The global coronavirus pandemic has turned many of the nation’s major cities into ghost towns, and Charlotte is no exception. Once teeming with patrons, the Queen City has quickly become eerily quiet, leaving many small businesses to wonder if they’ll survive the financial damage this virus has caused.
Among the hardest-hit industries are restaurants and coffee shops, who have been forced to either close their doors or resort to takeout and delivery-only options to adhere to stay-at-home mandates. But Cloosiv— a mobile ordering app for coffee shops and cafés — is helping local shops stay open and relevant through its unique platform.
Introducing the All-New Cloosiv Platform
While the Cloosiv app has been available since 2017, the company recently did a user interface update and rebuilt the entire product.
“The release is oddly timed,” confesses Tim Griffin, Cloosiv founder and CEO. “We had it planned for a long time, but it just happened to coincide with everything that’s going on. When the pandemic took hold, we saw many coffee shops in the area sign up because they saw the value in being able to keep their doors open through our app.”
Officially released to both Android and iOS users on March 20, the updated Cloosiv app has a more user-friendly interface coupled with an all-new feature: curbside pickup.
“Curbside pickup wasn’t originally part of the release plan,” Griffin said. “But we realized almost immediately we needed to build a curbside function for the app, so we dropped everything to get it out that same week.”
Now, users can not only order ahead of time from their favorite local cafés, but they can request curbside pickup for their order as well. Using Cloosiv’s mobile payment option to bypass cash and credit transactions, this ordering method presents a low-risk method for satisfying caffeine cravings in an age of social distancing regulations.
Supporting Local More Crucial Than Ever
Curbside pickup and mobile transactions aren’t the only ways in which Cloosiv is helping small café owners stay in business. The tech startup is also doing their part to give back financially to provide assistance to those who have been most seriously impacted by COVID-19.
“We set up virtual tip jars in coffee shop menus for users to support local shops,” said Griffin. “But we also created the Cloosiv Café where customers can donate to the entire network of coffee shops using our platform.”
All donations made to the Cloosiv Café will go towards providing financial assistance to shops within the Cloosiv network and will be distributed equally to shops and their employees.
“The more donations we receive, the more cash that can flow to those shops and hopefully help them make ends meet,” Griffin said. “Our number-one focus is helping them keep their doors open.”
In addition to their donation efforts, Cloosiv has also waived all associated fees for coffee shops and cafés to use the platform through May 31, 2020. Both existing users and new shops can now use the Cloosiv platform free of charge until the end of May.
Coronavirus & the Future of Consumer Behavior
As more coffee shops and cafés sign up with Cloosiv, Griffin hopes that a valuable lesson can be learned from the situation in which we now find ourselves.
“I’m hopeful that this will shed light on how easy it is to spread germs to one another,” he said. “The U.S. is a country that’s far under-developed as far as point-of-sale and transacting in the way our infrastructure has been built around credit cards and cash. There’s a great deal of potential that exists in shifting the way companies interact and transact with their customers.”
But the crisis has also highlighted how essential it is for us to support small businesses regularly, he said.
“Regardless of whether or not a coffee shop uses Cloosiv, it’s important for people to remember they’re here and they’re trying to stay in business,” Griffin said. “If you do feel healthy and are able to support, go support locally.”
The updated Cloosiv app is available for download through the iOS App Store and Google Play. Interested coffee shops and cafés can sign up with the platform through the company’s website.