Electricity Bill Double the Rent?! Coffee Shop Owner Stunned!

An Italian Cafe's Silent Protest Against the Energy Crisis

Recently it was reported that a cafe in Rome, Italy, hung an inflatable doll figure in its glass window. The figure wears a red apron with transparent tape wrapped around its throat and a yellow paper note on its chest reading "The Bill Has Arrived," drawing people's attention. Such a desperate act of performance art is a "silent protest" from an Italian cafe caught in the energy crisis.

The cafe's owner, Laura Lamoni, said the action came out of the extremely high electricity bills the cafe had recently been facing. "I feel like I'm being hanged. I can't bear all of this. The bills are too expensive, while income is very little. This is how I feel, and this is how merchants like me feel." In June and July of this year, the cafe's electricity bills totaled approximately 2,600 euros, against about 900 euros in the same period last year.

Laura said the bills were overwhelming her. To keep operating, she had to let two employees go, raise prices on some items, and apply to pay the bills in installments. With the European energy crisis weighing on the whole economy, energy spending by Italian households has generally risen. "Fewer customers come to my cafe because their other expenses have also increased," Laura said.

The Wider European Energy Crisis

Against the backdrop of that wider crisis, the coming autumn and winter add more uncertainty to this cafe's future. The global energy situation points to a colder, harder winter, especially in Europe. Despite desperate efforts to implement measures — energy conservation, windfall taxes, restarting coal and nuclear power — Europe has not managed to press pause on the crisis.

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the European energy crisis has intensified, with fossil fuels in short supply, prices soaring and the electricity market nearly out of control.

Recently, the owner of a cafe in Crumlin, Dublin, was "horrified" after receiving an electricity bill that was "twice the rent" of the coffee shop. Paul McDonald, owner of Pip's Cafe and Deli, said that although business remains busy, the bills have "skyrocketed" to the point of being unsustainable. The cafe's previous bill of about 1,200 euros has risen to nearly 4,000 euros in just six weeks. Another bill was expected within days, leaving the owner deeply concerned.

The Impact on Small Businesses

Over the past few months, cafes have received notices from multiple suppliers, energy providers among them, informing them of price increases — with some costs "rising by more than 50%." The rising costs cover almost everything: cups, boxes, tableware. Even coffee beans have been climbing "crazily" because of weather and other factors. Because restaurants and cafes cannot pass all of those costs on to customers, they end up losing money even while busy.

Owner Paul McDonald told media that they are as busy as ever, but profits have taken a heavy hit. He also said it is "impossible" to absorb the rising energy costs into revenue. "This is very unfair. The government needs to intervene and reduce taxes on utilities like water and electricity. Otherwise, small businesses will face a very difficult future and may not even survive."

The Situation Across Europe

In the UK, energy regulator Ofgem announced in early August that, from October 1, the energy price cap for ordinary British households would increase by 80%. That means millions of people in Britain may be unable to pay their gas and electricity bills this winter. Germany, too, would begin implementing a natural gas surcharge from October 1.

Energy Price Trend Chart

That may not fully convey the severity of the crisis, but you will understand it deeply when you walk into ice cream shops, cafes and museums — and even the subway — all without air conditioning. And that is not the worst of it. For some less affluent families in the UK this winter, the choice may come down to buying food or buying energy: either go hungry or go cold.

An energy transition cannot be rushed. It has to be based on national conditions and proceed at an appropriate pace. Europe's determination to move to green energy is firm, but from the perspective of both supply security and decarbonization, its energy development still has a long way to go. With the arrival of the European debt crisis — which previously affected smaller economies — the fire is now spreading to Italy, Germany and even the UK. It is hard to imagine what comes next, and how deep a crisis the world might fall into.

Image source: Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

When electricity, packaging and shipping all climb at once, the one line a cafe can actually control is its beans — and that is where an affordable, dependable everyday coffee matters most. FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is exactly that kind of bean: it comes from Brazil's well-known Cerrado region and is priced to be drunk daily, with the classic cream, peanut and cocoa flavors at extraction. It is an entry-level single origin that tastes good without costing much.

FrontStreet Queen's Estate goes a step further. Grown at higher altitude and made up of the rare Yellow Bourbon variety, it layers butter, sunflower seed, macadamia and almond aromas on top of a sugarcane-like sweetness, with a thick, smooth body whether served black or with milk — an easy upgrade for a shop that wants a little more on the palate without a big jump in price.

For operators working with domestic beans, FrontStreet Yunnan Smallholder from Baoshan is washed processed and delivers the traditional nut and chocolate profile with a soft, balanced body, while FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan Typica — the old Arabica variety grown at 1,300 meters and roasted medium — is cleaner still, with hazelnut, dried apricot, black tea, caramel and ripe plum notes. For shops looking for the highest grade they can reasonably stock, FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling is sorted three times by hand plus once by machine, cutting the defect rate to a minimum for a cleaner, smoother cup with clearer woody and caramel notes.