The seating area at the The Tin Snug in Pe Ell.
The Tin Snug is located at 217 N. Main St., Pe Ell.
The cafe, which offers everything from espressos to smoked bratwurst, sandwiches and even ice cream, has a menu sourced entirely from the Pacific Northwest.
Karie Cleveland
Editor's Note: The Chronicle is working to assist local businesses suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 virus spread and associated government orders to close or limit commerce. There will be a feature on a local business in each edition of The Chronicle and at chronline.com moving forward. To be considered, email reporter Eric Trent at etrent@chronline.com. Additionally, The Chronicle will publish free business briefs of 200 words or less. Businesses can send information on operating hours, menus, employees, specials and many other topics to chroniclebusinessbriefs@gmail.com. They will be published together in every edition.
PE ELL — As businesses statewide are reeling from the downturn of customers in wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak, one small cafe in west Lewis County is giving hope to local small-business owners and customers in a time of unprecedented change.
When Karie Cleveland and her husband Brian, owners of Pe Ell cafe The Tin Snug, heard of Gov. Jay Inslee’s state-wide restrictions to scale back restaurants to only takeout, drive-through and deliveries, the couple wasted no time.
With the restriction deadline at midnight Monday, Karie and Brian carried out the new measures that day to help their customers transition. It was as smooth as they could have hoped for.
“Everyone was really fantastic,” Karie said. “We had a lot of call-in orders. We had a lot of support from the community. We had a lot of people coming in and grabbing something. It was a pretty fluid transition.”
Now just four days into the new measure, many restaurants, bars and places of entertainment around the state are searching for ways to remain profitable. Karie and Brian remain optimistic during these early stages, and it helps that they’ve always offered their food to-go and already had plenty of takeout boxes on hand.
“It was something we’ve already been doing, we just obviously are doing it more in a higher quantity,” Karie said. “The community of Pe Ell is really amazing and has banded together in a way that is very endearing in a small-town like that.”
The cafe, which offers everything from espresso to smoked bratwurst, sandwiches and even ice cream, has a menu sourced entirely from the Pacific Northwest. Their top-selling items include a classic Reuben sandwich, ice cream and coffee, and have a following that stretches beyond the borders of Lewis County.
“It’s great because it’s really fresh ingredients. It’s local ingredients, and that’s something that’s important to us, to be able to support other businesses in the Pacific Northwest,” Karie said.
On Monday, patrons traveled all the way from Chehalis, Lebam, Raymond, and even as far away as Tumwater and Olympia to sample their food and coffee.
“It was really encouraging to see that many of those folks came and said, ‘Hey, you know, we planned on coming out today and we didn’t want to change our plans just because we have to do things a little differently,’’ Karie said. “So it’s really neat. It’s not just the town of Pe Ell, which is remarkable in and of itself, but that it was something that extended throughout the county.”
The Tin Snug offers takeout, has a drive-thru and, for the first time, delivery service. Delivery is something Karie and Brian have kicked around for a while since before the restrictions took place. Now it’s come to fruition.
“Between delivery and the drive-through, I feel we’re really set up for a good continuing business,” Karie said. “We’re confident that everything is going to be just fine.”
The drive-through allows Karie and her staff to interact with customers, chit-chat and have those friendly conversations. The Tin Snug also has an active social media presence, with Facebook and Instagram accounts where the staff posts quirky videos of someone riding a vintage bike through the cafe, or another showing the staff at work with the “Friends” TV show theme song playing.
“Our staff is really phenomenal,” Karie said. “The service that people get is probably our No. 1 commodity. And the one thing that is most important for us, is to make sure it’s a really personalized experience for people.”
The Tin Snug hopes that by staying open it can help provide some regularity in people’s lives in this time of change, whether that be with a batch of seasoned tater tots, a hot cup of joe or a double-scoop of ice cream.
“It’s certainly a bump in the road, as far as having to close the dining room, but we’re super optimistic,” Karie said. “We want to stay positive and, for us, we feel like we can do a little part of helping people keep some level of normalcy. We’re happy to be able to provide that and be a connect point for the community, which is huge for us.”
The Tin Snug is located 217 Main St., Pe Ell, Washington. They can be reached by phone at 360-669-6134, or by email at tinsnug@gmail.com.
Top-Selling Items at The Tin Snug
Classic Reuben sandwich: $6/$8.50
Ice cream: $3:50/$5
Pour-over coffee: $2/$3/$3.50
Espresso: $4/$4.50/$5
More Information on The Tin Snug
Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m, Wednesday through Monday
Location: 217 N. Main St., Pe Ell
Phone: 360-669-6134
Website: tinsnug.com and on Facebook
