Range Free allergen-friendly cafe uses small business loan to adjust to COVID-19 - Columbia Missourian

takanadalagi.blogspot.com

Anna Meyer applied for nine grants meant to support small businesses like hers through the COVID-19 pandemic. She wasn’t getting any help.

“It was really disheartening every time,” said Meyer, the owner of Range Free, a cafe and bakery in central Columbia.

Finally, on her 10th try, she was able to give her business the boost it needed with a microloan from the city.

While the five-year-old cafe is not back to pre-COVID-19 business, the loan allowed her to update the website and replace broken equipment.

Range Free is one of 35 local businesses to receive a microenterprise loan from the Housing Programs Division of Columbia as a result of Community Development Block Grant money from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, passed by Congress in March.

The microenterprise loan program required an extensive application from businesses when applying for aid. Owners of qualifying businesses were required to document a negative impact from COVID-19 that needed to use the additional funds to strengthen their business against the economic fallout. The loan program ran in September and October, with the final 35 businesses selected by the end of October.

Range Free is dedicated to not using five of the top eight allergens: wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish, Meyer said. The other three top allergens, eggs, dairy and soy, can be requested to be removed in special orders but are also often left out of the regular menu as well.

When COVID-19 came and the stay-at-home order went into place, Meyer said the impact was very noticeable.

“We slowed down to the point where we couldn’t stay open anymore,” Meyer said.

She said the bakery was closed for seven weeks until the end of May, and the community was eager to support it upon its reopening.

“We reopened with a good crowd, a lot of excitement,” she said.

Meyer said, between the end of May and October, there had been a 50% to 75% decrease in sales. Now, she said, the number is likely less than 50%.

Meyer said she applied for the loan to increase Range Free’s online ordering and marketing capabilities by relaunching the business’ website and cmodifying space inside the cafe to protect staff and customers. This included adding foot pulls to the bathroom.

She said the website should be up and running by the end of December.

One way that Range Free adapted to the stay-at-home order was by refocusing on frozen items people could take home and cook themselves. For that reason, the cafe’s retail freezer was integral to keeping the business afloat. It stored items like take-‘n’-bake pizzas, cookie dough, loaves of bread, soups and pies.

When the freezer stopped working, Meyer used some of the loan to buy a new one for the business. The new freezer has double the space, and Meyer said it’s more enticing for customers to look at.

“(This year) was our best Thanksgiving ever, which was kind of a shock,” she said. ”Part of that is because of what we’ve done with the micoenterprise loan.”

Range Free’s reopening posed some new challenges. Meyer said she had to find new ways to cut costs and keep Range Free running. Those strategies included editing the menu to keep the most popular items and changing store hours to be open during its busiest times of day.

Because of social distancing measures and by trying to keep things as safe and low-contact as possible, Range Free also had to give up a special feature its regular customers enjoy.

“We have an extensive collection of salt and pepper shakers; we’re kind of kitschily known for that,” Meyer said. “That’s how we mark our customers’ tables and how we find tables for an order.”

Meyer said the shakers also bring in nostalgic memories for some Range Free customers, who comment on them frequently.

She said because they are high-contact items, the cafe had to remove them from use for the time being.

“It seems like such a silly, small thing, but it really brightened everybody’s day with the salt and pepper shakers.”

Range Free is located at 110 Orr St., Suite 101 and can be reached at 573-777-9980. The cafe and bakery offers a large selection of desserts and also sells soups, salads and sandwiches after 11 a.m.

Range Free is currently open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m Saturdays. Customers can check out the website at range-free.com.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"cafe" - Google News
December 08, 2020 at 07:00PM
https://ift.tt/36Tgbsw

Range Free allergen-friendly cafe uses small business loan to adjust to COVID-19 - Columbia Missourian
"cafe" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2FkbMR3
https://ift.tt/3c4yPxW