Businesses Respond to COVID-19: Mark Robey, EspressoTech Service Company
/By Hylan Joseph
I asked Mark Robey to participate in the COVID interview project because of his interesting perspective in his business working with both local and national technicians. Mark – and his company, EspressoTech Service – has been involved with the Coffee Technicians Guild for over three years. He has a keen sense of the direction of our business and where it may head with the pandemic.
Mark Robey, EspressoTech Service Company
Hylan Joseph: How have your service calls/business been affected since this pandemic began?
Mark Robey: Our business went from going full speed to almost an immediate drop to zero in the course of 48 hours. Not a complete stoppage work – some work we had in the queue could continue – but once that wrapped up, the phone and email remained pretty quiet. We didn’t expect some of our largest companies would make the decision to cease operations of coffee-related business during this period.
HJ: How are you communicating with your staff concerning the loss of work?
MR: I communicate with my staff almost daily with COVID-19 updates over email. I keep them informed as to what customers are closing, how they were closing (some are keeping drive-thru options opened), as well as state-by-state information as it comes since we cover such a large territory.
HJ: What creative measures are you taking to support morale?
MR: That is a very difficult question. Morale is, of course, at an all-time low right now. Adding to the nerves of having jobs and workloads impaired, day after day we are seeing seemingly “healthy” people pass away from this terrible pandemic.
I researched state-by-state to discover what the different unemployment benefits were, as well as what the stimulus package increase could be. If all goes as planned, either through unemployment benefits or the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), part of keeping up morale was to let them know I feel confident they should not suffer too much financially during this period. We also made sure weeks ago that they had everything ready to file unemployment – if things came to that – as well as contacting all credit card companies, mortgage lenders, rental companies, auto loans, etc., to make sure they had a plan in place should a sudden nationwide shutdown occur.
HJ: Are you going to utilize any of the state and federal program offered?
MR: On April 3 we filed our application for the PPP. We had already submitted our application to the SBA for Disaster Relief Funds as well. Kansas City also has a small business relief program developed by organizations that offer low-interest loans, of which we have also applied for.
We will apply for any assistance in order to keep our business solvent and employees employed. Even after we reach the other end of this pandemic, should we be eligible for employment tax reimbursement, we will, of course, pursue that as well. Whatever is being offered to help us and the economy, we will be asking for that assistance.
HJ: Have you or your company participated in any community volunteer events or roundtable during this event. If so, what were they?
MR: As of right now, I am focused on keeping the business operating and working to figure out employee payroll. That is occupying all of my time as a business owner.
HJ: Is your organization doing anything to support your local community? If so, can you provide details?
MR: The sole focus right now is how to keep our employees on payroll and the company moving forward during this standstill. We are considering offering a program for local coffee shops and restaurants where we can defer any service fees if they need work done during this period and if they are operating in a limited manner. It would be a risky undertaking as I am somewhat fearful that many of these wonderful locally-owned businesses will close for good due to financial instability. But it is something we are seriously considering and working on a plan now to hopefully offer if we see this pandemic economic destruction has many more weeks ahead of it, and thus more financial strain on local shops.
HJ: How do you feel your local community has responded to this event?
MR: In all honesty, terribly! No one is taking this seriously. The membership clubs have full parking lots and are full of people shopping leisurely for things that clearly are not essential. It has only been very recently that businesses such as those are limiting how many can go into the store, which is great, except that then everyone piles up outside the door waiting for entry and certainly not having a 6ft clearance between another person. It looks like a bunch of sardines in a can…
We cover a great many major cities, and I would say the city leaders (Mayor, City Council) have done an excellent job moving in the right direction. State officials (Governor, House & Senate) are also doing a good job. Nationally, I can’t really say. This is an unprecedented event and I think every day is full of new challenges, but as long as the cities and states continue to do what they are doing, we will get through this.
HJ: How are your employees reacting? What creative measure are you using to assist them through this time?
