Harris Coffee has launched the Harris Café Recovery Project, a new scheme to assist coffee shops in rebuilding as they return to serving their local communities.
Café owners around Australia are invited to apply for the Harris Café Recovery Project, with up to 25 café owners eligible to receive a share of the $1 million worth of support.
“Between the bushfires and COVID-19, cafés across Australia have been hit hard in recent months. It has become clear how important cafés are to Australians and their communities,” says David Ansell, Head of Harris Coffee.
“As one of the original Australian coffee roasters, we felt like we needed to do our bit to get cafés back on their feet and help keep doors open, returning them to being an integral part of their local area.”
The announcement of the Harris Café Recovery Project follows the release of a survey commissioned by Harris Coffee that found 70 per cent of Australians are worried our cafes will never be the same as they were pre-COVID. The same number saw local cafés as the centre of the community, ahead of other amenities including the post office.
The Harris Café Report, conducted by YouGov Galaxy, surveyed 1000 Australian café-goers and small business owners to uncover attitudes towards Australia’s café culture and owners’ fears and hopes in a post-COVID-19 world.
The survey found two thirds of small business owners in hospitality – the majority of which are café owners – are worried that Australia’s next generation will be too scared to work in cafés as a result of the recent disruption to the industry.
“Through our Harris Café Report, we found that 80% of small business owners in hospitality believe they won’t recover from recent hardships without support,” David says.
“Forty-three per cent also said they won’t be able to stay open longer than six months without the support.”
Harris Coffee is encouraging customers to support their local café by buying a coffee, and for cafés struggling, to apply for the Harris Café Recovery Project.
For more information, visit www.harriscoffee.com.au
Image: David Ansell, Head of Harris Coffee
