‘Save Mocha Now’ A Conscious Direction For Community Members

By Nancy K. Crevier

Ben Roberts’ office for his business, Conscious Financial Directions, is located in the historic Glover building on the corner of Riverside Road and Glen Road in Sandy Hook Center, a space that he has occupied for nearly three years. “We love Sandy Hook Center,” he said. “It’s so much more appealing to have an office here than in an industrial office space, and there are lots of nice places you can walk to from my office,” he said.

Looking out of his office windows onto Glen Road, three of those places are easy to spot — Chao Chao Restaurant, Wishing Well, and sandwiched in between, Mocha Coffeehouse, the object of Mr Roberts’ focus in recent days.

A business that Mr Roberts — the impetus behind the weekly community “Discussion Salon” and the Newtown Coffee Party movement, both of which have utilized the Mocha space for meetings — deems a cornerstone of Sandy Hook Center, Mocha Coffeehouse owners Rob Kaiser and Scott Wolfman have decided to forego renewing the lease for the property, effective May 31. That news has fueled a grassroots movement to Save Mocha Now, consisting of Mr Roberts, nearly two dozen other Mocha patrons, and a Facebook fan base of more than 700 others.

“Gathering places are pretty precious resources,” said Mr Roberts. “It seems like we should do what we can to keep what we have here. We don’t have a lot of places to gather, and opportunities to bring us together as a community are very important.”

When Mr Roberts heard from Mr Kaiser and Mr Wolfman (whom he knows through various personal interests as well as through the coffeehouse) that they were giving up on the riverside enterprise, “I had a general desire to do something. The announcement [about the closing of Mocha] came at a time when I was becoming aware of using social networking in a way that was more powerful than sharing of trivial ideas. I thought about what we could do intentionally with this tool,” Mr Roberts said.

He consulted with the two business owners, asking if they would consider keeping the business going if momentum was created, and while they appeared resigned to the demise of Mocha, they did grant him permission to post a Facebook site, “Save Mocha Now.”

“Maybe I’m looking for a miracle,” he said, “but I was hoping things could turn around and Rob could keep the business going.” Other scenarios that he imagines could play out would be that someone else takes over the lease, and Mr Kaiser stays on as an employee; or someone else buys the Mocha entity from the two men. “Or maybe a new lease, and a new coffeehouse,” he mused.

The movement is meant to prove the desire of the community to have a coffeehouse in the Mocha space. He and the other participants of Save Mocha Now feel that a show of community support might make the business more appealing for a new tenant to come in or to continue the business.

“This is a place where we bring out-of-town friends for lunch, show our sons — to prove that Newtown isn’t such a hopeless backwater as they claim to remember — or meet for tea in the afternoon. This is a place where you see high school kids being serious, college kids home for the holidays, Irish music on the weekends, support groups for parents of autistic children, young mothers with their toddlers, bicyclists taking a break, would-be entrepreneurs working their laptops, teachers talking shop — all in a comfortable, funky ambience with the paintings on the walls, the goofy signs, the bulletin boards with their distinctive messages — appealing to a world that is nonplastic, non-mass-market, noncommercial,” said Julie Stern, a supporter of Save Mocha Now. She and her husband Peter have enjoyed the Discussion Salon that meets at Mocha, as well, she said. She wants to do what she can to keep Mocha going “as a coffee shop, not a beauty parlor or a tanning parlor or a real estate agency or any other kind of business that has already proliferated in so many strip malls in town,” said Ms Stern.

Public Concern, Private Business

 “It’s a unique space in terms of what it offers as a coffeehouse,” Mr Roberts said, pointing out that the center of town boasts coffee shops and Starbucks, and The Blue Z Coffee House on South Main Street has created a gathering place in that part of town. The greatest concern of Save Mocha Now, though, is that not only will Sandy Hook lose a local coffeehouse and gathering spot, but that the space will go dark.

The group is very aware that they are diving into private business.

“The obvious questions,” said Mr Roberts, “are ‘What is the landlord looking for in this space?’ ‘Why would he want the community interfering with his business?’” Save Mocha Now respects the rights of the landlord, Michael Porco, Sr, and wants to work in conjunction with him, emphasized Mr Roberts. “We want to know, how can we work together to keep a coffeehouse there?”

On Thursday, April 15, Mr Roberts and Save Mocha Now supporter Gavin Price sat down with Mr Porco to discuss how they felt the movement could benefit the landlord.

