By Jordan Green
BAY CITY – In the time of need for many small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bay City’s Populace Coffee – a wholesale roasting coffee company – is coming to the rescue and supporting local businesses.
The Bay City-based coffee company is selling 300 gram (6.5 lb) bags of custom branded coffee through their website – with a local small business printed on the front – called Partner Support Bags.
(Photo courtesy of Populace Coffee Facebook)
Populace Coffee is giving the small businesses half of the revenue for each custom branded bag of coffee purchased with their business on it.
Andrew Heppner, founder of Populace Coffee, says most of their business comes from selling coffee to other coffee shops in Michigan and around the midwest. When Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order took effect on March 24, Heppner said about 95% of his customers closed.
“We had to figure out a way to sell coffee, and then also hope that [our coffee customers] don’t go out of business,” says Heppner.
Heppner says he and two other business partners put together the coffee packages over the course of three days. The idea came to Heppner because they already had custom label printed coffee bags for sale on their website. The shift into turning those coffee packs into promoting other local small businesses was easy, according to Heppner.
In a press release, Heppner states: “It’s crazy out there, not only for our partners but coffee shops and restaurants across the country. We wanted to create a platform to empower them and use their networks.”
Most of the businesses that are partnered up with Populace Coffee are restaurants and coffee shops.
“We started off with six of our partners joining us and now we’re up to 22 or 23 different businesses that are doing the program,” says Heppner.
Local Bay City record store Electric Kitsch on Washington Avenue is partnered up with Populace Coffee for the Partner Support Bags. The record store is temporarily closed due to the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order.
Related article: Electric Kitsch keeps spinning in spite of pandemic
Co-owner of Electric Kitsch, Jessica McQuarter, says business has definitely been down for the record shop compared to what normal foot traffic brings. Electric Kitsch is still open for online orders.
“They take care of the orders and shipping and we get half from each sale,” says McQuarter. “It’s an excellent deal! We are grateful for the partnership and it’s been very cool to see the customers and strangers sharing the bags on social media.”
