Reasonable_Move9518 t1_iy647d6 wrote on November 29, 2022 at 12:53 AM

I really really hope there’s some kind of 11th hour miracle and an employee buyout or other deus ex machina. If the employees or someone do try a buyout I think it’s highlight likely to work, since the locations are amazing but underserved (read: minimal competition) and there’s a solid business model already in place. If any employees have ideas on a CO-OP... I bet a Kickstarter would go a long way towards raising the capital.

3/4 of the locations formed a “strategic ring”, all located a 10 min walk FROM Harvard, but not actually IN Harvard Sq. Gonna be a real coffee/sando deadzone esp. on the Cambridge St side (Yes broadsheet/Barismo/1369 are great for coffee but they’re in the WRONG DIRECTION if you’re going in to Harvard and sandos… forget it).

Or at least… I’m hoping at least one of them becomes a Flour. God forbid another Tatte.

reveazure OP t1_iy67146 wrote on November 29, 2022 at 1:15 AM

Good to see someone shares my concerns. I’m hoping someone takes over the business.

kagrenak t1_iy8k30m wrote on November 29, 2022 at 3:41 PM

>1369 great for coffee

lol

Broadsheet slaps and Barismo doesn't slouch but 1369 is terrible. Their training and consistency is essentially zero.

coldsnap123 t1_iyaou1z wrote on November 30, 2022 at 12:11 AM

A co-op would face the same dilemma of not enough profit to be made, but at a scale much greater than what was experienced by the owners. No one is going to touch that business with a 10 foot pole, they’ll just wait for the spaces to go empty.

Reasonable_Move9518 t1_iyaqkom wrote on November 30, 2022 at 12:24 AM

Hmm… the business managed to last 30 years and each location has nearly constant traffic at the highest price point in the area. I never got the specifics, but the employees involved in negotiations as well as the owner in a YouTube video all indicated high profit margins for a cafe.

Probably not profitable enough to pay $24/hr like the “Socialist Alternative” faction wanted, but that was deeply unrealistic. But profitable enough to stay afloat as a CO-OP… I’d bet yes. I agree no sane entrepreneur would buy them out due to the union, but it the union itself just buys the equipment and rents the space and largely keeps the supply chain (with some trimming of unprofitable items) I bet it could work very very well.

Whatever replacement goes in also faces the same economics and I’d bet you a Tempeh Tantrum that the locations get snatched up very quickly.

coldsnap123 t1_iyb1kp5 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 1:47 AM

The Harvard location already has a tenant lined up, but that was before any of this went down. I bet the video you are referencing was filmed before the pandemic. The first year of lockdown and the 2nd year of clawing back most likely did enough damage to wipe any profit out. The massive increase in cost of goods compared to pre pandemic levels isn’t going to lead to high profit margins anywhere. This isn’t a good environment to start a food retail business from scratch. No way a co-op survives.