MR: No employee is happy right now. My staff likes the work I provide them, and they like to keep busy. With money being so uncertain overall, they are very cautious. I have told them that, although I want to support small businesses, at this time they need to save and stockpile as much cash and cut expenses to the bone because, again, we have no idea what will happen in the future here. Every day and every minute is different and sometimes what occurs is completely unexpected.
HJ: Do you think this event will alter our industry? If so, how?
MR: This will devastate our coffee industry, as well as the restaurant industry, which we are directly tied to. Although the stimulus package seems like a nice number, it is not even close to what is needed to resurrect the damage that has already been done. Thankfully we (EspressoTech) have cash reserves and receivables from companies that are still operating (and recording record profits…), but if I truly had no sales, no reserves, nothing, I think I would not return to it. The pain it is inflicting on those independent coffee shop and restaurant owners, I feel, is almost insurmountable. No one is really talking about all the foodservice folks who are jobless right now. Sure, the stimulus packages may be coming, but it has been weeks in the works, and the bulk of the foodservice industry was let go several weeks ago. How are they surviving? I don’t know the answer to that question. But I don’t think a good number of those people will want to come back – especially business owners – because, even with stimulus money, they still will never really recover financially.
You will see a big shift from large sit-down locations to more grab-and-go. For a long while – and I am scared to even speculate – people will want to avoid places that seat a lot of people in close proximity to them. There won’t be a justified reason for it, but people will take a long time to get back to what we had just 8 weeks ago. I see a huge switch to more small, independent window-pickup locations for the immediate future as, although people will want to get out and mill around, it may not be to socialize with a large crowd.
HJ: What are your key takeaways so far? What are the crucial lessons you will walk away with for the future?
MR: You need cash reserves. Every financial planner preaches that to deaf ears, but it is true, and now people understand why. The other takeaway for us is how we do business and how we work with our clients big and small. When we emerge, we will be a much leaner and efficient company as this time has allowed us to find many issues within our organization that need improvement which will benefit my staff and my customers in positive ways, and also help us become more financially sound as we move forward.
HJ: Are you hiring? If so why?
MR: We are not un-hiring, if that is a term. Some of our staff, those that can, volunteered to be furloughed for the long-term benefit of our overall survival. Those employees, the moment they can, will be back at our company charging full steam ahead. We do have several areas we need to hire in, and once we emerge from the other side of this, we have plans (and had plans) to increase our staff 25% due to new markets we contracted with customers to support. So we hope we can supply individuals that perhaps do not have anything to go back to an opportunity to join our team and help foster the coffee and restaurant community both big and small.
After our interview, Mark sent me the following updates:
We did receive our SBA PPP and the SBA Disaster Relief Funds. As I stated, we applied the day it was made available and the moment the bank opened. It was not that painful for us. We had to re-do some forms that were updated last minute as well as provide exact numbers for the loan (199,984 as opposed to $200,000).
We are back at 100% on employees as once the PPP was deposited on this past Monday, we called everyone back in.
In regards to the question of states doing a good job, when you sent me the questions, I believed that they were. However, in the last couple of days, I have seen some disturbing trends following Georgia wanting to open some businesses starting next week. The governor of my great state of Missouri is also stating all businesses should be able to open by May 5th. Although I want everything open and back to normal, I also want us to get past this pandemic. I am fully aware people, companies, and state governments are financially hurting, but I think it will be detrimental if we do not listen to the medical experts with regards to begin to re-open our cities and states.
What are we doing to help the community?
I touched based on our potential program to help out independently owned coffee shops and restaurants with a Service Now – Pay Later program. We have implemented that, under our Deferred Service Payment Program (DSPP) www.espressotechsc.com/dspp.html. These companies affected by the Covid-19 pandemic can get their machines serviced and working if they are still doing business, or they can have their equipment serviced at our technical center if they are closed. From the most basic of service to a complete refurbishment if it is time for that, all done and payment is not needed until after these companies get back open and are on financially stable ground again.
Unfortunately we can’t work for free, but we are lucky that we have some very large customers that can allow us to at least do something, and knowing you can get your machine repaired and not have to come up with the money immediately (or net 30) we hope allows some relief of the anxiety all of these independent locally owned shops have at the moment.