research indicates that the most popular pieces of equipment to purchase included a coffee grinder, espresso machine, coffee pod machine, and filter equipment like the V60 and the Aeropress.
In terms of where coffee was purchased, around half of respondents said they had bought more coffee than usual in the supermarket, but over 30% also bought more online from coffee roasters directly. One in ten respondents recognised they needed a steady stream of coffee and started a coffee subscription, recognising that the return to normal wasn’t likely to happen any time soon.
For consumers who bought equipment there was usually also an interest in learning about how to better prepare coffee too, with YouTube being a popular source of information. With their new-found coffee knowledge and equipment there was indication from some that they would be less likely to buy as much coffee in shops going forward, in part because they had invested money on preparing it at home.
A return to the coffee shop?
While there is encouragement from the government to get back to the office, a large proportion of people in the UK are still working from home. This has significant implications for the coffee shops whose customer base is commuters and office workers. It is not surprising that even the large coffee shop chains are having to consider their future. Costa Coffee has said that up to 1,650 jobs are at risk; Pret a Manger is closing 30 outlets, along with cutting nearly 2,900 staff.
For many coffee shop chains, there is the option to reorganise, restructure and scale back activities while uncertainties remain. But for the smaller independents these options are not necessarily available.
Research from coffee industry analysts Allegra revealed that after lockdown restrictions eased 55% of their respondents had visited a coffee shop – this came second only to visiting friends or family. As coffee shops began to reopen, there were scenes of long queues at shops and drive-throughs.
But this does not necessarily paint an accurate picture of what the future holds. While people are visiting coffee shops again, they are not doing so as frequently as before. And this is unlikely to change while working from home remains prevalent and while the risk of COVID-19 remains present. Our research found that around half of respondents intended to visit coffee shops the same amount as before but only when back in a “normal” working pattern. Around 20% indicated they would visit less, primarily because of concerns around getting COVID-19.
This did leave around a third of respondents saying they intend to visit coffee shops more, however. They explained this was because they wanted to support local businesses and also because they felt more connected to their local communities since lockdown. This raises a question about whether the future of the coffee shop industry is less tied to the areas around offices and commuter hubs, but more to the residential areas where people are now spending more time.
For coffee shops to remain a thriving part of where we live and work, they need a regular customer base. Without this the industry will have to change to reflect the new consumption habits of the COVID-19 era.
As Covid-19 lockdown restrictions were eased in the UK, and more coffee shop branches began to reopen there were reports of long queues to drive-thru coffee shop branches, as people sought to purchase the food and drinks in places they would have once took for granted. According to Allegra’s World Coffee Portal after visiting family, going to a café or coffee shop was the most popular reason for going out. Despite this optimistic view, the coffee shop industry, and the hospitality sector more broadly has been severely affected by the Covid-19 crisis, with challenging times ahead.
Until March 2020, the UK had a growing and vibrant coffee shop culture, and a rising presence of specialty coffee shops. The spread of COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions saw the familiar high street coffee shop culture grind to a halt, and questions arise over its future. Have coffee shop consumer habits changed? Will people return to their pre-Covid-19 coffee shop consumption habits? As lockdown restrictions were eased in the UK many local media reports emerged about the optimistic return of café cultures, as coffee shops (and restaurants) sought permission to increase seating availability outside to accommodate social distancing.
As lockdown restrictions were introduced, with only essential shops remaining open, coffee shops were required to switch to takeaway only, although many had little option but to close completely. With people suddenly spending more time at home, and fewer options for coffee out of the house, most coffee consumers altered their coffee consumption habits. There were reports of how the lockdown led to a rapid rise in online sales of coffee as consumers no longer had the option to pick up coffee on their way to work, or as part of their usual routines.
Obtaining coffee kit
Research conducted with over 1,000 consumers during and after the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK explored how coffee and coffee shop consumption habits have changed, and how this might have an impact on the industry in the future.
18% of respondents invested in coffee making equipment during the lockdown to try and recreate the barista crafted beverages they would have usually purchased from the coffee shop. The most popular pieces of equipment to purchase included: a coffee grinder, espresso machine, coffee pod machine, the V60, and the Aeropress.
