London Inc. May/June 2021 - 35

Walking in as the first lockdown began meant country, who have never heard of us. What will convince
Navackas had to face some hard realities sooner than them to purchase our coffee? It's an entirely different
he might have chosen. The main issue was that most of way to operate. "
the company's revenue was coming from serving coffee
The coffee itself is still central. Fire Roasted has
- either in its four branded London coffee shops or whole- maintained many of its direct relationships with coffee
sale to restaurants, cafés and specialty food shops.
farmers around the world, although the pandemic has
" We needed to shift away from that anyway, but made that more difficult.
suddenly restaurants closed. No one
was going to coffee shops. "
Fire Roasted closed or sold its locations, including its iconic original home
upstairs at The Market at Western Fair
District. (It will return to its main ﬂoor
-Mark Navackas
Market stall post-lockdown.)
" We offered everyone a job to continue with us in some capacity, " says Navackas. " We
Its own bespoke delivery system has been a huge hit.
didn't have any barista jobs but there are lots of other It provides next-day delivery in London and two-day
things to do. We didn't lay anyone off and have nine delivery in Ontario. It relies on Canada Post to cover the
employees. "
rest of the country.
The business operates from its roasting headquarters
Roughly one-third of orders come from outside
at Somerville 630, the Dundas Street food and small London, testament to the company's early success at
business incubator Cook created ﬁve years ago.
building its online presence. Being available on Amazon
" Our focus now is how to succeed in the digital is a key element as well, serving the surge of so-called
environment. We had to redesign our website, ﬁgure out quaristas - quarantine-inspired, at-home baristas.
Google Ads and other social media, and create a delivery
" We're very close to being able to offer same-day
system, " Navackas says. " In the past, our customers delivery in London, " Navackas says. " When you run out
walked into our store and knew who we were. Now, of coffee, you want to make sure you have more for
we're trying to reach customers across the province, the breakfast the next day. "

" OUR FOCUS NOW IS HOW TO SUCCEED
IN THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT. IT'S AN
ENTIRELY DIFFERENT WAY TO OPERATE "

MAY / JUNE 2021 | londonincmagazine.ca | 35

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London Inc. May/June 2021

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