Dan’s Story
Dan Swenson-Klatt, Butter Bakery Cafe
Minneapolis, MN
As a community building space by design, the urge to monitor and limit social interactions is a strange and uncomfortable situation for us here at Butter. While we have always been guided by health code standards that create a clean and accessible space for all people, the heightened awareness of person to person contact pushed us to look even more closely and helped us identify areas of concern. As a neighbor and partner with the Aliveness Project, as an employer of staff with chronic health issues, and as a regular stop for elderly customers, we understand the COVID-19 virus can be life-threatening and take their needs seriously. We have made adjustments to our operating processes and within our customer space to further reduce risks of transmission of this virus.
As you might suspect, small, independent, family businesses like mine are extremely fragile at times like this. We run our businesses without savings and reserves, without “work from home” options, without affordable and simple options to credit, and without structures in place to offer staff additional child care support, health care support, or paid leaves. When revenue from our sales is the only way to keep our doors open, drastic changes to revenue make it challenging to keep those doors open. I am committed to remain open as long as the recommendations from our state’s leaders allow, and as long as our creative use of finances will allow.
Please know that you are welcome to call in orders, seek out delivery options, or make requests for pickups that don’t require entering the café. Yes, purchasing online – digital gift cards from our website for later use is a blessing in these times. Coffee making at home? We can help.
As a small, independent, family business, we also have the strength in our flexibility to meet customer needs. And do remember that in times of crisis, it is your friends and neighbors, and the local, small businesses that are run by your friends and neighbors, that creates the strong web of community to support us through these uncertain times. Put us to use. Social distancing does not mean living in isolation or fear. We are here for you and will do our best to support and provide for you.