Coffee shop responds with grit, heart and more coffee

The Carabellos were determined not to let COVID-19 close the business they had started a decade ago.

The pandemic and its new reality hit soon after Justin and Emily Carabello, owners of Carabello Coffee in Newport, arrived back to the United States following a trip to Nicaragua, where they visited their coffee-producing partners and the charitable organizations they support.

Carabello Coffee’s wholesale coffee roasting business decreased by 95 percent overnight as the offices, restaurants, businesses, and churches that it served closed. Something had to be done to save the company.

“We saw an opportunity to deepen our customers’ loyalty by continuing to serve and support them. Within days our team came up with the new ideas that would keep us engaged with our customers,” Justin Carabello said. “On the retail side of the business, people were desperate for any small sense of normal like taking a walk and getting their favorite drink.”

Carabello Coffee scheduled several Instagram Live events called “State of Carabello Coffee” that were used to engage customers. Instead of a café experience, it started using two side windows for walkup service. Customers loved it and started sharing social media posts. Carabello Coffee was added to the Joe Coffee app and Uber Eats platforms. That allowed for improved efficiency for orders, contactless payments, and home delivery.

The company also created 1-liter sized bottles of its most popular drinks so customers could come less frequently but still take something home to enjoy for several days.

The innovation and teamwork paid off. Online orders increased by 800 percent for the first eight weeks of the pandemic. Web sales have increased 400 percent for the year. Justin Carabello said the company immediately cut all spending that wasn’t vital, and it looked for every opportunity to convert existing inventory into cash.

“Everyone was willing to help. People made sacrifices for one another,” Justin Carabello said. “The unity and the bond that has now been created among this team, is for us … unparalleled in the history of our business.”

Carabello Coffee created daily and weekly “Keep the Lights On” budgets that allowed the company to unify its team around achieving revenue goals and keeping workers’ jobs. When it received its federal Paycheck Protection Program loan, it brought back all of its employees full-time. The company asked workers for input, giving them time for “corona projects” to improve themselves professionally and the business. It re-opened its café seating on June 15.

“Our God has been faithful to us, and the team that surrounds my wife Emily and I … is made up of some wonderfully resilient and creative people,” Justin Carabello said. “While it’s been exhausting, and frightening at times, we are grateful to have had this opportunity to be tried and tested.”

Featured image at top: Justin and Emily Carabello have the comeback story of the year, leveraging social media and other digital platforms to rebound from a 95 percent drop in sales.

Carabello Coffee is a Goering Center core member, and the Goering Center is sharing this content as part of its Business Courier supplement for the 2020 Family & Private Business Awards. View more of the digital supplement here.