Coffee Shops Adapt to Changing Seasons and Customer Habits

Cafés Find New Ways to Connect with Customers

Not long ago, nitro cold brew and butter coffee were the drinks everyone talked about. Those options haven’t disappeared from menus, but the unusual circumstances of the past year have brought a fresh set of trends to coffee shops and cafés.

As operators look for ways to serve customers during stay-at-home orders and concerns about coronavirus transmission, many have adopted curbside and contactless pickup, grab-and-go items, and retail bags of whole beans. Meanwhile, customers facing uncertainty and spending more time at home are seeking comforting flavors and aromas.

We spoke with several operators to learn what they’re offering this fall and beyond.

Nunatak Coffee

Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

Connie and Josiah Vilmin started roasting coffee in 2004 and added a bakery and café in early 2018. Connie oversees the bakery, where she develops recipes for popular scones in flavors such as cranberry pistachio, maple oat, white chocolate raspberry, and blueberry.

The couple had set up a website before the pandemic, but the need to connect with customers in new ways this spring sped up their online shift.

“COVID pushed us in a direction maybe sooner than we were thinking, of finding creative ways to offer [our products],” says Josiah.

While many people took up home baking during the pandemic, not everyone wants to bake from scratch—a gap the Vilmins filled. In May, they began selling take-and-bake scones for pickup.

“The scones are made from scratch and flash frozen here,” Josiah explains. “You can take them to your oven and bake them to your specs when you want them.” Blueberry and white chocolate raspberry are the most popular flavors, so those two are offered for take-and-bake. “As nice as it is to have them baked perfectly in our store, sometimes it’s cool to have them at your convenience at home,” he says.

Trio of scones at Nunatak Coffee.

Take-and-bake scones proved popular for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and other events this year. Even as businesses reopen, Josiah expects to continue offering them, adding seasonal flavors like caramel apple and toffee pecan.

“I see us adding to it with some of our bakery items as we continue,” he says.

Beyond take-and-bake scones, the business has seen increased sales of whole beans as customers make coffee at home. Each summer, they offer a cold brew cola.

“We’ll have it for a few weeks and then it’ll go away,” says Josiah. “We use our wild coffee for that cold brew with a cola-flavored syrup and carbonated water. It’s like drinking a coffee Coke.”

Portrait Coffee Roasters

Atlanta, Georgia

With the slogan “pouring a new narrative,” Portrait is a socially conscious coffee brand dedicated to increasing African American representation in the specialty coffee industry.

Before cofounding Portrait, Erin Fender worked in a candle shop, so she knew the candle-making process and thought soy candles would complement the brand.

“How can we express ourselves through different senses?” she wondered.

The first scent was Rocket Love, a blend of blood orange, sandalwood, and bergamot, named as a tribute to the Stevie Wonder song of the same title.

Rocket Love candle at Portrait Coffee Roasters.

“We felt Stevie was a great reference to Black culture and Black music,” says Fender. “It’s a great leg to our brand.”

The next candle, Mama’s Gun, is an earthy mix of clary sage, basil, and peppermint inspired by Black singer-songwriter Erykah Badu. Although Rocket Love is a fruity, summery scent, Fender plans to keep it available into fall and beyond, with more scents in development.

“People are passionate about having good scents in their homes,” she says. “[They] are looking for different ways to indulge and ways to practice self-care, and I feel like candles are a way to make a home feel more homey.”

Fender wanted the candles to be affordable, so they set the price at $16 for an 8-ounce candle. Portrait staff pour the wax into glass jars, and Fender notes the jars can be reused.

“You can clean out the remaining wax and use it for whatever,” she says.

In September, Portrait also teamed up with a local soft serve ice cream brand called Big Softie. Fender sees a soft serve revival as an emerging trend; she and her husband, Portrait cofounder Aaron Fender, “have a ritual called Big Softie Sundays,” she says. “It’s the highlight of our week! So, I posted about Big Softie at some point, and Sarah, the owner, reached out to our team about doing a collaboration.”

Big Softie and Portrait Coffee Roasters

Big Softie turned Portrait’s Aunt Viv latte (named for Janet Hubert’s character on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”), made with cardamom and brown sugar, into a cold brew ice cream float. They also created a coffee soft serve using Portrait’s Founders roast.

A 2nd Cup

Houston, Texas

After closing its dining room in mid-March, A 2nd Cup quickly shifted to a “Pandemic Pantry,” selling kitchen staples sourced from distributors.

“It definitely filled in a void that we saw with people for just some basic necessities like eggs and flour and yeast,” says operations director Brooke Evans. “[Back in March,] you couldn’t find yeast anywhere.”

A 2nd Cup: Houston’s nonprofit coffee shop working to end human trafficking.

The shop also sold hand sanitizer, toilet paper, tea, chocolate chips, and cocoa. Because the coffee shop has a social mission of raising awareness about human trafficking and runs a job-training program for survivors, all of its sugar, chocolate, and other merchandise is fair trade.

Grocery stores now stock yeast and toilet paper more reliably than they did in the spring, so the shop has moved away from pantry items. Still, they continue to sell drinks such as mocha, chai, cold brew, and lattes in half-gallon containers.

“That’s something that has definitely stuck,” says Evans. “People are opting to get those larger bulk drinks to have at home. They’ll come in once a week and pick up a half-gallon.”

A 2nd Cup is also selling large quantities of tea leaves and coffee beans. Evans believes this is because most customers are still working from home rather than grabbing a to-go coffee on their commute.

Jars of the house-made fair trade syrups are popular as well. Flavors include coconut, caramel, vanilla, secret squirrel (hazelnut and amaretto), mint, mocha, and honey rosemary. The honey rosemary syrup began as a seasonal offering, but it has become so popular that Evans says they plan to keep selling it. Customers use the syrups in lattes, but they can also be used in cocktails.

House-made almond milk, Secret Squirrel syrup, and cold brew at A 2nd Cup.

While Texas allowed dining rooms to reopen at partial capacity, A 2nd Cup has not reopened its dining room and instead added picnic tables outside. They have long sold house-made breakfast tacos, but they are especially popular now with to-go orders.

“We have made sure everything in our shop that we’re selling is stuff that transports well and is still good if you’re taking it home,” says Evans.

In addition to food and drinks, A 2nd Cup partnered with another anti-trafficking organization, Elijah Rising, to sell hand-poured candles in scents like Earl Grey and Almond Milk Latte, along with bath and body products such as lip balm and soap. The candles have sold especially well.

They have also partnered with two other organizations to sell masks. A 2nd Cup logo shirts, mugs, and enamel pins are also available.

“Having that added revenue stream has helped keep us going,” says Evans.