In late March, cafés and the coffee industry were turned upside down. Within a few days, the industry had to adjust the way it operated in order to keep running. Many cafés had to close their doors while others had to change overnight. Toby’s Estate’s focus was to support its café partners in whatever way possible.
“With a lot of uncertainty on how much coffee they would sell, we worked with our cafés to ensure continuous supply of coffee. We had our sales team out doing extra deliveries, which allowed them to order less or more depending on the demand,” Toby’s Estate General Manager Jody Leslie says.
“We offered retail support to our café partners and guidance on how to best display their products. This provided cafés with an alternative way to generate additional revenue, while also meeting a customer need: allowing them to shop and stay local.”
Toby’s Estate also offered its support to healthcare workers around Australia, asking them to get in touch so it could send a box of coffee goodies for them and their team.
“We wanted to support the people working tirelessly during this crisis in any way we could. This meant ensuring those working on the healthcare frontline were getting their hands on their daily coffee fix,” Jody says. “It was just a small gesture but something we hoped would help brighten up people’s days.”
For consumers looking to brighten the day of their local café, Toby’s Estate has also introduced the Support My Local initiative, allowing them to give back when purchasing coffee for home online.
“For us as a business, we are proud of how quickly everyone adapted to the new normal, by becoming more flexible and creative in how we operated. It really was a team effort to ensure the coffee was roasted, bags were packed, coffee was delivered, and phones were answered,” Jody says.
“As an industry, we should be proud of our resilience and our ability to adapt so quickly in times of such uncertainty.”
For more information, visit www.tobysestate.com.au/supportmylocal