Crime hits trendy coffee bar, forcing the business to shut down
IT SET a trend as one of the first coffee shops in the city’s townships but was forced to shut down due to crime.
Following a burglary six months ago which left polished espresso bar Department of Coffee in Khayelitsha stripped bare, the owners were forced to close it down and look for other alternatives.
Three childhood friends, a former barista, a towel factory worker and a fireman, were all in their early twenties when they gave up their steady jobs to start the coffee shop, which attracted many local and tourist caffeine lovers.
“It is not easy to have a successful business in an area where crime is rife. In the first incident, burglars stole two tills and a computer and left the machines.
“Around May they came and swept us clean. We told ourselves we will never give up as we sacrificed a lot to be entrepreneurs, so we started running a mobile coffee shop outside Khayelitsha Mall,” said barista Wongama Baleni.
Baleni said they had one machine and started a crowdfunding campaign to buy coffee machines.
“We want to go back to Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) precinct as it was near the station and attracted many customers. We are just concerned about safety issues,” he said
VPUU’s Work-stream leader Don Shay agrees that crime is a challenge in the neighbourhoods. “There’s a neighbourhood watch group that is active but doesn’t work 24-hours. Khayelitsha is one of the townships where crime is a problem. At some stage there were paid securities, from a company the City of Cape Town paid for. But they are no more,” said Shay.
The Department of Coffee opened in 2012, it was a pilot project of a job creation organisation called the Ministry of Service Delivery. Wesgro spokesperson Russel Brueton said crime affected small businesses as “they do not have the same resources for security and to recover from theft of stock.”
Economic Opportunities MEC Alan Winde said when crime hits business, it threatens the local economy and jobs.
“Crime negatively impacts every aspect of the lives of residents in affected communities. Businesses go along with tourism; when it hits businesses, it threatens the local economy. This is why we need to work with the police, community watches and other organisations to find solutions,” said Winde.
Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Janine Myburgh said: “It affects all facets of an organisation. Entrepreneurship is crucial, not only to the township, where it allows for a productive and healthy micro-economy.
“It is really sad to learn that a business shut down because of criminals,” Myburgh said.