At first glance, it looks and feels like business as usual at a Newbury Park coffee shop. But, like many locally owned businesses on the Central and South Coasts, Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters is trying to figure out how to survive in a very different world.
Sarah Pritchett owns Ragamuffin. She has two locations. There’s one in Newbury Park, and one in “The Collection,” a shopping and entertainment center in Oxnard. They sell locally roasted coffee, as well as their own gluten free bakery products. As a food establishment, they are considered essential and can remain open.
Pritchett says she was determined to keep her doors open, and her two dozen employees working.
Some regular customers say they are trying to support the local business. Lloyd Wertheimer is a longtime Conejo Valley resident, who says he’s making a point of coming in to support the coffee house. But, employees admit it’s a different atmosphere, because people can’t sit down at tables and socialize with friends, or do work on their laptops.
Pritchett says they’re also doing takeaway snack kits for medical workers who frequent the shops, which people can sponsor through donations on Ragamuffin’s website.
Pritchett says so far, Ragamuffin has been hanging in there, and while they’ve had to cut some employees hours, they haven’t had to do layoffs. She says they are trying to be positive and creative as they come up with ways to keep their doors open.
