During the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses have had to adapt or die. A mobile coffee cafe in the East Bay that has managed to survive the COVID-19 crisis – largely thanks to its loyal customers.
The owners of Get Goes Mobile Cafe, Jeff and Zeva Williams, have been making coffee and espresso drinks for over a decade now.
"For some reason we had this inkling that in the future people were going to be able to work from home more," Zeva Williams told KCBS Radio. "We figured if people are gonna work home more they’re gonna need their coffee."
That prediction certainly came true during the pandemic, when the coffee van had to switch from serving ferry commuters to couch commuters.
"So now instead of serving neighborhoods once a week, we go into the neighborhood every single day," she said.
Those stops in Alameda and Oakland became magnets for neighbors desperate to see each other. Barbara Hartford lives in Oakland's Maxwell Park neighborhood.
"I have a picture of the first day at the end of the pandemic when all of us were vaccinated and took our masks off," she said.
Meanwhile, ferry passengers are starting to return to the office. Jay Cooke was thrilled to find that Get Goes hasn't gone anywhere.
"When I stop and get a coffee before I go on to the ferry, that's a little check of normalcy. I see friendly people puts a smile on my face, I start my day," he said.
"We haven't been able to pay ourselves what we used to pay ourselves but we've been able to keep the business alive," Williams added.
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