Lifestyle continues to reach out to businesspeople all over South Florida to ask three questions: How did COVID-19 and the shutdown impact your business; how did you position the business for success amid reopening; how will experiencing this unprecedented pandemic change the way you conduct business moving forward? Today, we check in with Sonia Azuaje, co-owner of Cubico Coffee. Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to Phase 1 reopening for Broward County.
Backstory: The family-owned business sells coffee online and on Amazon and roasts coffee for coffee shops, small restaurants and ice cream/gelato shops.
The impact: We have seen a drop in online sales since the COVID-19 started. In fact, we are roasting only three times a week instead of five or six times a week like we used to. The roasting service that we provide to coffee shops and other retailers has dropped substantially, around 80%, since most of them have closed temporarily or only are focusing on food items and less in beverages.
In the interim: We have focused more on our online sales. We have learned to be creative and think out of the box. The positive thing that this pandemic has shown us is the importance of different lines of revenue. If it wasn’t for the online aspect of our business, we would be closed by now.
The future: [The pandemic] has changed our perspective and given us more ideas to implement in the near future. We are focusing on adding more revenue lines by adding new products, selling our coffee at other online retailers and, hopefully, opening a retail front by the end of the year.
Giving back: It’s been a difficult time for all of us, we have reached out to our most loyal customers and sent them encouraging words and coffee samples. We have given coffees to our family doctors for their hard and heroic work.
[Editor’s note: Sonia is pictured above with her brother, Roberto. Photo by Eduardo Schneider]
