How the global supply chain crisis has hit home for 3 Petaluma businesses

Supply chain woes have been deepening as gas prices rise and the lingering pandemic impacts the workers needed to keep products moving quickly. Since cargo ships began biding their time earlier in the pandemic, waiting in long lines to get their supplies unloaded, businesses of all sizes have fought to keep shelves stocked.

The impacts to small businesses, though, have largely flown under the radar. At Barn5400 in north Petaluma, three businesses have found themselves in the crosshairs of the supply chain crisis, forced to pivot quickly in the face of the unpredictable disaster.

We spoke with the owners of the Soap Cauldron, Emily Lynch Candles and Retrograde Coffee Roasters. All three businesses are struggling under the weight of maintaining the supplies they need to keep operating efficiently.

The Soap Cauldron

Emma Mann is the owner of the Soap Cauldron. Suppliers have told Mann that larger companies are buying up available stock in bulk orders and that it’s hard to locate products for smaller customers.

“This I believe is the polite way of telling us that we are lower on the food chain,” Mann said.

Mann worked hard to get an account with the retailer Whole Foods, but since the pandemic began she’s had to scramble at times to get enough ingredients to keep those orders filled. She described placing an order for ingredients last November that was to be delivered in December.

“We finally got a delivery toward the end of February, literally in the nick of time,” she said.

One company had her supplies backordered for eight months. A shea butter order was delayed because the product kept getting sent to larger companies placing large orders.

“I get it, if you get a 100k order from a larger company that is going to go first over someone who is only placing a $5 to $10K order for drums of oil,” Mann said, adding that the same goes for the bottles, caps and reducers that she uses.

The Soap Cauldron’s business has increased a bit during the pandemic, and under normal circumstances Mann would be in a position to expand her business. But because of the supply chain issues she’s facing she remaining cautious.

“With all the uncertainty in the world right now, I’m looking at how to grow modestly without losing any ground,” she said.

Emily Lynch Candles

Emily Lynch of Emily Lynch Candles said that Mann has helped her with her candle business.

“She has given me so much knowledge and expertise that I wouldn’t have learned without trial and error,” Lynch said. “When I was having cup shortages she got together all of her catalogs and she helped me source the things I needed, like mason jars. She really cares about the other local makers and she wants us all to succeed and I love that about her.”

Lynch has been having trouble getting supplies for her candles.

“I used to be able to order as I needed, but suddenly I was going into debt to purchase my materials in large enough quantities that I knew I could get through the next six months or year,” she said.

One of the two wick manufacturing companies in the United States closed during the pandemic because they couldn’t get enough healthy workers to keep up. The other wick manufacturer, trying to take up the slack, had trouble keeping up.

“It was so helpful for me to hear the ‘why’ because when you realize that everyone is struggling it sort of gave perspective that we’re all in the COVID economy together,” Lynch said.

When she was finally able to get her hands on them, Lynch was buying 10,000 wicks at a time. She said that now in her studio she has plenty of cups, wicks and wax. She’s bought as much as she could in order to make sure she could stay in production.

“It meant that I took a loss last year,” she said.

Lynch said she has also had to raise her prices. She was relieved when she found that Oliver’s Market and other retailers would still continue to carry her candles.

“They were not surprised and they were supportive because they knew I would have to raise my prices or close my business,” she said.

Even though she’s a single mom and running a small business, Lynch said she’s feeling confident about the future.

“I wouldn’t have raised my prices unless I really had to and when I did, people seemed to really value my product,” she said. “I felt lifted up and loved by the community.”

Retrograde Coffee Roasters

Casey Lanski and his wife, Danielle Connor, own Retrograde Coffee Roasters, and they roast and package their coffee beans at Barn5400. They order paper cups with their name branded on the side, and those have now become more expensive. Because of shipping delays, they’re having to buy larger amounts of them so they don’t run out.

“For us that can be a challenge because we only have so much storage space and so much cash available,” Lanski said.

The green coffee that they purchase to roast is also experiencing delays. Unlike other supplies, green coffee can’t be bought in bulk because that would impact the quality.

“Freshly harvested coffee will have a noticeable quality to it compared to an older coffee,” Lanski said.

Lanski said he’s hearing from some of their importers that challenges can vary from political problems going on in Columbia or Ethiopia to problems with COVID-19 crisis because workers are getting sick. In addition, freight haulers are raising their prices.

“Unfortunately, that all trickles through the supply chain to us as the roasters and then down to the consumers,” Lanski said.

Lanski and his wife like to support other local businesses in the community. Retrograde Coffee Roasters has partnered with the Soap Cauldron to create their own Palm Free soaps that mimic their coffee creations, Honey Bee Latte, Lavender Latte, Café au Lait and Charcoal Rose Latte. Mann said she frequently confers with them as sounding boards on regulations, supply chain issues and other things that can affect their businesses.

Mann, with the Soap Cauldron, believes that small businesses are the backbone of our local communities and for them the effects of the virus are not over.

“It will take time, precious time to replenish supply chain systems for those that survived,” she said. “Time is our hedge, we are betting we can last longer than the virus’s effects. I’m not sure we can, but I am going to go down fighting. And that is the same energy I get from Retro and other friends who are in a similar position.”