Coffee being prepared with a V60
Online Learning
Many people have used the enforced time at home to learn new skills, and for many coffee shop consumers, learning how to make coffee has been part of that. The coffee expert, and Youtuber, James Hoffman witnessed a rise in YouTube traffic since the lockdown, and his YouTube channels were mentioned specifically by a third of respondents who said they had searched online for information about how to make coffee at home. YouTube was the most popular source of information for how to make coffee, followed by individual coffee roaster websites. Respondents were most commonly looking for how to grind coffee, how to make espresso, and how to make iced coffee. But will people who invested money in coffee equipment and spent the time learning how to make it at home, simply switch back to visiting coffee shops once they are able to? Of those people who had invested equipment 25% suggested that they might visit coffee shops less because they had spent money on the equipment to make it at home.
Supporting businesses
Overall, 47% of respondents indicated they would visit coffee shops the same amount as before the lockdown, 22% indicated they would visit less (with the primary reason related to concerns of getting Covid-19). However, 31% responded that they intended to visit coffee shops more, in part because they missed going to coffee shops, but also to support their local coffee shop and the people that work there.
Many consumers recognised that the future of many coffee businesses may be at risk and that their decision to buy coffee direct from roasters was part of their effort to try and support independent businesses. 10% of respondents started a coffee subscription, with 100% of these expecting to continue their subscription into next year. This was in part due to the acknowledgement that for many people a ‘return to normal’ is not going to take place any time soon with the prospect of working at home like to continue for some time.
While it’s possible to create different coffee at home, for many people visiting a coffee shop is about more than just about what is consumed, it is about the place itself, and the people that work and visit there. In a previous research project examining the roles of coffee shops in urban spaces it was demonstrated how coffee shops are important spaces of community, as people use these spaces to connect, meet, work, and spend time.
The ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme in the UK which aimed to encourage people to starting visiting cafes, bars and restaurants has certainly had an impact with coffee shops across the country experiencing a rise in visitor numbers. But will this last beyond the government subsidised scheme, and will this be enough to restore consumer confidence in visiting these places?
An uncertain future
Of the 22% of respondents who indicated that they would visit coffee shops less than before the lockdown the primary reason was concerns about getting COVID-19, followed by saving money, and preferring to make coffee at home. The survey data was collected at a particular point in time, during the COVID-19 lockdown, and it may be as people return to their pre-lockdown activities that these views may change, particularly as many businesses have made great efforts to demonstrate their health and safety measures in place to protect staff and consumers.
The UK high streets were already in a process of change, and under strain from reduced footfall and activity. The onset of Covid-19 has placed them under even more pressure, raising questions about their survival and role in the future. If coffee shops are to retain their presence in towns and cities across the country, they need people to visit them frequently to be able to operate. Some coffee shops have reported an encouraging rise in sales, as lockdown restrictions have eased, but in August, the think tank Centre for Cities suggested that in August high street footfall had reached 81% of pre-lockdown levels nationally, but that in London it was only 28%. These numbers mean the viability of some coffee shops will be threatened, and there is potential for covid-19 to have a long-term impact on the industry, changing the nature of coffee shop culture in the UK. The statistics from Allegra, and from this research suggest that coffee shops still remain high on the list of places where people do want to visit, but if they will visit enough given changes that have been made to daily routines across the country, remains to be seen.
Since we’ve been spending so much time at home recently, we decided to try growing our own mushrooms again. If you have read some of my blog posts on coffee and the circular economy here on the ‘cafespaces’, you may well have already heard about GroCycle who I have mentioned before.
GroCycle produce kits for growing mushrooms at home using recycled coffee grounds, alongside helping others to start their own mushrooms farms, and providing various mushroom cultivation courses.
I have tried this before and was impressed with the results. Given I could guarantee I was going to be at home to use the mushrooms, and it seemed like a good activity to entertain the toddlers for a few minutes a day, I decided to try this again.
The box arrived and we made an incision in the inner package and soaked it overnight as per instructions. Then it was just a case of keeping it in a corner of the kitchen away from the light, and spraying it with a bit of water in the morning and in the evening.
