QLD cafe stuns internet with ‘pay with a Post-it’ campaign

A coffee shop in Brisbane is attracting attention after a customer shared a photo of an ingenious move to support locals during this tough time.

A Queensland cafe has gone viral over the “thoughtful” way it is supporting locals during this tough time.

A customer of the Bean N Loaf cafe in Fitzgibbon, Brisbane, couldn’t help but notice a “beautiful sign” hanging out the front of her favourite cafe.

She posted a snap of the cafe’s initiative, which allows paying customers to buy two coffees and give the second one to someone who is “doing it tough’ during the global pandemic, to the popular Facebook group The Kindness Pandemic.

“This beautiful new sign at my coffee shop caught my eye this morning,” she wrote in her post.

“A gentle reminder that kindness can be so easy to spread. I cannot wait to watch it grow to be covered in post-it’s! I’ll be adding one each time I go!”

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Bean N Loaf cafe in Fitzgibbon, Brisbane, has been praised for its ‘Pay with a Post-It’ initiative. Picture: Facebook/TheKindnessPandemic

The customer added that “we need more of these around, everywhere”.

“Can you imagine a world where everyone shared what they had, shared love freely and created smiles so easily!? There is an infinite amount of these available, spread that s**t like fairy dust!” she concluded the post.

Since sharing the photo on Sunday, it has attracted hundreds of comments from people praising the cafe and more than 12,000 likes.

“What a great idea, you must live in a great community!! Love this,” one person responded.

“So thoughtful. Great idea,” another person added.

“There’s $100 worth of coffee there. Prob (sic) the owner of the shop. How awesome,” a third person said.

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It allows paying customers to buy two coffees and give the second one to someone who is ‘doing it tough’ during the pandemic. Picture: Facebook/Bean N Loaf

Others said they have told their local cafes about the “pay with a Post-it” initiative, hoping they too adopt the campaign.

“Popped this to my two local coffee shops. More than happy to purchase a few coffee’s for this if they pick it up,” one woman said.

“What a fantastic idea. This would be great for our bakery to do,” a business owner added, while others said they have already seen it at some local cafes.

“They have a Bakery in Inverloch does this. I was so happy to pay a coffee forward,” a Queensland woman wrote.

“I wish all cafe’s / coffee bars would adopt this idea. It would make such a difference to all the ‘forgotten’ people out there by showing them they are not so forgotten after all,” said another.

A Post-it is then added to a noticeboard for someone who may not be able to afford a coffee, to retrieve the piece of paper and hand it to the staff. Picture: Facebook/Bean N Loaf

Owner of the coffee house, Rudra Chhetri, told news.com.au he started the initiate back in March when the coronavirus pandemic first hit Australia.

“It was when everything was restricted and there was no dining, and eating-in and lots of people lost their jobs,” Mr Chhetri said.

“We wanted to provide this initiative for those who want to pay for a coffee or two for those having a hard time.”

How it works is when a customer buys two coffees, the second coffee is intended for someone else.

A Post-it is then added to a noticeboard for someone who may not be able to afford a coffee at the time, to retrieve the piece of paper and hand it to the staff.

To kick it off, Mr Chhetri stuck 10 Post-it notes on the board, which he said then caught the attention of customers.

“It just kept going from there,” he said, adding the cafe has easily gone through a minimum of 300 Post-its since launching the initiative seven months ago.

“It’s a good cause and we would definitely like it to see other cafes adopt it too – a lot of people are willing to give and it’s a platform which can provide that.”