“We were delighted he wanted to sit down and talk with us,” said Mr Roberts, “and I feel he was quite receptive. I think he recognized that having a coffeehouse is one reasonable outcome.” Mr Roberts felt that they were able to convey to Mr Porco that Save Mocha Now is in a position to help add greater value to the leasing of the space. “A more vibrant business benefits everyone. Save Mocha Now is here to help the landlord to get the most use out of his property. But it’s not in our hands. This is a private matter,” he conceded.

Due to the sensitivity of situation, Mr Porco said in a brief phone call to The Bee that he preferred not to comment about the movement beyond stating, “As a landlord, I’m not opposed to having that type [coffeehouse] of business there.”

The Sandy Hook Center District has seen positive growth in recent years, said Mr Roberts, with the support of the town.

“Our tax dollars are going to work here. My concern is that we could go in the other direction now if businesses here start to close. In Sandy Hook Center, we’ve already got a core of businesses and a plan. The last thing we want to have happen is for a business to close and start a cascading effect,” he said.

Those engaged in the Save Mocha Now movement are not just a show of hands, though. The core group of a dozen men and women who care deeply about the potential loss of the coffeehouse have been brainstorming ideas to show that a coffeehouse in Sandy Hook Center can thrive.

Guerrilla Marketing

“The idea of Save Mocha Now is to encourage people to think about novel ways to foster the entrepreneurial, and artistic, spirit of our beloved community,” said Lisa Schwartz, who is also working to see that the space in utilized in a way that benefits the community once the Mocha lease is up. She has put forth to the Save Mocha Now coalition the idea of an artists’ cooperative, should a buyer for Mocha not materialize.

“I envision book groups, lectures, readings, poetry slams, and of course a dynamic display of local artwork. If we could find a group of 12 to 15 artists,” suggested Ms Schwartz, “willing to lay the groundwork for such a place, it could transform Newtown’s cultural arts landscape and also spur economic development for Sandy Hook Center. It’s a challenging idea, especially in these uncertain economic times,” she said.

The group has tossed around the idea of Mocha becoming a cooperatively backed business. A guerrilla marketing campaign to raise awareness is another idea.

“We talked about a viral marketing campaign online with the catch phrase, ‘Take Ten for Mocha. Take Exit 10 for a 10-minute break at Mocha. Help save a local treasure.’ That way, we could draw in outside support,” said Mr Roberts.

They have discussed posting a large sheet of paper in Mocha listing the names of all of the Save Mocha Now Facebook fans.

“Every time you come in, you put a check by your name. It shows support,” he said. They have talked about reaching out to their Facebook fans with a “This is Save Mocha Now Day” to encourage fans to make a purchase at Mocha on a certain date.

Members promoted a Save Mocha Now weekend April 16 through April 18, with moderate success, reported Mr Roberts.

“We had a total of 45 visits identified with Save Mocha Now,” he said Monday morning, April 19. “I think it’s a bit understated, as people may have forgotten to mention why they were there,” he added.

The idea they are running with, for now, is a team contest. Simultaneously helping Mocha and supporting local charities, Save Mocha Now envisions using Facebook fans and personal contacts to form teams.

“The teams will compete to see which one can provide Mocha with the most business between the start of the contest, April 26, and May 23,” Mr Roberts said. Mocha owners have agreed to return ten percent of sales associated with the contest to a pool to support charities. An initial charitable donation pool of at least $500 will be split among four to six charities endorsing teams, using a formula based on the rank in which their team places in the contest. Local charities can endorse a team, or a team can select its own charity to support.

As of April 21, four local charities had committed — Newtown Youth & Family Services, Friends of the C.H. Booth Library, Park and Bark, and the Pootatuck Watershed Association. A third way that charities, not just Mocha, will benefit, Mr Roberts said, is that individuals can pick a charity and agree to contribute a certain percentage of whatever that charity’s team spends at Mocha.

“This contest could really generate energy, I think,” Mr Roberts said.

 “People remember first dates here, groups meet here, and it’s an office away from the office for others. There’s the music, and there’s the art here. Mocha,” stressed Mr Roberts, “is more than a business. It’s a community meeting place.”

Local charities interested in becoming involved in the upcoming team contest, or individuals interested in supporting the cause are asked to contact Mr Roberts at ben.roberts@charter.net, call 203-426-5088, visit savemochanow.com, or become a Facebook fan of Save Mocha Now.

It is a large task to take on in a short span of time, but Save Mocha Now is optimistic, said supporters.

“Like the old proverb says,” quoted Ms Schwartz, “‘When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.’”