Workhorse Coffee Bar

My name is Shannon Forney. I'm co-owner of Workhorse Coffee Bar in St. Paul. I own it with my spouse, Ty Barnett. We are a two and a half year old small business on the Green Line, and business has been a real ride this first two years, two and a half years. It's been incredibly successful. And I think part of that success is about how we relate to community and how we relate to our customers, not just about the products or what we serve at the coffee shop. Last year we supported Earn Sick and Safe Time in the city of St. Paul. We held a press conference at Workhorse. We had other businesses come in, had local leaders come in and listen to our points of view. And I'm so glad we did it. It did pass. Obviously you don't want your servers to be at work when they are not well, especially in a food establishment. But even beyond that, it's about, really it's about retaining the employee and valuing the people that work there. We have found a real economic benefit behind supporting Earn Sick and Safe Time, and that we have great retention, which feels And so I'm really proud of how this policy demonstrates our values both to our employees and then also to a greater community of customers certainly at the city level to our representatives of what we believe in as a business. And how a small business actually does have power and might in a political space. So we started actually doing more We select the day where a percentage of sales goes to the cause. Now on both of those days, we had our highest grossing sales ever. So that was a really proud moment and real demonstration that by us being really forward with what our values are and not being afraid to enter into social political space, that we're actually gaining much more traction with our customer base. And it actually, economically, is really helping and supporting the business because people want to shop where their dollars count. We supported both the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, both causes that have roots in our community, our actual geographic community, but certainly are known outside of those communities as well. So that feels And it has been a huge boon to the business. People really understand who we are as people and I think really support us. So I'm pretty excited. Tomorrow actually we will launch a campaign. This will be our third kind of percentage of sales fundraiser with avenues for homeless youth. It goes way beyond just being an ethical business and being kind of a morally socially conscious business. It actually is a good business practice because economically it gains more customers, customers make a point to come visit our shop on days So there's an economy behind it, not just a social economy. And why I'm really excited about this is that not only is this a cause I really deeply care about and an organization I really trust, that feels We are really aware of the percentage and statistics of homeless youth that identify as trans, gay, queer, etc. So we find that a real priority to make sure that this is a population we're supporting. We're then also supporting the organization and our customers have a chance to basically vote with their dollars by making a purchase at our establishment on that day. So this is one way that we feel as a small business we actually are gaining traction with our voice and really using our voice in a positive way. These are all ways in which we encourage customers to shop their values. We shop our values as a business and really get behind that concept, not just from an ethical point of view but from a business practice. This is good business practice. And so by being more demonstrative of what we believe in, I think has really brought a lot of customers to us and helped deepen their loyalty.