Who knew a nice-sized patio was a key to business success?
Leo Orpin, the co-owner of Black Apple in downtown Springdale, said his cidery has seen a 68% drop in revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He and his co-owners resisted the urge to reopen the business in phases until July when Black Apple, the state’s only cidery, opened its back patio.
Orpin said he was persuaded to open his patio because his bar-owning colleagues in Springdale called to tell him how popular outdoor drinking was for people who had been cooped up in quarantine for months.
“They were like, ‘Leo, we don’t want to tell you what to do but open your patio up because we are killing it,’” Orpin said.
Black Apple had shut its taproom down and sold its hard cider beverages only through retail outlets, bars and restaurants (which were also mostly closed) and curbside pickup and delivery. He said curbside and delivery had brought in only about one-eighth of pre-pandemic revenue and hurt his servers since many people stopped tipping for curbside purchases.
“When [Gov.] Asa [Hutchinson] came out and said you can do a third or do this or do that, we didn’t even bother and shut it down,” Orpin said. “There was a huge increase in taproom revenue when we did the patio opening. It still doesn’t scratch the surface where we were before.”
Orpin said the cidery is lucky to have a spacious back patio because he felt comfortable opening the area with proper spacing to customers to ensure protection from the virus. If he needs information about the pandemic, his wife, Misty Murphy Orpin, is the brains and organizer behind ArkansasCOVID.com, a website that closely tracks outbreak data.
Things may be picking up for Black Apple. The city of Springdale approved an entertainment district area in downtown to allow patrons to carry and consume drinks outside of bars and restaurants, although outdoor drinking and dining has its disadvantages.
“Our weekend sales are good, almost near normal numbers,” Orpin said. “During the week, it is still completely dead. When there is inclement weather, it goes to nil.”
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