Ethiopia's coffee harvest is wrapping up and coffee samples are becoming available and ready to ship in the Arcana coffee marketplace. Arcana coffee connects roasters directly with small holder farmers in Ethiopia and builds in the hard parts, integrated QC, logistics support and produce a lead transparency. With every passing day, new samples are being registered on Arcana's online marketplace with all the information you'll need to help you make buying decisions and build direct relationships with farmers across Ethiopia. Registering for an account now helps you understand timelines and can assist in planning your 2026 buying with confidence, even if you've never bought direct before.
The minimum is around 20 bags and Arcana can pull multiple roasters to meet that M.O.Q. so you can participate without overcommitting. If you're curious, listen to our recent conversation on the podcast with founder Matthew Thornton. Then explore the marketplace via the link in our show notes and register for an account.
You can also book a meeting with Matthew and he'll walk you through requesting samples, the order process, pulled orders, QC and shipping once coffees are ready. Samples are becoming available now and supporting our advertisers is a great way to support our mission at MAPA Forward to build responsible businesses with responsible pricing models. Check the show notes for details and explore Arcana coffee marketplace today. Welcome to the Daily Coffee Pro by MAPA Forward friends.
I'm your host Lee Safar and this is episode four of a five part series with Carol Saloon from Three Tomatoes and Armand Bar. We are talking about surviving 2025 and 26 as a cafe owner, both very volatile years in the history of our industry. And it doesn't look in any way, shape or form, like this volatility is going to end. And Carol, one of the challenging parts about this volatility is that we don't really know if we're at the beginning of it, we're at the middle of it, or we're coming to the end of it.
And I think that is something that a lot of cafe owners out there are really nervous about. And so what we're going to talk about in this episode, guys, is what should business owners be prioritizing to survive 2026? And you, as a seasoned professional in this industry, I know that you've seen hard times and I know that you've seen challenges. And so you come with a lot of wisdom about how someone braces themselves for what's happening at the moment.
So what would you, what kind of advice would you offer to cafe owners in this moment? Okay, just maybe to give a little bit of background, we opened the restaurant in 2007. Then the GFC happened in 2008, and then the lockout laws in Sydney, which for your listeners that don't know, it was where we were situated in Darlinghurst. There was a law that came into place where certain venues within a certain perimeter were not allowed to serve alcohol after a certain time and blah, blah, blah.
So people stopped coming to those areas and it was, it was like the, it was the, you know, it was King's Cross. So it was the very, very, very busy part of Sydney. It was close to the, it was the downtown area of the downtown. Yeah.
And so, so once those laws came in, people stopped coming and so we affected the businesses. So we'd been through the GFC and then we went through the lockout laws and then we went through COVID. And in all of those situations, we had to pivot, whether it be, you know, trial appeal to regulars and then try to, you know, not be the venue that is just about alcohol and more about the food. So we had to focus on the food and then they're moving to COVID where we had to do takeaways because we were closed and so on and so on.
I suppose that's what business is about, right? You've got it, you've got to run the waves and you've got to be able to run the waves. You have to be able to pivot in order to make your business work in those moments, right? So, so at the moment, the issue is the cost of goods, the cost of coffee, the cost of labor, the cost of everything, everything.
And so rather than us being able to pass this on to people and just keep increasing our prices, which we can't and no business can, no, no hospitality business can just keep increasing their prices because as much as the consumer knows about cost of living and cost of goods, they just don't, they just don't believe that you as our business should be passing that on, right? As much as they know about it, they don't feel it's a very interesting kind of dynamic, that or a merry. They say that you'll be see, they say that you've got lots of customers there, so you must be rich. 100%.
100%. They see me driving at BMW and so they think, oh, you know, she's fine. She's cashed up, exactly. Anyway, but that's not the point.
The point is that you as a business, you don't need to think about what they think of you, you need to think. Okay. Can I make money this month? Can I make money next month?
And so on and so on. So the way we think about it is rather than increasing our prices, keep the volume of customers high. Okay. So, so, you know, keep your prices relatively okay.
You may not be making as much, but if you retain your customer base and the volume of customers, then you're okay, because you've got to retain, you've got the loyalty to the end. And we don't, like, we're very lucky. We don't need to try that. We don't need to try.
We just need you. It's natural for you. Us. You're just being you.
Yeah. We're being us. What I advise I give to other people is develop those relationships. If you are the owner, be there.
If you are the manager, be there. You know, don't be the owner and come in every day just to collect your money. It's never going to work. Right?
Your staff, as much as you think that they care, they don't care as much as you. It's a job. You know, it's not like they care this much and you're going to care this much. And they care because they might like you or they care because that's who they are.
