History of Coffee News

by Jean Daum, Coffee News World Head Office 

Coffee News's predecessor was a community newspaper I designed in 1982. It was designed to help in a specific recession happening in Charleswood - a bedroom community of Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada), which was on its way to becoming a ghost town.

One in every four stores in the business district were empty and abandoned, with the rest losing money hand over fist, hanging on for dear life. New businesses that could have revitalized the area were short-lived.

No one from St. James would drive all the way to Charleswood to shop, so Charleswood advertisers were forced to pay for FOUR TIMES the circulation they needed to be able to reach their Charleswood customers - at FOUR TIMES the cost! In the end, the cost outweighed the return and they stopped advertising.

It doesn't take long for a business to lose enough customers that it can no longer pay its bills. By that time, it's too late to advertise because advertising is a cumulative effect, not a "one ad wonder"!

In the end, businesses in trouble were filling their windows with 50 - 75% off sale signs - hoping for any kind of money coming through their door that would keep their suppliers and bankers at bay.

I was drafted into action by my husband (who was renting the hall for dance lessons) to volunteer as Publicity Chairperson for Varsity View Community Centre. Part of my job was to sell advertising for the newsletter, which forced me to talk to business people in my community. I couldn't get around it.  I HAD to go into stores I had never shopped at as a resident.

It never occurred to me the sacrifice these business-owners go through just to do business, let alone the horrors of losing everything they own when they fail. I didn't do very well selling ads to support the community centre, but it did convince me that if I didn't do something - no one else was even concerned enough to try!

My original newspaper lasted two and a half years and in that time, I was able to re-establish 100% thriving occupancy in the Charleswood Business Community, and completely reverse the failure rate of new business. 

I had also created such a fervor of community spirit that all three community centers had to greatly expand their existing facilities.

My original newspaper died a very undeserving death at the hands of the Post Office which decided my profits from inserts, was now going to be 60% of my costs. I lost everything I owned. I tried to keep my newspaper going until the final decision from the Post Office - 3 months and $25,000 in debt later.

If you'll notice, Coffee News is no longer delivered by the post office!  Restaurants were the perfect places to deliver Coffee News, since the majority of people who go there are people with extra money to spend. The rest is history.

Today, hundreds of towns and cities in THIRTY COUNTRIES are being revitalized by energetic Coffee News publishers who believe that they too can make a difference in their business community!