A new coffee delivery service had a short-lived experience in Stellenbosch. However, its founders aim to return to the local market by offering their patented coffee seal and temperature-controlled bags for use by coffee shops in the area.
This was according to Eugene Jensen, co-founder of the delivery service, the CoffeeLIFT Movement. The Johannesburg-based business started at the beginning of 2020, with the goal of providing spill-proof and temperature-controlled delivery of coffee, he said.
The business started operating in Stellenbosch at the beginning of August 2021, but due to difficulties around profitability and sustainability, the delivery service side of the business officially came to an end in all areas on 27 August, said Johann Peek, the other co-founder of the CoffeeLIFT Movement.
During the past year, the CoffeeLIFT Movement delivered close to 3 000 cups of coffee on behalf of coffee shops nation-wide, according to Johann Peek, co-founder of the CoffeeLIFT Movement. PHOTO: Maryam Adams
“Very quickly, we realised that the need for the product exceeds our capacity to expand the delivery platform,” said Peek.
While the coffee delivery service is no longer active, the methods that the CoffeeLIFT Movement developed to prevent spillage and control temperature while delivering – the CoffeeLIFT seal and the Cool HotBox – continue to have potential, according to Peek.
“While we are sad to see the CoffeeLIFT delivery platform go, we are extremely excited about the possibilities that the CoffeeLIFT seal and Cool HotBoxes hold for every coffee shop, in enabling them to start doing deliveries via the current third-party delivery platforms,” said Peek.
Spillage is currently a challenge for many Uber Eats drivers, especially when delivering more than one beverage at a time, according to Yibanathi Dondashe, a driver for Uber Eats.
Dondashe told MatieMedia that the only real way to ensure no spillage when delivering beverages is to drive slowly, but it remains difficult when driving in suburbs with many speed bumps.
Stellenbosch involvement
Mill Coffee House, Hygge Hygge, 18 Coffee and at The Bean are some of the local coffee shops that signed up to use the CoffeeLIFT Movement’s delivery service. However, they did not get the opportunity to make proper use of it before the platform came to an end, said Jensen.
“Our success rate was very high in being able to prevent any [coffee] spills, and ensuring the correct temperature,” said Johann Peek, co-founder of the CoffeeLIFT Movement, on the effectiveness of the business’ patented coffee seal and temperature-controlled bags. PHOTO: Maryam Adams
Hygge Hygge joined the delivery platform in July. The coffee shop only made one delivery through the platform, but they were impressed by the effectiveness of the seal. This is according to Carmen Möller, one of the owners of Hygge Hygge.
Hygge Hygge remains interested in purchasing the coffee seal, which they would then use to deliver coffee via large-scale delivery services such as UberEats, according to Möller.
“We are extremely excited about the possibilities the CoffeeLIFT sealTM and Cool HotBoxes hold for every coffee shop,” said Johann Peek, co-founder of the CoffeeLIFT Movement. IMAGE: Sourced/CoffeeLIFT Movement