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Milky Way Coffee Company Finds Success Adapting to COVID-19 Pandemic

Katie Thoresen/WXPR

Milky Way Coffee Company in Woodruff has seen steady business throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coffee shop sits in an old bank at the corner of Highway J and Highway 51.

Images of stars and planets are scattered throughout the shop. There isn’t a lot of room inside the coffee shop itself, the counter where the drinks are made and the kitchen take up half the space.

The rest is filled with tables, chairs, and a sofa.

Health officials have warned people about gathering in small, indoor places because the virus an spread more easily, so owners Barbara Guerra and Debra Stephenson got creative.

“Because this is an old bank building and it has a lobby we created a palm beach setting out in the lobby where people can get a coffee and it’s all socially distanced and they can sit and enjoy their coffee looking at a palm beach tropical scene,” said Stephenson.

“We had Adirondack chairs outside for the summer. We had them just stacked inside well we kinda of have to continue the look so that’s why we created the beached themed seating indoors in the atrium,” Guerra added.

Credit Katie Thoresen/WXPR

The real saving grace has been the drive thru. When they first opened the shop years ago, the sisters converted the drive-thru bank teller window into a drive up for coffee.

They said it’s one of the only drive thru coffee shop in a 10-mile radius.  Guerra believes that’s what’s helped keep their business going strong through the pandemic.

“The drive-thru has been the big draw for us. So right from the beginning we’ve been very, very busy with our drive-thru,” said Guerra.

The success of the drive-thru made closing the inside shop to walk-ins less painful.

“We decided we’re too small. We have too small of a staff. We really can’t risk causing any problems for any of us and we decided we offered everybody curbside pick up,” said Guerra. “They can call, they can text, they can come through the drive-thru and place food orders and drink orders and we’re doing everything we can to accommodate without having indoors seating here.”

The sisters made the decision to close off walk-ins in August when COVID-19 cases started to rise in August.

“We’re down on the side of extra caution. We’ve always been for restrictions they’re good for us,” said Guerra.

Navigating restrictions and the health recommendations hasn’t been easy. Guerra and Stephenson said support from the Wisconsin Restaurant Association (WRA) has made a huge difference.

“They have been on the ball every day. Sending us information and suggestions and guidelines and even signage that we can just print out and use immediately,” said Guerra.

Stephenson said they even delivered masks.

“We are promoting that all of those things are important things for restaurants to do and practice within their restaurants because the longer-term issue that we’re going to see is the confidence that eating out is safe,” said WRA President and CEO Kristine Hillmer.

Hillmer said when customers come to a restaurant and don’t feel safe, they’re less likely to come back.

“That’s ultimately what’s going to harm restaurants the most,” said Hillmer.

She said WRA has been in close contact with health officials locally and nationally as well as restaurants throughout the state.

It’s found that the virus isn’t spreading at restaurants that follow the health guidelines like requiring masks when not seated at the table, increasing sanitation, and reducing occupancy to follow social distance guidelines.

That being said, it can’t all come down on the business.

“It’s going to take people doing it personally in their daily lives,” said Hillmer. “It’s going to take everybody pulling their weight and going in together. And that is the broad message that we are sharing. That everybody has to do their part.”

If people do their part to slow the spread of the virus and businesses make changes to better protect people from it, Hillmer believes more restaurants will be able to survive the pandemic.

“They have one shot at getting it right. If they have customers coming in and they feel unsafe and they feel like they’re not seeing those safety protocols, chances are they’re going to be leaving and chances are they’re not going to be coming back,” said Hillmer.

It’s certainly held true for Milky Way Coffee Company.

Business has held up enough that, Guerra and Stephenson haven’t needed to apply for any CARES Act or other funding support.

“We didn’t really feel that was necessary for us because we were doing fine we thought that would be taking advantage of the system so we simply didn’t do it, it didn’t make sense to take advantage when there are other people out there, other businesses that needed it,” said Guerra.

As of right now, the sisters don’t have any plans to change their current operation model.

“I don’t foresee opening inside seating, I don’t know, for a while. We have to see a significant reduction in the numbers and cases going down and all the good signs before we do that,” said Stephenson.

Until then, they’ll keep offering the drive-thru and curbside pickup as we all try to navigate this new normal.

Katie Thoresen is WXPR's News Director/Vice President.
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