New York City, Union Square; East West Living, one of Manhattan’s few spiritual bookstores has made efforts to downsize the expense of its cafe as to increase revenue storewide and battle the effects of the economy. A move from a full kitchen to snack and beverage options has resulted in cut hours and lay-offs for café employees.
“We are moving away from preparing our own food to reduce overhead costs. It works out more cost effective to have the food prepared by an outside location then in the store, “ Ronn Goodmen, East west’s “IT Manger,” has been an employee for six months and oversees store operations. The transition from preparation-based- food made on the premises to snack food imported from other business has resulted in the lay-off of the chef and cut hours for the café’s four employees.
“In running any business the major challenges are with making sure your staff, clients and customers are happy. During this time in the economy its the struggle of balancing the two,” Khadijah Farmer, the Café Operations Manager said. Farmer, 30, a New York native has worked at East West Living as the Café Manager for the past three years. The main concern with the café in relation to the store as a whole was that the café wasn’t bringing in much of a profit. $1000 was being spent weekly to supply the café with the necessities to prepare a full selection of vegan and vegetarian meal options. The flow of customers was inconsistent, which meant that fully prepared food would often go to waste and extra employees would work shifts with little to no customer interaction.
“Customers have been walking in for hot food and then walking away,” café employee Tyler St. Clair said. St. Clair, 19, has worked at the café since July. Since the new transition St. Clair hours have been cut and his tips have diminished. He says he thought about getting another job because the café is no longer supportive but if he were to leave now the café would suffer immensely. “We don’t have the man power to train another person at this point, “ St. Clair said. St. Clair says he feels like the transition in the café has been a cause for lost business. “ I think it’s been a loss for the community,“ St. Clair said.
The New York Department of Labor on March 10, 2010 released data that reveals that the unemployment rate in New York state is at it’s highest since 1992, having reached it’s peak at 8.4% in 2009. With the rise of small business closures and bankruptcies nationwide the struggle for employment is tough and the fight to keep business afloat is rough let alone maintain profit. According to the Small Business Association small businesses pay 44% of the United States private payroll and have provided 64% of new jobs over the past 15 years.
Goodmen said that in the majority of profit at East West was brought in by the store portion of the business, with the ratio of café to store profit being 1-5. While Goodmen said he didn’t feel the changes in the café were a direct response to the state of the economy, he did admit that the economy might have influenced initiative. “One of the main reasons for the change is to focus more on a business-meeting cafe with evening events and not so much a food service cafe. We are always looking at the overall health of the whole business and making changes as we discover things that need improvement, “ Goodmen said.
“There have been many stores along 14th Street going out of business and while last year was a difficult year for everyone nationwide we were able to keep our heads above water. East West is lucky to be a special interest store that is nearly one of a kind in New York City making the competition slim to none,” Khadijah Farmer the Café Manager at East West said. Despite apprehension about the challenges of current economy Farmer said she thought business had been surprisingly well.
East West Living has called Fifth Avenue home for over 25 years. The store closed its door about 5 years ago to remodel and obtain the proper documentation needed to run a kitchen. East West has always specialized in carrying spiritual, metaphysical and holistic health books and supplies, as well as been a place to sponsor events for the area’s yogic and spiritual community. The café portion of the business has been up and running for three years.
The transition from full service café to snacks and beverages has only been in route for about three weeks. No additions to events have been made to the events calendar, and while it may be too soon to tell what effect it has had on profit and revenue one can see that there are notably less customers in the café area around lunch.
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