Innovation

Aleksandra Brankov credits her success with Cafilia to her experience in consulting and organizational development, especially her flexibility in approaching and compartmentalizing different areas of a business. She is adept at commercial selling and sales, which proved very useful in the market research stages of Cafilia’s development. Specifically, as a result of market research, Brankov realized that while consumers would like to go to local coffee shops, they tend to go to what is easiest to find, like a Starbucks or Dunkin'. Brankov’s desire to help bring business to local coffee shops, in addition to her desire to promote sustainability within the coffee industry, led her to create Cafilia.

Launched in July 2020, Cafilia is a coffee subscription service that promotes both profitability and sustainability for local coffee shops. Once consumers select a subscription for either 10, 15, or 20 coffees per month, they then receive an exclusive, sustainable travel mug that they can take to any of the local coffee shops in the Cafilia network to use their subscription and get their coffee. The current Cafilia network includes nine local coffee shops located throughout Cleveland, Ohio, with many more to soon join. Not only is Cafilia promoting sustainability through a reusable travel mug, but the company helps coffee drinkers easily discover local, quality coffee shops, manage their coffee spending, as well as get rewarded for their loyalty for supporting local businesses. Similar to that of Airbnb or ClassPass, Cafilia is a two-sided platform where coffee drinkers and local independent coffee shops are brought together in a better and easier way. As explained by Brankov, Cafilia promotes and encourages the idea that, “Coffee has this magic of bringing people together all over the world.”

Inspiration

Founder Aleksandra Brankov, who recently moved back to the United States from Europe was having unpleasant work experiences and knew she wanted a change. She realized she was capable of creating her own business; Aleksandra stated, “I don’t need anyone to validate the value that I bring, I can do that for myself.” Brankov knew that all she needed was an idea that she could pursue, which is exactly what happened in February of 2019.

Aleksandra first had this idea when she was at a lodge north of Toronto, Canada, with her friends. They were sitting around a table and Aleksandra noticed that her friends were using their Yeti tumblers to get refills of coffee or tea, rather than using the single-use styrofoam cups that were provided. This is when Aleksandra thought why not create a business that is sustainable and benefits local businesses, which is how Cafilia was born.

Overall impact

Cafilia’s novel dual-sided model aims to support local coffee shops and create an opportunity for consumers to subscribe to the local coffee shop experience, while remaining heavily focused on supporting sustainable practices. Thus, Cafilia’s impacts lie in backing local business and enabling a more circular economy, with an approach that has the potential to reframe coffee consumption within a given community.

Regarding local business, independent coffee shops are struggling to sustain a customer base, especially when pitted against large chains such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. According to estimates by research firm Euromonitor International, there was a 7.3% decrease in outlets specializing in tea or coffee by the end of 2020. Now additionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, local coffee businesses are facing an even more rampant spread of closures due to extensive lockdown restrictions and gaps in current resources. Cafilia aims to address this by fostering partnerships to form a connected network of local coffee shops. In its earliest iteration, Brankov piloted Cafilia’s model at Root Café in Lakewood, Ohio. Beyond this, Cafilia has expanded to partner with eight additional local coffee stores in the Cleveland area. Not only does such a network support the Cafilia model, but it also informs consumers about local coffee options, and supports marketing strategies for these local businesses. As Brankov states, “there’s strength in unity...” with regards to the network of local coffee businesses, helping to streamline marketing as well as establish potential predictions of new customer inflow. To complement this impact, Cafilia plans to establish a local loyalty program and release a mobile application to help customers easily access information about the coffee shops in the network, aiding discovery of new coffee spots and easing access to specific information such as parking options.

In considering waste in coffee consumption, disposable coffee cups are notoriously difficult to recycle (if they are recyclable at all) and typically end up in landfills where they do not biodegrade. Leading the consumption of single use coffee cups, consumers in the United States dispose of anywhere from an estimated 50 to 136 million coffee cups daily. Worldwide, it is estimated that less than 1% of these disposed cups are ever recycled. Concerned with this waste production during coffee consumption, Cafilia is working to enable more sustainable coffee consumption and build a positive environmental impact over time. By helping to reduce the number of disposable cups that a coffee shop needs to use (and saving disposable costs), and empowering consumers to be more sustainable, Cafilia facilitates a more circular economy. With a change as small as incentivizing a consumer to throw away one less coffee cup daily, this change can amount to a large-scale impact when adopted on a wider scale. In these early stages, Cafilia has saved at least 900 pieces of coffee container waste from ending up in landfills to date.

While Cafilia is still in its earliest stages, it is well poised to continue expanding both facets of its impact to build more connected and sustainable communities. Founder Aleksandra Brankov envisions Cafilia becoming the “the ClassPass for coffee” – a global model for supporting local coffee and encouraging sustainable practices.

Business benefit

The company is able to attract customers because in today’s world, many young people are not only concerned about the quality of the product they purchase, but also what the company does sustainably. Here, the concept of reusable cups will attract a specific customer that will increase revenues. Many people go to coffee shops to relax, do work or meet with friends. Since Cafilia is a coffee subscription service, many customers are able to contact local coffee shops that are more intimate and not as commercial as large coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. Cafilia will generate sales with their subscription pack and attract customers by emphasizing the reusable concept. The Cafilia concept is quick and simple. The cup is assigned to you and you can easily be directed to any local coffee shop of your choice.

Social and environmental benefit

Cafilia’s positive impact is twofold. Firstly, it helps local and smaller businesses. For every three Starbucks locations in Cleveland there are two independently owned coffee shops. However, since they do not have a large budget for marketing, they often struggle to bring in local business due to a lack of exposure and customers’ lack of knowledge about the locations. Cafilia makes it easy for customers to locate local shops and help local businesses thrive. The other positive impact of Cafilia is environmental. Since the reusable cup is used by consumers to get their drinks, this takes away the need for disposable cups which cannot even be recycled. According to the Cafilia page, the average coffee shop uses 20.5 trees worth of paper cups per month. Cafilia mitigates waste while helping local businesses.

Interview

Aleksandra Brankov, Founder