Then after a while it’s possible to see changes happening inside the pack, and after a few days, the pace of growing seems to pick up. Once you can see tiny little mushrooms they seems to grow really fast. There is a noticeable difference between morning and the evening.
Then it’s just a case of waiting until they are big enough to harvest and then find ways to cook them.
We are now growing our second crop from this box, so we’re going through the same process again, so it looks like I need to find more mushroom recipes. The box suggests you should 2-3 crops per box, so we may have more after this round too.
From coffee to mushrooms, an excellent way to recycle used coffee grounds, and a great example of how coffee can be part of the circular economy.
Until recently the UK had a thriving coffee shop culture, with most high streets offering a range of different independent and chain coffee shop outlets. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold, fewer people were leaving home until the country was placed in lockdown and travel was only possibly for a much smaller number of people. The high street coffee shop culture that was present in so many towns and cities across the country completely changed. Many coffee shops, including the large chains closed, while some tried to implement new takeaway only models. As the lockdown restrictions begin to be relaxed, there are signs that some coffee shops are working on ways to reopen.
With the closure of most coffee shops, many people have been spending weeks and months at home, and have had to prepare their own coffee. There have been reports on the BBC that many coffee roasters were seeing rising online sales as people tried to ensure they had the coffee experience they were used to out of the house. For some people this has meant investing in equipment for making coffee, and finding out about new coffee roasters, or brewing methods. For others there may have been just a change in the amount of coffee consumed, but not necessarily the type of coffee, or how it was prepared.
At Coventry University we’re beginning a new research project which explores consumption behaviours during the COVID-19 lockdown to try and understand how people may have altered their coffee consumption habits, and perhaps more importantly about their consumption intentions for the future.
One of my earlier research projects on coffee shops highlighted their role in as ‘spaces of community’, places that brought people together whether that was for the coffee, the space, the food, or the people in them. In the face of ongoing measures to ensure social distancing there are implications for the roles that coffee shops can play. Changing coffee consumption patterns are just one element of this, and acts as a starting point for a broader research agenda around the role and future of coffee shops.
We have created a short survey which aims to capture information about if, and how people have changed their coffee consumption habits during the lockdown restrictions due to COVID-10, and how these might change in the future when restrictions are eased. Please consider taking a few minutes to complete the survey here: Coffee consumption and the impact of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions
Note: While we are exploring the situation in the UK, we are interested in experiences from elsewhere around the world too, and recognise there have been a range of COVID-19 restriction. There is a question at the end of the survey to identify which country you are from.
Until recently the UK, like many other countries across the world, had a vibrant coffee shop culture. Towns and cities filled with bustling coffee shops, with many people visiting them on a regular basis as part of their daily lives. In the last few months, this has all begun to change as COVID-19 began to spread and countries sought to implement progressively stringent measures of social distancing, culminating in lockdowns for many populations. The high street coffee shop culture that has become an integral part of many places abruptly receded. Some stores tried to limit customer numbers to enable social distancing, others switched to a takeaway only model, and ultimately many have had to close due to government restrictions on which essential businesses could remain open. While many retail sectors have tumbled due to store closures as a result of the UK-wide lockdown restrictions, a recent BBC News article reported how coffee was one of the few industries that was experiencing a rise in sales. It used the example of Rave coffee roasters, based in Cirencester, that had to take on more staff to cope with increased demand. However, this boom is not being experienced by all coffee shops and roasters, which do not have the option to stay open, do not have a roasting part of their business, or do not have the facilities to change their business to an online model.
At the other end of the scale there are indications that for some coffee shops the loss of income resulting from the extended closure will mean that business will be permanently closed, which in turn has impacts on baristas and staff who have been furloughed or may lose their jobs. Given the size of the coffee shop industry (£10.5 billion in the UK alone with over 25,000 outlets), even a small percentage change in activity will have dramatic impacts on businesses and livelihoods. As in many other sectors of the economy, the coffee industry has had to adapt rapidly. Online sales of coffee have risen sharply as people in isolation seek to ensure they have coffee to keep them supplied at home.
