Izak Held
Coffee & Cheese Is All It Takes.

When one walks down the scenic block of Central Avenue of Cedarhurst in Long Island, they may be looking for a coffee shop and may ask a recommendation from someone walking by. After asking a local, her recommendation may just be a surprise when she says, “check out the cheese store.” You see Central Avenue, also known as “The Avenue” is a magnificent 1 mile strip in the Heart of the 5 towns area that is home to dozens of small businesses and a great tourist area.

With a wide selection of coffee and cheese, The Cheese Store of Cedarhurst is quality that is hard to find in today’s highly recognized brand named food places, such as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. The store sells a variety of coffee, cheese and crackers, but you may notice that what you are getting is more than your average cup of joe, it’s the experience. Great quality coffee with a cheese that is just cut right, and the familiar faces of a dedicated long serving staff is a big win for the cheese store, one of the employees said “I love working here and It says a lot when you know almost 90% of your customers names”. It is a common thing to understand, that people want something different, like a coffee shop named the cheese store, that sells a peanut butter flavored iced drink.

The store’s clientele is mostly women, according to the staff, most of them ordered the detailed coffee flavors that the store does a great advertising of and would naturally attract customers with. Being in a great location such as central avenue that hosts dozens of food stores and restaurants, and attracts plenty of close by New York state tourists, can be quite the edge. A dozen flavors of cheese cake may be a little too much, but ranging from chocolate to lime doesn’t hurt. The coffee can also be a little to detailed with flavor after flavor posted on the front menu.

As customers walk into the store, they are quickly greeted by the staff, and most of the time by the proprietor of the store, Mr. Mitch Rakita. Rakita has been the owner and operator of the establishment for over 35 years, a family business that is beyond the immediate family. For many of the workers have been at the store for decades. The stores look is quite original, with photos of their past and many of their customers and workers postered all over the walls.

“The key is to keep up with what’s popular, and a mix of what I find attractive” said Rakita. “Being that I operate the store and am here throughout the day, one of the benefits is the quick additions of new products. If something is hot and the customers want it, it is on the shelf the next day,” explained Rakita, which is one of the major advantages of a sole proprietorship, and being on the floor of the action. “We can change direction in a minute…If it’s a hot item I’ll go out and buy it,” he continued. This is a major benefit as well, but also shows a lot in a store like this for some stores may say that they will never change anything, or what they believe is the catch of the business they want to remain the same, you see reputations like these are known in this area. But Rakita and his staff know it’s more than that, it’s the customers. “I come here almost everyday and it feels like home” said Chava M., a daily customer of the store.

Rakita and his staff’s schedule is like a roller coaster as any store that has a specific target market. The morning starts off the day and is the business’s busiest time, not hard to believe considering coffee is best in the morning in this store because of the freshness of the beans and ingredients. But as the day goes along the business picks up again by lunch time, clear to see that customers like the product mostly any part of the day.

When asked what the busiest season was, the answer lead to a complete new story. Years ago, according to Rakita, the busiest time of year was Christmas and the holiday season. But over the years, the demographics changed dramatically from a Christian neighborhood to an Orthodox Jewish one. Being kosher, lead to no pork and a different customer base emerging that the store had to overcome. But as Rakita put it “Things change, and as an owner you have to be able to recognize it and change it.” The store that started with a mix of meats and cheeses, soon found its menu to be strictly dairy with their new Coffee and Cheese mix catching the attention of the crowd. And more importantly seeing it paying off.

But the most challenging thing that this store  finds, is it’s staffing. “The staff is an extension of you, a customers problem with a staffer, is evidently your problem,” said Rakita. And watching the staff and their behavior through different methods and technological ways, is something that was never thought about 35 years ago when the store opened. “I would have never imagined that we would need cameras in a store,” something that business owners may have overlooked years ago, but now is an expense that is naturally on the top of the menu so to say.

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