A Year in Perspective
Hello Duino Community,
Wow, what a year 2022 has been!
After two years of COVID restrictions, some normalcy started returning back to our lives in 2022. Asil and I were happy to start seeing you return back to your old routines. Duino once again became a co-working and meeting destination with the usual hustle and bustle that we were accustomed to.
But the challenges of post-COVID were far from over in 2022. The effects of the supply chain breakdown and rising prices were real threats to our business. We had to do a better job at balancing resources and finding smarter ways to operate more efficiently. Constant shortages of staples, such as paper cups, tomatoes, avocados, eggs, lettuce and spare-parts for critical equipment (to name a few) meant that we had to consistently change our processes and recipes without compromising on quality. The pressure was also on our crew members who had to constantly adapt and adjust to an ever changing environment. At times we were forced to temporarily or permanently discontinue fan favorite products because the ingredients were unavailable, or the prices were unrealistically high.
Despite these challenges, we managed to keep our prices by and large unchanged and found a way to continued to grow. We introduced new specialty drinks and foods that kept you returning back for more (The Black Sesame Hojicha is my favorite! 😍). We hosted more community events than ever and these events continued to grow in size and popularity. We started hosting Bikes and Coffee and celebrated 3 years of hosting Cars & Coffee. This monthly event attracted over 110 one of a kind cars in May, the most ever, which is only 15 cars short of our parking lot capacity (shhh . . . don’t tell the landlord 😲). We hosted art shows by 7 local artists who not only got exposure but were also able to sell their artwork (commission free!!)
Our new location in Denton, TX
In 2022, we expanded our brand into a second location in Denton, TX and opened an espresso bar inside Cottonwood Creek Church. Our espresso bar has been a huge hit from day one. Our Denton location has been open for less than 90 days now and is still finding its footing but is already showing huge potential.
On a personal level, Asil celebrated one year of being cancer free and continues to become stronger every day! We are also ever so proud of our children who each had to overcome personal challenges (large and small) and developed more resiliency in life, each in their own way.
We have so much to look forward to in 2023. It is hard to believe that Duino will be celebrating its 4th anniversary on February 2, 2023! This year we are revisiting everything about the Duino experience. We are rethinking our processes and perfecting our consistency and speed. We are growing our leadership structure and improving our crew training standards so we can establish Duino as the best place to work for new and experienced baristas alike. We will also be hyper focused on listening to your feedback to make Duino even better, together.
Thank you for being part of this journey. We truly could not have done it without our die-hard fans.
Cheers to an amazing 2023!
Hesham & Asil Bakr
Founders & Owners, Duino Coffeehouse