Every spring as the school year comes to an end for the University of Idaho, local coffee shops begin to see a change in business and customers as many students start to leave for the summer break.
Pat Greenfield, owner of Bucer’s Coffeehouse Pub said that she notices a big decline in customers when school gets out for the summer.
Iris Alatore | Summer Arg
Matteo Tunioli, employee at One World Café, stands behind the register and takes a customer’s order. Several coffee shops in Moscow have reduced their hours for summer and introduced new menu items. shot
“In the summer we begin to get a lot more families and people of diverse ages come in,” Greenfield said.
“The students definitely make a big portion of our customers during the school year,” Matteo Tunioli, an employee at One World Café, said.
Since Café Artista opened March 15, owner Bev Bafus said that she has had a steady stream of customers.
“We have not seen that big of a drop in business since we first opened,” Bafus said. “We normally get most of our business from locals.”
The decrease in customers for the summer season promts coffee shops like One World Café and Bucer’s Coffeehouse Pub decrease the hours they are open.
One World Café recently switched to opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 7 p.m. during the week and 7 a.m. through 9 p.m. on the weekends.
“Since it’s summertime we don’t get customers staying as long and studying into the night,” Tunioli said. “But business is still pretty decently steady throughout the summer, especially when the Farmer’s Market starts picking up.”
Bucer’s Coffeehouse Pub reduced their hours to 7 a.m. through 10 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. through 11 p.m. on weekends.
“We’re the only local coffee shop that is open the latest during the summer,” Greenfield said.
Café Artista stuck with their normal hours of 6 a.m. through 6 p.m, although they changed their menu to offer cold beverages to go along with the summer heat.
“We recently added the Cold Brew which is a cold-brewed coffee,” Bafus said.
Bafus and Greenfield both said that cold beverages have become a lot more popular with the warm weather.
“We have some seasonal changes, like getting rid of our soups,” Tunioli said. “Now we have lemonade, Arnold Palmers, we can also make apple cider and crushed cider.”
One World Café and Bucer’s Coffeehouse Pub both still have live music on the weekends.
“We still have live music every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night,” Greenfield said. “It gives people something to do.”
Tunioli said that One World Café still tries to have at least one show a week.
“One thing that the summer is great for is live music coming through town,” Tunioli said. “Personally, I think that Moscow has an awesome music scene for the size of town that it is. I would definitely recommend dropping by Friday or Saturday evening for live music.”
Each coffee shop also claimed to have something unique that other shops in Moscow don’t have to offer.
“We carry Stumptown coffee so we’re the only ones in Moscow that have it and there’s actually only two cafes in northern Idaho that have it,” Bafus said.
Bafus said that Stumptown coffee is unique because it’s not roasted as long as other coffees and they also have a direct trade so they know all their farmers. It is also grown organically and sustainably.
Greenfield said the Bucer’s Coffeehouse Pub is the only coffee shop in the region that roasts its own coffee.
“Moscow and this part of the world has a lot of awesome coffee to offer. We get ours from a local grocer in Troy and we’re the only café that I know of in Moscow that carries it,” Tunioli said.
Iris Alatorre can be reached at [email protected]