But at the end of the day, it becomes between like, oh, I need to go do this or I need to go to work. Well, they're going to go do this. Right? Or should you expect them to?
Like at the end of the day, you're not going to give them a share of the business if it's really successful. And they're not going to have to carry the risk if you are in trouble times. So, you know, like there's this expectation of like, we require you to be loyal to us and we require you to love this job and we require this and we require that. I'm not sure that that.
First of all, Gen Z is going to take one look at you and say, go fuck yourself. Gen Z would be better than that. They won't even say go fuck yourself. They just want to show up.
They're just like, OK, that's going to invoke anxiety. I love Gen Z. Don't get me wrong. There's so many great elements of Gen Z.
They are so courageous in the fact that they will not put up with the ship that our generation put up with you. And I love that. I love that about them because they are not letting anything slide now. And a lot of the shit that's happening that's causing the chaos that's causing is because Gen Z have said no, no, no, no.
We're not going to put up with the shit anymore. So that's great. But on the other side of it, we can't fuck a business around them. That's true.
Yeah. So sorry, I derailed what you were saying. They were singing. True.
But what else do people need to prioritize if you're like, you can't expect, you were saying, you can't expect your employees to love your business as much as you do or be devoted as much as you are to your businesses. But you do need to make them believe you. Right. And like you were saying, Gen Z, they're a noble generation.
Like they, without generation, we were like, whatever someone says, OK, OK, I'll believe what you tell me, right? Because that's our generation. But Gen Z, like, no, show me proof to me that I need to believe what you believe, right? So I think if you show them as a business owner, you show them how devoted you are to the business and to the people they just follow.
Like this is the thing I find with us. Like my sister and I, Sharon and I, and Tony, we just live by example. And I've always been that. Like I will say to the staff, if I'm walking in and out doing this, that's what I expect from you.
I'm not sitting and giving you demands. I'm showing you that this is how you do it. Right. So if you had them say to me, I want to be like you.
I want to be like you. This is my staff. I've said this. That doesn't surprise me at all.
Yeah. But it's because I'm just me. I'm not, I'm not putting it on. You're not pretending.
Not at all. Not at all. Ever. But in return, I'm getting the financial benefits.
Yeah. And so this is what we're talking about. So for people who, like you're asking me what advice would I give them? Be real.
Number one. Be there. Number two. Be responsible and be an example, an example for your staff, an example for your customers.
You know, I see people coming to the cafe and looking for me, looking for me just to say hi or telling me the rest of the story they told me last week or updating me on something. And it's beautiful to see that. To see that they want to talk to you. They wait.
Because somebody else is talking to me. They wait for me to talk to me. So it's really nice to have that. When I talk to folks that are looking up establishing, you know, they'll come to me and they'll say I'd like to talk to you about coming on board to help us establish a coffee business.
And I'll tell them that that's like, talk to me about who you are as people. Because as coming up through the industry, I always make sure that I work for people who had the same heart as us. Right? I didn't want to work around anyone who was pretending or bullshitting or trying to trick their customers.
I couldn't be a part of that. So now when people come to me and ask me these questions, I'm like, what are you trying to build? I want to be the next Starbucks. And I talk to them about what I think is going to work in the world today.
You're not going to be the next Starbucks. Starbucks isn't what started as Starbucks. It is impossible. It took Starbucks 50 years to become what they are today.
And you can't become the next Starbucks. You've got to start as becoming one cafe. They're like, no, we want to roll out 300 cafes over the next five years. And you look at something like that and you think, well, that's not the same kind of industry.
That's the corporate side of the industry. That's not a neighborhood cafe. But when you talk to them about the idea of an owner being present, like I said to them, start in your first store, figure out because none of them have ever fucking been in coffee before. Right?
Yeah. And they're like, well, you know, clearly there's a lot of money in this. Everybody's doing it. Everybody's getting into it.
So we're going to jump in because the opportunity is there. And I'm like, you should, you should probably just start with one cafe. And you should work in that cafe. And you should try and build connections so that you can start to understand what are the kind of customers that like what you've got to offer.
And their response is after we go through this dance. They're like, you're actually quite naive about business, aren't you? To you. So to me, clearly I'm so naive about coffee business.
Right. But some of those people from who said those things to me years ago, and now coming back and saying, I understand why you said those things because in times of crisis, customers are loyal to the people who put in the effort consistently over time. Completely. And we're in that moment now.
I don't even think that we've hit the peak of it. But those who built the way that you guys have built when the crisis is happening and the utility is happening, customers want to be around businesses that they feel safer. Oh, completely. Yep.
You know, so many, so many people have said to us, and this is not a word of the lie, that we have, like during COVID, we save their lives, save their lives. I believe that. So recently when we put up our prices and we explain the prices increase a lot, the amount of people that wrote back and said, I would pay whatever you want us to be, because we love you. And so you can't put a price tag on that.
