Sorzano, of Baba’s Brew, also had to retool once the pandemic hit and shutdowns began. After five years in business with year after year of consistent growth, they lost 80% of their customers practically overnight due to the closure of restaurants, cafés, and coffee shops.
“After the initial shock and phone call with other small business owners who found themselves in a similarly dire situation, we decided that we can only survive if we bond together,” she wrote in an email.
Baba’s closed their tasting room and launched a curbside pickup operation that offered over three dozen products from 20 local vendors in addition to their kombucha. Their offerings included pizza and marinara sauce from Vesper Brothers of Wayne; sauerkraut and pickled beets from Food and Ferments of Cortland, NY; bread from Merzbacher’s of Germantown; croissants and challah bread from Le Bus Bakery of King of Prussia, and cheeses from Caputo Brothers Creamery of Spring Grove, to name a few. Like Shinn, she initially connected with many of those vendors through the Co-op.