Written by: Greg Ubert
Greg Ubert is the Founder and President of Crimson Cup, a coffee company based out of Columbus, OH. Continue reading for Greg's insight on business adaptation during the pandemic and plans for future growth.
During the peak of COVID-19, there were restrictions in place and less people out and about. What tactics did you use to continue to bring in business?
We were fortunate in that the majority of our coffee houses have drive-thrus which, during COVID, was about the only way customers and employees felt comfortable doing business. In fact, we worked with the City of Upper Arlington to make a “mock” drive thru at a Crimson Cup location that didn’t have a drive-thru. We put our mobile truck in the middle of the parking lot and customers ordered from their car at our mobile coffee truck and one of our Cuppers brought the order to their car.
After dealing with a pandemic over the past two years, how is your business doing currently?
Thankfully, we are doing very well. We have many market segments to our business in wholesale and retail and while some wholesale market segments were down (food service operations in colleges and corporations), they are all getting back to more pre-pandemic numbers.
What is Crimson Cup’s plan for expansion in coming years?
We will grow our Crimson Cup retail coffee houses while continuing to expand our wholesale business throughout the United States and internationally.
What is your outlook on retail moving forward, as we adapt to a post-pandemic world?
We love to share ‘the Crimson Cup story’ and the best way to do that is to open more Crimson Cup retail stores.