You can't quantify that. You have to be genuine. Number one, you have to be genuine. Like, they can sniff out the sheet.
They can sniff out bullshit easily. So, you know, you genuinely have to care about your customers. Otherwise, don't be in this industry. Like, when I was a teacher, I used to be a high school teacher.
If you don't love kids, get out. You're doing the wrong thing completely. So if you don't love people and if you don't know how to be hospitable and be kind and be generous and be beautiful, then just get out. It's not the industry.
Like, yes, you will be the hype and you will, you know, be fun and you'll be on Instagram. You'll be famous and blah, blah, blah. Monetary-wise, you're not going to survive. Well, and that fame is a horrible spiral to be in because you've always got to do better than the last time.
Yes. Yes. And that's something that I wanted to talk to you about with regards to there's a real vibe and hype culture out there as we've talked about in this series. And a lot of businesses are jumping on those hypes and they're saying, maybe this is going to help us subsidize our income.
What's the dangers there? The lack of loyalty. So they're going to jump on the hype for you. The next person is going to come up.
They're going to jump on them and then so on and so on. So they're not going to give a shit about you as a business. It's exhausting. They give a shit about what is the next best thing, right?
So I remember when we had our number and we'd opened and it was right up in the paper about us within the first couple of months, right? We had a huge influx of people. Huge. And I could tell you person by person who was coming back and who was never coming back, right?
And the reason is because of the hype. So back then, there was no social media. It was a newspaper. It was what was written in the paper, right?
The following week, there's a new person. There's a new restaurant in the paper. That's the new hype. So they would go from one place to another to another.
It's the same. It's the same as social media. Instead, it's quicker. A lot quicker.
Yeah, it's so fast. It's so quick. So if you can't retain those customers, and I remember when we first had the cafe, I was like, I'm going to go through these doors until all the systems are in place. Because I would- Talk a bit more about systems.
Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. So I would rather close for a week and lose and pay rent for a week and have all the systems in place, the right systems.
This is what we do when you walk in. This is how we do this. This is how we do that. Press this button.
Press this button. All of it works smoothly. I'd rather lose the rent for that week than lose 100 customers because we fucked up that week. And that's why- Pointing our systems.
100% systems. I feel like, and I think I'm the player, but I feel like systems. And I do this with other people. Like when other people are talking about it, you have to have systems in place.
Like something as simple as I write it down for our staff when they first start with us. A customer comes to the door. Ask them. Do they not take away half here?
If they want to have here, they do this. If they want to take away, you do this. This is what you do. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And it's so easy because they're like, okay, this is what I need to do. If they just know. Have you heard about this new movement towards pre-made espresso? I can't.
I can't. I can't. No, neither can I. I feel that it's gimmicky, but the conversation that's happening around it is this is not happening because it's a gimmick.
It's happening because people can't get access to labor. And this is the way that they're trying to solve that problem. And if you put espresso, pre-pulled espresso into a milk-based drink, it doesn't really taste that different anyway. And I'm like, why the fuck were we doing it all these years?
If we really didn't, this is not new guys, right? People have been trying to push this trend, but I cannot fucking tell you how well. Yeah. Yeah.
And they have created that now, but it's just, it's just shit. And you either stick to your values, and this is a, you know, the part of what kind of where I want to end this episode, how important are understanding your values and what values you want to live by as a business owner? How important is that? Well, for me, I can't, like, I can't, I can't be that person that goes against my values.
So I've always said this. I'd rather lose money than be someone I'm not. So, you know, if I'm saying I'm giving you a good product, then I'd better be fucking giving you a good product. Exactly.
So, like, I'm not going to say you're getting fresh coffee by giving you this shit, you know, or not saying that the food's fresh, I just can't, I just can't see. Maybe it's where we've come from. It goes against what hospitality means to us as Syrians. Like, you know what it's like, it's in our blood.
And even if we want to get rid of it, we just want to be the best people we've ever been. We want to be the best humans we can be. And imagine if your parents saw that? Yeah, no.
My mom would be like, sure. It's just that, well, I could just the thought of it scares us into making sure that we do business. What do you mean? What do you mean?
You're lying. Why are you lying? Oh, well, they're saying that they're grabbing you by the ear and dragging you towards it. So they come and explain this properly.
Anyway, there's a little insight into my childhood trauma, so our childhood trauma, yeah, both of you. So we're going to go folks. And in that episode, we're going to dig into what are the really special elements that made almond bar and three tomatoes win for so long. We've started touching on some of those things, but we're going to dive into them in the final episode of this series.
So join us for that. Peace off and peanut butter. Have an amazing rest of your day.