Tampa couple Miral and Nirali Vora are finding it more difficult to keep open their business Espresso Yourself Coffee Shop as a result of the rising cost of supplies and the COVID-19 Pandemic.
When the Voras opened the coffee shop, they were very excited to bring European flavor to Tampa Bay. They pride themselves on organic food with quality ingredients and coffee straight from Italy. Even with four stars on Yelp, community support has been hard to come by. Since the pandemic, self-serve coffeemakers such as Nescafe and Nespresso have risen in popularity causing patrons to stay home for their caffeine fix.
“It’s difficult because people don’t get out during the pandemic and because they don’t do their job sometimes or anything they are not ready to spend money on coffees or anything,” said Miral Vora.
Like many other businesses, Espresso Yourself Coffee Shop has also been affected by inflation. This year, coffee has been the most expensive it has been in a decade. According to Fortune Daily, this can be accredited to shipping, dry weather, and a spike in demand.
“We are struggling because of supply chain issues where we are having a hard time finding the cups, or even milk prices are getting higher but unfortunately, we cannot raise the prices because the coffee chain is close by and we raise the price customers are not going to come to us, they are going to them,” said Nirali Vora.
The Voras are not alone. A survey conducted by PNAS shows that mass layoffs and the longevity of the pandemic were very hard on small businesses. Businesses that had to temporarily close had fallen by about 40%. Even with the CARES Act, small businesses such as Espresso Yourself Coffee Shop are still struggling greatly.
Thankfully it is starting to look up for the Voras. Since lockdowns have been lifted, customers are starting to come back. The Voras are hopeful customers return for favorites such as the Biscoffe coffee.
Credits
Producer/ Reporter: Julianna Jung
Editor: Alice Barlow
Anchor: Gabe Glassman
Web Editor: Sophia Nieves
