BARUCH’S COFFEE
“Don’t get a fright and don’t panic.” This is the advice of veteran coffee roaster and restaurant owner, Aharon Baruch.
Baruch’s business, a roastery and coffee packaging factory and restaurant, is a landmark in Voorbaai, Mossel Bay.
Two weeks after lockdown started, Baruch reopened his factory. It took him those two weeks to obtain a permit. “I then sold essential items to do with Israeli cuisine, but no food.”
Baruch has made the move of closing his restaurant after 22 years in operation and now only has a delicatessen. The change had been in the pipeline. “I took the gap. It was not only because of the virus that I did this. In the first two weeks of lockdown, when I could not sell food, only coffee beans, ground coffee and products, I achieved 50% of turnover.”
Motivation
Baruch said making this money, despite the odds, motivated him to continue.
“I had to retrench 40% of my staff - six people.”
Customers will be able to get takeaways from the deli and many of the old menu items will still be available. Most restaurants and businesses will change to takeaways,” Baruch predicted.
“Suppliers only want cash now. It’s not good because they’re saying they don’t trust you and it’s not fair. Research of commodity prices shows one of the few items that has remained the same price is coffee. My landlord did not take rent for April. Some people were really considerate. When there is a disaster or war, it’s the best time to think. You’re much more clear. If you panic, you will never move forward. Just change how you do business. It’s a hard decision. But you can’t keep things the same and sit and wait. There’s a Jewish saying: you have a gold watch and a cabbage. In good times, you sell the gold watch, in bad times the cabbage. In really prosperous times, you sell both.” Baruch also plans to open a barista and coffee roastery school and to offer cooking classes.