Our Response To COVID-19

An update in response to the Wisconsin Supreme Court's overturning of the Stay-A-Home order:

At this time, our roastery remains closed to the public, staff that are able to work remotely continue to do so, and all CDC health and sanitization guidelines remain enforced on our production floor. Our three cafes continue to be open with limited service, offering contact-free takeout, delivery and curbside pickup options. The health and wellbeing of our staff, customers, and greater community remains our top priority.

Please reach out to hello@wonderstate.com with any questions or concerns.

April 1, 2020

Dear friends,

After a two week pause, our Viroqua and Milwaukee cafes will reopen on Thursday for take-out and pick-up service only. Our Bayfield cafe remains closed at this time, but you are still able to order whole beans for curbside pick-up by phone. Our Bayfield cafe has since re-opened to join Milwaukee and Viroqua in offering pick-up only service.

Why re-open? 

In this time of uncertainty and upheaval, we feel we have an unique opportunity to offer nourishment, comfort and support to our friends and neighbors. But we also bear a responsibility to offer this service safely. The health and wellbeing of our staff, customers and community members, and our collective need to work together to flatten the curve, remains our top priority. 

Our temporary closure allowed our cafe management teams a moment to take a step back and evaluate how they could best serve the new needs of our local communities. We knew that we could not continue to operate if that meant compromising the health and wellbeing of our staff.

After two weeks of countless conversations with our management teams, staff and vendor partners, we now feel prepared to meet the challenges of these unprecedented times. But things are going to look a little different. 

New safety measures include moving our ordering online to ensure contact-free transactions, slimming down menus, reducing hours, and keeping our doors closed to observe social distancing. And, of course, we continue to follow all CDC guidelines. As the saying goes, when the world closes a door it opens a (take-out) window––or a car-hop.

By re-opening our Viroqua and Milwaukee cafes in a limited way, we are also able to show up for our long standing partners, like our coffee producers and local farmers, who depend on our business, and serve necessary workers at the frontlines. (To donate a cup of coffee to those incredible community heroes, please head to our online cafe ordering portal!)

Things are not the same. And they shouldn't be. But unprecedented times call for creativity, ingenuity and social solidarity. Not defeat. We ask that you continue to follow all social distancing measures when picking up from us to keep everyone safe. But we also hope you know that you are not alone in this.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out directly. 

We know that this will take time to get used to, and we appreciate your patience as we implement all necessary precautions. We will continue to evaluate the situation as the days and weeks progress to ensure that we are always acting in the best interests of our greater community. 

Stay safe!

CAFE HOURS

Kickapoo Coffee Bayfield

pick-up only
Daily 7am - 2pm

Kickapoo Coffee Milwaukee

pick-up only
Monday-Saturday 7am - 2pm
Sunday 9am - 4pm

Kickapoo Coffee Viroqua

pick-up & delivery
Daily 7am - 2pm

March 17, 2020

Dear Community,

Recognizing the growing risk posed by the spread of COVID-19 and our role as a place of gathering, all of our cafes, as well as the Roastery, have taken preventative measures to protect the health of our local communities.⁣⁠

Currently, we are continuing to roast and ship coffee as usual and our cafes remain open with take-out only service. However, we have made the extremely difficult decision to close all of our cafes by the end of service on Wednesday March 18th until the end of the month. Like many small businesses facing the uncertainty of the weeks to come and a desire to fully support our staff economically and emotionally, this choice was not easy. But we feel it is a critical step to support the health and wellbeing of our cafe staff, customers and local communities during this global health crisis. All cafe staff will be receiving two weeks pay to compensate them during our closure. 

In addition, we have adopted new policies within the Roastery for the foreseeable future to keep you and our employees safe. We recognize that the situation continues to evolve rapidly and we will adjust our policies in line with updated recommendations from the CDC and local health authorities.⁣⁠ 

• Two weeks of emergency sick pay made available to all employees
• Following all CDC guidelines for minimizing exposure, including frequent and thorough hand washing, increased cleaning and sanitization of all surfaces and handles
• Work from home strongly encouraged for all staff whose work can be done remotely 
• Production floor closed to all non-production staff
• All visits to the Roastery by customers, partners and vendors suspended 
• All public events and gatherings canceled
• Immediate stop to all corporate travel and all demos halted
• Social distancing encouraged for all staff
• Team members and any customers with symptoms asked to remain at home
• Quarantine procedures implemented for any staff directly exposed to the virus 

Faced with a string of escalating announcements of school closings, travel restrictions, and calls for social distancing, we know things might feel uncertain. But we want you to know that we want to be here for you, just like you’ve been here for us. Every day that you’ve walked through the doors of one of our cafes, ordered a bag of coffee online, served our coffee in your cafe or workplace, or stocked your grocery shelves with our brews, you’ve made the last 15 years of our business possible. As a small, independent business, we don’t take that show of support lightly. And we’ve been humbled by the kind words you all have shared with us here at the Roastery and with our cafes in the past few days. 

We also recognize our cafes’ unique roles as resources for the community during this challenging time and are working on creative solutions to support our neighbors outside of our standard operation. Please check back here and on their individual social media accounts for updates in the coming days and weeks. 

We are in this together, and our focus right now is to take stock of our collective resources to bolster our resilience to weather this storm. Relying on each other is and will be our strongest asset.  

Yours in community,
TJ, Caleb & the Kickapoo Coffee Team