The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards

This article is part of The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards, which celebrate the Bay Area’s small businesses and local residents who have hustled and shown creativity throughout 2020. See all the award winners here.

Mission District staple Ritual Coffee Roasters has held down 2020 by providing coffee for both frontline workers and the average joe —and for doing so, it is our official winner of the Best Coffee Shop in SF category of The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards.

As an independent, woman-owned coffee company in San Francisco that sources beans from farmers in Africa to Latin America, Ritual is best known for its lattes, laid-back atmosphere, progressive values, and iconic crimson logo. Seen across all corners of San Francisco, their cafés can be found from Valencia Street to the Bayview district.

This year, they’ve continued to innovate, turning into more of a general store that sold essential items, launching a relief donation program to support frontline workers, and offering order-ahead to make things a bit easier for customers.

We caught up with owner Eileen Rinaldi to congratulate her on winning Best Coffee Shop in San Francisco in 2020 and to ask her about how she and her employees have gotten through the pandemic so far (and how they plan on trailblazing into the new year).

The Bold Italic: How have you managed to stay afloat this year?
Eileen Rinaldi:
The amazing staff at Ritual has mobilized to do everything we can think of to stay afloat. We pivoted Ritual on Valencia to Ritual Coffee + General Store and started selling some locally made essential items in addition to coffee and pastries.

We launched Ritual for Relief, a donation program that supports both Ritual and our frontline workers. People purchase coffee and pastries from Ritual and we coordinate the donation to local hospitals and testing sites.

We started order-ahead, so you can order and pay for your drink before you pick it up. It’s contactless and eliminates waiting in line. We also launched a new website since we were struggling to tell people whether we were open and what we were doing. It does an amazing job of telling the stories behind each of our coffees, as well as the story of the people behind Ritual.

We commissioned art. Though we are having our hardest year ever financially, I know that artists are hurting more. I commissioned a handful of pieces of art this year, both as a way of supporting the artists who are part of the Ritual world, but also as a way of supporting our own morale. Having beauty around us reminds us that we’ll get past this challenging moment, including artists Jen Kruch, Chris Koehler, Bunnie Reiss (who painted a mural on our Soma roastery), Alexandra Bowman, and Ana Valdez.

In short, everyone at Ritual is pitching in.

How are you holding up now, heading into another month of shelter-in-place?
The safety of our staff and customers has been our top priority this year. We haven’t been allowing customers to come into our cafés, and we never set up outdoor seating, so for the first time this year we don’t have to change our protocol.

We’ve been operating in essentially the same format since before SIP started in March — we have customers order at the door with a plexiglass barrier and an intercom.

Also, cozying up with our sweet menu of holiday drinks.

What are your hopes for 2021?
Shortly after Christmas, we’ll be launching our next seasonal espresso blend. It’s called Cosmic Shift. My hope for 2021 is that we experience a massive cosmic shift, in terms of our battle against Covid, our political leadership, and realizing racial equity in our country.

On a more local scale, I hope that San Francisco sees the value in all of these parklets and that businesses are able to keep operating on sidewalks and in the street even after Covid is not a threat. Small businesses, especially independent restaurants, are going to need some serious support to recover from this time.

How can people help support your business?
Send someone you love a coffee subscription. Make a donation to Ritual for Relief—you’re supporting a local business AND our frontline workers.

Come in and have one of our tasty holiday drinks while we still have them, smile, and tip your barista.

Also, for every five-pack of instant coffee we sell this month, we’re donating one sachet to a frontline worker.

And last but not least, every business loves it when you buy gift cards.

Other nominees for Best Coffee Shop in San Francisco

1. Andytown Coffee Roasters

Perhaps best known for their Snowy Plover, a bubbling, carbonated coffee drink, Andytown is a beloved staple in the Outer Sunset. After serving thousands of frontline workers and keeping the business afloat, moving into 2021, owner Lauren Crabbe is hopeful. “If rent for retail spaces drops, then more low-income, creative individuals can take the leap from employee to entrepreneur. Part of what makes San Francisco so special is the hustle of small-business owners to turn their passion into a livelihood,” she writes.

2. Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters

After famously coining the term “third-wave coffee,” Wrecking Ball has been recognized by multiple news outlets for its quality coffee and all-inclusive atmosphere. Since the first shelter-in-place, they’ve been operating full swing and providing contactless pickup.

3. Stable Café

Offering anything from avocado toasts to breakfast wraps, Stable Café offers a rich, savory assortment of menu items. The best way to support staff is by donating to their virtual tip jar, or purchase a gift card. The holidays are coming up—you know what to do!

4. Sextant Coffee

Offering a vibrant assortment of beans from Kenya, Colombia, and elsewhere, Sextant is an independent coffee shop located in the heart of Downtown San Francisco. Founded by Kinani Ahmed, a first-generation Ethiopian in the Bay, the goal of the shop is to not only import quality coffee, but develop sustainable relationships with farmers in Ethiopia.

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