Gimme! Coffee is a
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
roaster and
third-wave coffee shop, based in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, with
espresso bars in
Ithaca
Ithaca most commonly refers to:
*Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey''
*Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca
*Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College
Ithaca, Ithaka ...
and
Trumansburg
Trumansburg is a village in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 1,797 at the 2010 census. The name incorporates a misspelling of the surname of the founder, Abner Treman. The Tremans spelled their surname several differe ...
. In response to the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic, Gimme! announced the permanent closure of the
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
based locations and also began an Ithaca-area delivery service. Gimme! Coffee also has a
wholesale
Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...
service that caters to coffee and
espresso
Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans and ...
establishments. In January 2020, Colleen Anunu replaced founder Kevin Cuddeback as CEO after he served 20 years in the role.
Relationships
A focus at Gimme is to form relationships with farmers who grow coffee. As part of this bond between consumer and producer, the farmer may receive a
price premium Price premium, or relative price, is the percentage by which a product's selling price exceeds (or falls short of) a benchmark price. Marketers need to monitor price premiums as early indicators of competitive pricing strategies. Changes in price p ...
, which in turn, can help them improve their operations. For example, since 2009, Gimme has worked with a farmer in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
, helping the producer to attain organic certification and win awards.
The director of coffee at Gimme is working with
Boyce Thompson Institute
The Boyce Thompson Institute (previously: Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research) is an independent research institute devoted to using plant sciences to improve agriculture, protect the Environment (biophysical), environment, and enhance hea ...
to map the
arabica coffee genome to improve taste and make arabica beans less susceptible to disease.
Awards
In 2006, the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' named Gimme! Coffee among the best espresso bars in New York City. Gimme! Coffee received a Good Food Award, in the coffee category, for 2011
[Good Food Awards, January 2011](_blank)
/ref> and 2012.[Good Food Awards, January 2012](_blank)
/ref> ''Roast'' magazine chose Gimme! Coffee as winner of their 2013 Roaster of the Year contest (macro category).
/ref> Dark Forest Chocolate collaborated with Gimme! Coffee to make an espresso based chocolate bar that won a Good Food Award in 2019.
Unionization
In May 2017, the upstate New York Gimme employees formed a union through the Tompkins County
Tompkins County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 105,740. The county seat is Ithaca. The name is in honor of Daniel D. Tompkins, who served as Governor of New York and Vice President ...
Workers' Center. In February 2018, the group ratified its first union contract. It is the first known baristas
A barista (; ; from the Italian/Spanish for "bartender") is a person, usually a coffeehouse employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks.
Etymology and inflection
The word ''barista'' comes from Italian where it means a male o ...
union with an aim at paying workers a living wage, ensuring the workers are not fired without just cause, and guaranteeing an excellent work environment.
College Partners
In August 2014, Gimme! opened an espresso bar in Gates Hall on Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
main campus.
Subsequently, in 2017 an agreement was reached with Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...
to begin serving Gimme Coffee on campus.
See also
* List of coffeehouse chains
This list of notable coffeehouse chains catalogues the spread and markets share of coffeehouses world-wide. This list excludes the many companies which operate coffeeshops within retail establishments, notably bookstores and department stores, or ...
*
References
Further reading
"Courtyard Café is abuzz with a new brew"
by Franklin Crawford, ''Cornell Chronicle'', March 2005
"Masters of the Bean"
by Brendan Vaughan, ''Chow'', September 2005
"New Roastery Eases Growing Pains"
by Katherine Graham, ''The Ithaca Journal'', August 16, 2006
"Best U.S. Coffee Bars"
by Nick Pandolfi, ''Food & Wine'', September 2008
External links
*
{{Ithaca, New York
Coffeehouses and cafés in the United States
Restaurants in New York (state)
Companies based in New York (state)
Restaurants established in 2000
2000 establishments in New York (state)