In a true demonstration of the power of community support, a GoFundMe page for Royal Oak Coffee has raised over $30,000 since it was created last week. The page’s current goal is to raise $60,000 “to help Royal Oak Coffee overcome a devastating financial hit,” according to the website description.
Royal Oak Coffee owners Matt and Alessandra Delia-Lobo created the page to raise money as they try to fix flood damage in their business and home, navigate financial challenges in tax payments and prepare for the upcoming birth of their second child.
The couple founded Royal Oak Coffee in late 2018. Located on Seymour Street in the town of Middlebury, Royal Oak features Vivid Coffee Roasters products, along with a rotating selection of other coffee roasters and some pastries. They used to have a second location called the Lost Monarch Coffee Bar, located in the Stone Mill, which closed in January 2023.
Creating the fundraising page and reaching out for help felt vulnerable, Matt Delia-Lobo said. Before the GoFundMe, the couple had entirely self-funded the Royal Oak operation.
“Usually, we just get there, but at this point, we were just like, ‘I don’t think we can scrape by on this one,’” Matt Delia-Lobo said. “It was like one thing after another since Covid, but I mean, the flooding was really the last straw.”
The couple originally decided to work with a local financial professional on business development and personal finances so they could meet face-to-face, but the pandemic made this difficult. It became increasingly challenging to communicate with their advisor during this period, Matt explained.
“We were just on our own and then and then we were like waiting, you know, for any correspondence at all,” he said. “It was super hard to navigate.”
Then, the couple’s financial advisor abruptly retired, and the couple struggled to navigate their finances, resulting in mispayments that eliminated opportunities to qualify for tax credits and federal relief programs.
“When your taxes are messed up, you’re not eligible for anything. You have to jump through so many hoops to maybe get some help,” Matt said.
During this period, Royal Oak missed out on a federal employee retention tax credit, flood repairs for the shop and other federal programs. On a personal level, the couple were not able to capitalize on programs that would have helped with flood repair for their own home and childcare subsidies.
Matt expressed appreciation for the outpouring of support he and his wife have received since launching the fundraiser. He recalled a moment last week, following the fundraiser launch, where he ran into a donor at the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-Op, who is a small business owner, too.
“I saw him. He was like, ‘Yeah, you belong here,’” Matt said. “To just tell someone, like, flat out, ‘You belong here,’ it’s pretty rare. I don’t think anyone’s ever told me that before.”
Matt also described his gratitude for the uniquely close-knit community in Middlebury.
“I've always tried to be very outspoken about the potential that I see in Middlebury for greatness and for things to be amazing and then this just kind of made me realize that I think people see us as a display of that potential,” he said.
Despite the limited number of seats in the Seymour Street space, Royal Oak has transformed into a community gathering place. The couple envisioned Royal Oak as simply an espresso bar when they initially opened, but quickly realized the potential residents saw in the coffee shop as a place to come together.
“It was immediately apparent that we were like, ‘oh, this will be a community space,’” Matt said.
Middlebury students have an affinity for the coffee shop. Natalie Penna ’24 considers it her favorite work environment because of the friendly staff and great playlist.
Sophia Butler-Rahman ’25 expressed appreciation for the effort Royal Oak makes to experiment with different cultures in their coffee.
“Looking at the specials board and seeing a ma’amoul and coquito latte and feeling represented being part Arab and part Puerto Rican. I texted a pic to my mom and it made her day to know at some coffee shop in my small college town, they represented our cultures through coffee,” Butler-Rahman said.
Beyond the physical shop, Sophia Giliberto ’24 values the Delia-Lobos’ engagement with the community and attention to detail in coffee, which she witnessed at a MiddSciCafe event Matt led.
“I knew their coffee was next-level, but that workshop really proved the amount of meticulous detail and care that goes into every cup,” Giliberto wrote.
The $30,000 the couple has raised so far, which met their initial fundraising goal, will be enough for the couple to stabilize Royal Oak. The GoFundMe increased their goal to $60,000, which would allow the couple to continue expanding their commitment to the community, Matt said.
“We're going to try to do everything we can, just more for the community because that's what they've told us — that it's important to everybody,” Delia-Lobos said.
Five years in, the Delia-Lobos are more committed than ever to staying open and continuing to serve the Middlebury community.
“The main takeaway from the whole thing is like, it's kind of like letting go of any kind of shame or pride or whatever. And just accepting that Vermont relies on the symbiosis of like all of the businesses and the people,” he said.
Matt described his coffee shop as the most important thing to him other than his family, making the outpouring of community support all the more gratifying.
“I think it just shows the resilience that we can have here,” he added.
Olivia Mueller '24 (she/her) is a News Editor.
Previously an Arts and Culture editor, Olivia is an International Politics and Economics major with a Spanish minor. Outside of the Campus, she is a spin instructor for YouPower, an avid runner and hiker, and a member of the Middlebury Mischords a cappella group.
