Save Kat's Coffee – A female run specialty café
Donation protected
My name is Katrin, I am the founder of Kat's Coffee in Thalpe, Sri Lanka, a fully female run specialty coffee shop in Sri Lanka. We as a team of 4 women have been running the cafe since 2016 and have continually grown. During the last one and half years we had two unforeseen events, that effected the tourism industry and our business quite harshly.
The terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday 2019 led to a decline in tourist arrivals. Just when the industry seemed to catch a breath, the global Covid-19 pandemic hit the country just one year later.
The airport has been shut down since March this year and no tourists are allowed to enter the country, which went into a total lockdown for several months. During this time, while closed for business we have moved to a new location, in parts to save money on rent, but also to grow the business with the new place. We have also found ourselves becoming guardians for a group of stray and neighbourhood cats, which also had their business (being fed by tourists usually) diminished.
The reopening of the country to tourism has understandably been postponed several times to protect the people living in Sri Lanka. While this has kept the number of infections relatively low, it has also eliminated the entire hospitality industry in the country.
So far we have managed to stay in business and have not had to let any staff members go. There are no unemployment benefits in Sri Lanka in case of jobloss, therefore keeping our staff employed has highest priority for us during this time.
We have started to set up events to improve our turnover, unfortunately we are still not operating on a cost-effective scale again.
This gofundme is set up to tie us over until the country can reopen safely and the hospitality industry can operate again. I myself am looking for other means of income, using my education and experience as an engineer as well.
The money we hope to raise will cover:
salaries for all staff
rent and utilities
a small amount for my own living expenses as well as
some outstanding bills and
the costs of looking after our friendly resident and neighbourhood cats.
With the amount we are looking for we can cover these costs for three months, which we hope will tie us over until the country reopens for tourism and we can operate with full business again. This will also give me (Kat) a slightly bigger timeframe and peace of mind to find another income to cover these costs myself.
A lot of businesses have shut down here in the area and many people have lost their livelihoods. If in any way possible I want to avoid this for my team, which has become a family.
TripAdvisor New location
TripAdvisor Old location Unawatuna
PS: The address for this fundraiser is set as my home address in Germany, but the money will 100% go towards saving the cafe and the jobs of the team of Kat's Coffee in Thalpe, Sri Lanka. Every little bit helps. Even if we can't raise the money for the full three months we might still be able to buy enough time until the café can operate smoothly again.
The terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday 2019 led to a decline in tourist arrivals. Just when the industry seemed to catch a breath, the global Covid-19 pandemic hit the country just one year later.
The airport has been shut down since March this year and no tourists are allowed to enter the country, which went into a total lockdown for several months. During this time, while closed for business we have moved to a new location, in parts to save money on rent, but also to grow the business with the new place. We have also found ourselves becoming guardians for a group of stray and neighbourhood cats, which also had their business (being fed by tourists usually) diminished.
The reopening of the country to tourism has understandably been postponed several times to protect the people living in Sri Lanka. While this has kept the number of infections relatively low, it has also eliminated the entire hospitality industry in the country.
So far we have managed to stay in business and have not had to let any staff members go. There are no unemployment benefits in Sri Lanka in case of jobloss, therefore keeping our staff employed has highest priority for us during this time.
We have started to set up events to improve our turnover, unfortunately we are still not operating on a cost-effective scale again.
This gofundme is set up to tie us over until the country can reopen safely and the hospitality industry can operate again. I myself am looking for other means of income, using my education and experience as an engineer as well.
The money we hope to raise will cover:
salaries for all staff
rent and utilities
a small amount for my own living expenses as well as
some outstanding bills and
the costs of looking after our friendly resident and neighbourhood cats.
With the amount we are looking for we can cover these costs for three months, which we hope will tie us over until the country reopens for tourism and we can operate with full business again. This will also give me (Kat) a slightly bigger timeframe and peace of mind to find another income to cover these costs myself.
A lot of businesses have shut down here in the area and many people have lost their livelihoods. If in any way possible I want to avoid this for my team, which has become a family.
TripAdvisor New location
TripAdvisor Old location Unawatuna
PS: The address for this fundraiser is set as my home address in Germany, but the money will 100% go towards saving the cafe and the jobs of the team of Kat's Coffee in Thalpe, Sri Lanka. Every little bit helps. Even if we can't raise the money for the full three months we might still be able to buy enough time until the café can operate smoothly again.
Organizer
Katrin Möller
Organizer
Gotha, Thüringen