'We’re A Sense Of Normalcy': Farmingdale Coffee Shop Owner

FARMINGDALE, NY — Flux Coffee, a gourmet roaster and cafe in Farmingdale Village, is still grinding away several months into the coronavirus pandemic that has challenged merchants across the country to adapt on the fly.

While day-to-day life has changed for owner and head roaster Arsalan Pourmand, the level of meticulous care poured into each cup of coffee has remained constant. That's a good thing for those who enter the shop in search of a caffeine boost, and Pourmand has taken notice of his loyal consumers.

"We’re open because people still come," he told Patch. "That’s the only reason why. We’re a sense of normalcy for a lot of people who get to come here and resume a part of what their old routine was. I think for a lot of people, that helps them. It definitely helps us, because we employ a bunch of people. We’re open and we do something different than a lot of Long Island coffee shops."

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, workers, students and coffee lovers working on their laptops or simply hanging out was a common sight in Flux. That has changed in recent months. With the safety of his staff and customers at the forefront, Pourmand opted to remove all seats from the cafe's confines — before New York state mandated that all eateries do so in March. The shop had also switched to paper cups as another safety measure.

"We [removed seats] before it was required, so when it became a mandate, it was another day," Pourmand said. "It made it more normal for people coming in."

While indoor seating was re-allowed by the state in June, Pourmand opted to keep the space seat-less for now. How long before the tables are returned?

"Until the staff feels 100 percent comfortable with people staying all day," Pourmand said. "I don’t care about state mandates; I care about the health and well-being of the staff and if they’re comfortable doing what they’re doing."

In order to safely place seats back out, tables would have to be at least six feet away and people a certain distance apart, Pourmand said. He estimates Flux would only be able to seat eight under those conditions.

"People generally like to come and sit all day, so then we’d have to start kicking people out so all the people can have opportunities to sit," he said. "Because if you’ve got three people just sitting there doing work all day, then those seats are done. So, this way is just easier for everyone, and we don’t have to police people more than we already do as far as masks and staying six feet away on line and stuff like that."

Pourmand still finds himself concerned "every day" about the financial future of his shop, though he said Flux has benefited from two customer bases: people who visit the Main Street location and those who order retail beans on the shop's website. Online orders skyrocketed once the quarantine began, as people from all over supported Flux.

Pourmand attributes the bump in e-sales to more people brewing their own coffee at home as a result staying indoors. Bean grinders, brewing tools, and — of course — bags of Flux coffee have been sold.

"The people ordering online: we went from maybe getting six orders a week to getting 20 a day," Pourmand said. "That helped us out a lot. As [online orders] started to teeter off, in-store sales started to go back up a little bit. So we’ve been maintaining."

The roaster ships internationally through the United States Postal Service. Fresh cups of Joe can also be delivered straight to one's door through UberEats.

Flux opened its 211 Main St., Farmingdale, brick and mortar in 2017 following the company's inception in Berkeley, California, around 2009. There was no physical location; Pourmand roasted cold brew for many different places, he said. Having grown up on Long Island, he returned and opened his shop in downtown Farmingdale.

Pourmand said it's "tough to say" how confident he is that Flux will survive the COVID-19 outbreak through its conclusion due to the unpredictable nature of the virus.

"Fall and winter time being cold and flu season, kids going back to school, those are all going to be make or breaks for everyone," he said. "If there’s another big outbreak during those things, as all those are kind of related — kids go back to school, they get sick, they get their parents sick, whatever, whatever, whatever, it’s just a more global thing that if there’s another big wave, a lot more people are going to feel it than the first one."

In-store, Flux serves hot or iced coffee, lattes, espresso and more. Each roast offers a tasting profile comprised of at least three notes. Flux's signature beans, Mexico Oaxaca, feature hints of orange, caramel and dark chocolate.