Pink Owl Coffee prides itself on providing a Zen retreat from the pressures of everyday life to the San Rafael community in Northern California. But the essence of Pink Owl was built on something much bigger. Owned and operated by partners Joe Carlo and Saandra Bowlus, the “pink” in Pink Owl is a nod to the business’s desire to support breast cancer survivors like Bowlus, with a goal of one day donating 10% of its annual revenue to breast cancer research and support.
The coffee shop sells a variety of specialty teas and coffees by the cup and by the bag from all over the world, and also has a retail component where it sells coffee makers, cups, coffee supplies, and merchandise. With four locations, Carlo and Bowlus are consistently looking for ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors and strategically build out the business. To do so, the team began investing and collecting bitcoin.
Converting a portion of sales to bitcoin to build savings
Carlo’s bitcoin journey took off when he began converting a percentage of Pink Owl’s sales into the digital currency. “To me, it’s out of sight and out of mind,” he explained. “That money is going into a treasury fund, in a sense, to help us build wealth. We’ve never missed a day of converting a portion of our sales, and we’ve already acquired significant savings just by converting 10% of our daily sales.”
In addition to using bitcoin conversions to build savings, Carlo also shared that he and Bowlus sold a small portion of their saved bitcoin to make a few improvements to their shop and create other opportunities to generate income. One of the main things the team did was upgrade its systems to help offset the impact of inflation. “Right now, with tariffs and everything, the coffee prices are extremely expensive. I used to pay $1.80 for green coffee from Brazil; that price has gone up to $7,” Carlo explained.
Upgrades to the systems enable the business to handle a few more tasks in-house, so they can still afford to source the high-quality coffee and teas around the world. “These little things increase sales, but also help us collect more bitcoin as well [as we continue to convert a percentage of our sales].”
Managing bitcoin with a one-stop shop through Square
Alongside using Square to convert sales to bitcoin, Pink Owl also uses Square to schedule staff, schedule appointments, send invoices, manage inventory, and more. “Square is a one-stop shop for everything, and now we’re able to acquire bitcoin. That’s amazing,” Carlo added. With several players in the bitcoin industry, Carlo noted that being able to manage bitcoin from the same place he manages his business makes life a little easier and gives him one less thing to worry about. “Protection with bitcoin is important, and I know Block’s security is impeccable,” he added.
Carlo summed up his thoughts on bitcoin’s impact on his business, saying, “I believe bitcoin is something that’s going to increase the value of our business. If we want to do an acquisition [or be acquired] one day, I believe bitcoin is going to play a big part in our value.”
When you succeed, we succeed. Check out Square Releases to see all of the latest features we launched to help you run your business.
