How does a silent cafe use drip bags to prepare coffee powder?

A Shanghai coffee shop staffed mainly by hearing-impaired baristas faced zero income and zero foot traffic during the pandemic. After reopening, with dine-in suspended and delivery communication hindered by masks and hearing barriers, the shop launched an original themed drip coffee bag set to generate revenue, an article on June 14 drawing over 80,000 reads.

The shop, China's only coffee shop certified as a social enterprise, adjusted by joining delivery platforms, protecting product quality, designing offline discounts to bring customers back, and developing peripheral products such as drip coffee bags and coffee beans, meeting demand that shifted from going to the store to enjoying coffee at home.

A silent coffee shop in Shanghai, staffed mainly by hearing-impaired baristas, published an article titled "Please rest assured, we are still alive. But..." on June 14, quickly gaining over 80,000 reads. Under the impact of the pandemic, with dine-in suspended, delivery communication hindered, and masks obscuring lip-reading, the shop was once plunged into a predicament of zero income and zero foot traffic. The baristas hand-drew 12 touching moments from the past few months into illustrations and launched an original themed drip coffee bag set to save themselves. The article sorts out the real difficulties this special coffee shop faces, its self-rescue methods, and business adjustment ideas that coffee shops can learn from under the pandemic, including joining delivery platforms, ensuring product quality, designing offline discounts to bring customers back, and developing peripheral products such as drip coffee bags and coffee beans to meet consumers' shifting demand from "going to the store" to "enjoying at home."

On June 14, a silent coffee shop in Shanghai published an article titled "Please rest assured, we are still alive. But..." which immediately sparked widespread forwarding and discussion among netizens, with reads exceeding 80,000 in just one night. This shop is not only the first of its kind in Shanghai but also currently the only coffee shop in China certified as a social enterprise, with its baristas primarily from the hearing-impaired community.

The article mentioned that the current round of the pandemic in Shanghai dealt a huge blow to this already special coffee shop. Although the store has reopened, dine-in service remains suspended, which leaves the owners quite helpless and has severely affected revenue.

The suspension of dine-in has made it difficult for the silent baristas to continue community-building offline activities and courses. If they try to promote through platform livestreaming, the revenue from online activities seems negligible due to lack of traffic and high platform commissions.

On the other hand, since most staff are hearing-impaired, even if they offer delivery service, they cannot hear the notification sounds and are unable to answer calls from delivery riders.

In addition, during the pandemic everyone wears masks, so the silent baristas cannot hear customers clearly and cannot rely on lip-reading to get information, which significantly hinders communication between baristas and customers.

In the latter part of the article, the shop showed its business situation after Shanghai reopened: 0 income, 0 foot traffic. If this situation continues, whether the shop can stay in business has become everyone's biggest worry. Every employee in the store has also fallen into anxiety because of this.

The baristas reviewed 12 touching moments from the past few months in Shanghai, recorded them through hand-drawn illustrations, and based on these created an original themed drip coffee bag set. They hope that through this original initiative, they can once again save themselves and keep the coffee shop running.

Under the pandemic, there are always tender-hearted gods who give people hope. As of press time, nearly 10,000 sets of the drip coffee bags have been sold. Overnight, countless acts of warmth from strangers gave this coffee shop hope again and comforted the silent baristas' helpless and despairing feelings over the past few months.

The person in charge of the shop also said in an interview with other media that the coffee shop did not lay off staff even during the toughest stage of the pandemic. They did not have high expectations when publishing the article, but because many strangers forwarded it for them, the product became a hot seller.

The shop's business situation has also improved greatly in the past two days. Although dine-in is still not available, fifty or sixty customers come for self-pickup every day. At the same time, the shop has received policy support and been granted rent exemption, so it can temporarily put this worry aside.

Under the pandemic, everyone is having a hard time, and often things do not go as one wishes. When problems arise, one can only adjust their mindset, adjust the business model, and prepare for self-rescue. Quite a few coffee shops did not make it through. Rent is one reason, and unwillingness to step out of one's comfort zone is another.

The pandemic is constantly changing everyone's consumption habits, and consumers' needs are gradually shifting from "going to the store" to "enjoying at home." Therefore, joining delivery platforms is very important, as it can not only bring more exposure opportunities for the brand but also provide higher risk resistance in emergencies.

It should be noted that even if delivery profits are thin, the quality of every cup of coffee must be guaranteed, with the aim of building customers' trust in the brand. Then pair it with offline promotional activities, or a delivery points stamp card activity. When enough stickers or cards are collected, customers can exchange them for a drink in-store, encouraging them to visit the shop and experience its products.

In addition to the gradual transformation of consumption scenarios, coffee consumers' demand for coffee is also gradually changing, from buying a cup of coffee to drink to making a cup of coffee themselves. On the one hand, the public's requirements for coffee are actually not high, as long as it tastes comfortable; on the other hand, making coffee oneself costs less and allows one to have a cup anytime, anywhere.

Therefore, in addition to online delivery and offline discounts, peripheral products such as drip coffee bags, ground coffee, coffee beans, freeze-dried powder, and ready-to-drink coffee liquid should also be launched as soon as possible. "Making coffee yourself" will become the mainstream of coffee consumption, and one cannot merely focus on in-store products.

I believe every owner knows this business is not easy to run, but since they insisted on opening a coffee shop, it proves they have enough passion and the courage to persevere. After the clouds clear, the moon will shine. I believe everyone can find a way to keep going under the broader environment and become even stronger!

"Stay strong!"

Image source: Internet, social platforms

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.