In less than five years, Louis and Steen’s New Orleans Coffeehouse has accomplished what many small businesses never can, expanding in the middle of a global pandemic and economic recession.
The company opened Market Orleans, a new, casual, yet sophisticated eatery and retail store with distinctively New Orleans flair that provides customers with an escape from the “new norm”, Marketing Director Quinn Russell said.
“We’re very bold thinkers and we’re very confident in our product and what we have to offer, knowing the market and knowing what is missing in Nassau. Knowing what we want, an everyday experience that is refined but still approachable and casual where you can get in and get out, that’s a big thing that we wanted and so we basically created something for us but we knew everyone would want an experience like this. We work very hard and in the evening we don’t necessarily want to cook, so we wanted a place where you could get healthier food with savory options too,” he said taking a break from the bustle of the new location at One West Plaza on Windsor Field Road.
“We just wanted something that fits a lot of people’s needs and is an everyday experience, with specialty retail products and gifts so every time you come in there’s something new and a different experience.”
The owners opened the original Louis and Steen’s Coffeehouse on West Bay Street in September 2016.
Louis and Steen’s is actually the namesake of Russell’s grandparents, Louis and Earnestine Carter, who were born and raised in Louisiana, where they owned several community grocery stores during the Jim Crow era that sold specialty Louisiana meats, breadbasket items, hot food and hot coffee.
Russell said the idea behind Market Orleans was to carry on the strong legacy of his grandfather, who only obtained a third grade education and still managed to become a successful businessman; and his grandmother, who against the odds obtained a master’s degree.
The company isn’t stopping with this second location, Russell said. It also has its eyes on expanding internationally to continue reflecting his grandparent’s culture of family, faith, love and food.
But before that, Russell said the company plans to open a third express location sometime before summer.
“When you look at the trajectory of a franchise and a business that’s going to go beyond the mom and pop style, by year five you’re opening new locations. So that’s always been our goal, to create a business that goes beyond The Bahamas. We want to grow to a capacity that we have set,” he said.
“When we founded Louis and Steen’s we always knew that we wanted a certain amount of coffeeshops and cafes in Nassau and then after that we are planning to go abroad. So it’s always been foundational. People were surprised, asking why we would want to open another shop, even opening so close to the other location, but a lot of people don’t understand that yes, we have a lot of coffeeshops on the market but the heart of Market Orleans is our open concept chef’s kitchen. The coffee bar is beautiful as well, but when we designed the place we intentionally made everything revolve around our kitchen. Our goal was always to serve more food because we saw that missing link out west and Nassau in general.”
The COVID-19 pandemic did have an impact on Louis and Steen’s operations, but Russell said it forced the company to quickly pivot to meet the challenges presented by the “new norm”.
“When we launched Market Orleans, initially we didn’t have a plan for a drive through, we just wanted customers to come in and experience the market, shop, find different sauces and gifts while they are waiting on their coffee or meal. But once COVID-19 hit we had to shift things around. At our first location we had a pick up window that’s app based, so you would order from our app and pick up at the window,” he said.
“That really worked well during COVID-19… the new location really benefited from that experiment and that digital infrastructure. So, when we were in the planning stages of Market Orleans during COVID-19, we added a drive through and it’s app based, the same as the other location and now you’ll be able to use it at the new location to order online and pick up at the drive through at the time you select.”
He said the development of an app was to safeguard against the uncertainty of lockdowns, but has turned into a convenience option that the company will use even beyond this COVID-19 period.
“You’re seeing business transition where if you don’t have an app you’re losing out on a lot of business. That’s what kept us going strong during COVID-19. Because it was very bleak at one point, where we didn’t know how many lockdowns were going to happen and how many times. And every time a lockdown happened business would go very slow and thankfully the app allowed customers to see us,” Russell said.
In addition to coffee, the new location offers smoothies, hot meals, retail food items like condiments and international cheeses, and gifts like yoga mats and jewelry.
With the expansion in business came more jobs for Bahamians. The first location managed to keep all of its eight employees onboard during the lockdowns and hired an additional 16 employees for Market Orleans.
The post Coffee shop expands despite pandemic, eyeing further expansion appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/coffee-shop-expands-despite-pandemic-eyeing-further-expansion/
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