The Specialty Coffee Association ran a survey of its members (from a range of countries) to gauge the impacts from and responses to the COVID-19 situation. The large majority of coffee shop retail and roaster respondents acknowledged that the spread of the virus was going to have a negative impact on their business, with some suggesting that they were likely to go out of business as a result. The survey revealed how for many businesses sales to consumers in-person had drastically reduced, while sales to consumers online had increased. It also highlighted how there were a range of ways businesses were responding to the spread of the virus, with key strategies including a move towards online sales, switching to takeaway sales, communication, considering grocery channels and investigating delivery which were explored in more depth in a series of webinars.
The COVID-19 crisis has meant that for those coffee shops and roasters that have been able to remain active, they have had to adapt their businesses rapidly. There have been examples of coffee shops changing their physical layout so they can facilitate takeaway online and ensuring social distancing, with others focusing on online retail sales of their roasted coffee (or coffee of other local roasters) to try and maintain their customer base. Other coffee shops are trying to completely shift to an online model, and other still that are trying to team up with other local businesses to expand their product offering. There are clearly lots of different activities taking place in the industry to try and stay active.
In many places, coffee shops are an important part of the community, with people enjoying the routine of visiting a local coffee (or one near their workplace) as part of their daily lives. Many coffee shops and roasters have sought to maintain that connection with their consumer base through enhancing their marketing and engagement online via social media and email communications. Communication has been key for these businesses to let consumers know they are still operating, and to maintain that connection. While for many businesses social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are already an important part of operations, for others this is a more embryonic part of the business and has required a shift to use these as the dominant communication channel, rather than face-to-face interactions in the coffee shop. For some business, these adaptations of moving to online sales and increased digital marketing may come naturally, while for others these require new skill sets and resources, and they will need to support to be able to do so.
At the same time, with more people drinking coffee at home and a reported increase of purchases of coffee-making equipment for the home, there is the potential for consumer habits to change, which could have an impact on coffee consumption habits in the future. Many coffee businesses have recognised this shift and have been producing various brew guides for making different types of coffee that people would have previously just had made for them in the coffee shop.
There is currently no detailed plan for when restrictions in the UK will be relaxed, or when coffee shops may be able to resume operations again, although other countries have started to remove some restrictions, with coffee shops being some of the first businesses to reopen. On 20th April, Germany – having experienced a sustained reduction in the rate of new COVID-19 infection case, has eased restriction on shops, with many people returning to some of their favourite coffee shops in part to resume their coffee habits, but also to re-connect with their local coffee shop and its staff. While many businesses may be keen to reopen, an opinion piece on United Baristas highlights how there are many challenges associated with this. It stressed that there needs to be government support for the industry, and there also needs to be clear government guidance on issues related to social distancing, personal protection requirements for staff/customers, as well as support from landlords. When the UK emerges from lockdown, it is not going to be a return to business as usual; business will still need to navigate the changing landscape, and will need support to do so.
The impact of COVID-19 on coffee shop culture has been global, and the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) has recognised in a recent report on the crisis that the spread of the virus is ‘likely to have a profound impact on the global coffee sector, including production, consumption and international trade’. These impacts on the coffee industry, and on coffee shops and roasters in particular are still uncertain. So many questions can be raised about the future of the coffee industry, in part, because the COVID-19 situation is still rapidly evolving and societies are having to adapt and shift as it does so. Researching the coffee and coffee shop industries has been ongoing in the Centre for Business in Society (CBiS) with research examining its development and roles in towns and cities, their function as ‘spaces of community’, as well as considering issues around the circular economy, and sustainability in the coffee supply chain. CBiS will continue to explore the developments in this sector to examine: What impact COVID-19 will have on the operation of coffee shops and roasters? What impact will this have on the places they are located? Will consumers shift their behaviours back to pre-lockdown conditions after restrictions are relaxed, or will a new coffee culture emerge? Will coffee shops return to the vibrant, bustling spaces in the high street as they have been in the past?
For more information on research on the coffee and coffee shop industries from the Centre for Business in Society, please contact: Dr Jennifer Ferreira or visit the research blog ‘Café Spaces’.
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