Four years after the Stabroek Business reported on the introduction of the Coffee Bean café & Eatery, its proprietrix Narvini Dewnath is full of satisfaction with the strides the facility has made and highly optimistic about its future.
When it was launched on November 27, 2010 the Coffee Bean was a business experiment for the University of Guyana Communications graduate and other members of her family. Today, she has attracted a clientele that extends beyond local customers. Visitors to Guyana have discovered the Coffee Bean on the internet and find their way there from North America, the Caribbean and elsewhere, often to sit and eat and drink for lengthy periods, distracted only by their pursuits on laptop computers, taking advantage of the Coffee Bean’s Wi Fi facility.
The Bean is also popular with University of Guyana students whom, upon presentation of their credentials, are recipients of a 10 per cent discount on their purchases.
Other things have changed too. The range of beverages has broadened, her Brownies have become famous amongst her customers and Saturday is pepperpot day. Breakfast items are served throughout the day.
Dewnath says what she offers on the Coffee Bean’s menu has long extended beyond the beverages and wraps that were the standard fare four years ago. More people eat out these days and it has been, in large measure, their ideas that have helped to create her menu.
At the end of four years expansion is on Dewnath’s mind but not on her immediate agenda. She believes that for the time being at least there is more than a fair measure of attraction in the intimacy of the Coffee Bean and that more growth in her customer base must precede any venture into significant additional investment.
If anything, marketing is her primary preoccupation and her goal is to promote what the Coffee Bean offers through the broadest range of media. According, much of her time is spent casting around for further opportunities to promote the facility.
Over time, she has been thoughtful about the challenges of business and believes that she is now on a firm enough footing to take seriously the possibility of staying the course. If the business climate holds no terrors there are challenges that tend to distract; like the high cost of electricity, investments associated with replacing electrical items damaged by erratic power supply and finding and keeping reliable staff. Currently she has 5 kitchen staff and 3 counter staff. One of her workers was recruited from the Carnegie School of Home Economics and from her present vantage point she now has a more enlightened perspective on the value of vocational education.
Holding her own prices down in order to remain competitive in the face of price increases for her own raw materials is another occupational hazard of being in the food business. Over time, however, she has learnt to roll with the punches and to look to the support and advice of the Coffee Bean’s Head Chef, her mother Sita, also Carnegie-trained.
The Coffee Bean is one of several eating houses that are part of Restaurant Week, an event hosted by the Guyana Tourism Authority to help promote the Guyanese culinary culture. During this current week Dewnath is offering a three-course meal for $2,000, which she considers to be a culinary bargain.
