We're Open

Actions

Cleveland coffee shop owner struggling to brew up business

Cafe Phix was growing, and then the pandemic hit
Posted at 12:24 PM, Jun 10, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-11 13:16:08-04

Businesses across Northeast Ohio are fighting the same battle: staying alive while the country struggles to recover from the COVID-19 shutdowns. One owner isn’t sure she’ll be able to survive.

Jackie Larkins has been in the coffee business for seven years. In 2018, she opened Café Phix Midtown (6815 Euclid Ave.) in Cleveland. Larkins says the business was growing before she was forced to shut down in March 2020.

IMG_0874.jpg

Larkins reopened at the beginning of June and is doing what she can to attract customers. She’s added curbside pickup and launched a new website hoping to stand out, but so far nothing has worked. Larkins now realizes the problem is more than half of the workers whose businesses are located around her are still working remotely.

She’s trying to stay open in any way she can. She’s waiting for a loan from Cuyahoga County to come through, and she was able to secure a loan from the Payroll Protection Program. That has allowed her to hire back an employee who will start next week.

Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.

You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.