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Jing Lin, Founder of Coffee Confessionals · Coffee People Podcast

0:01
Hey everyone, welcome to the Coffee People Podcast, presented
0:05
by our friends at Rostar Coffee Packaging.
0:07
You can find them online at rostar.com.
0:11
Thank you for being here today. I'm your host, Ryan Walt.
0:14
You can follow or subscribe to our show wherever you're
0:16
listening, but you'll only find the best bonus context links and
0:21
recaps to this episode on coffeepeopodcast.com.
0:25
Our guest today is Jing Lin, the founder of Coffee Confessionals
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in Hollywood, CA Coffee Confessionals is a coffee shop
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with a bent towards creating human interaction.
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They offer their experiential community space for events like
0:40
a great comedy show coming up on February 20th, where they
0:43
feature a diverse cast of local comedians.
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They also have interactive open mic nights and one off events
0:49
like tech and film panels, art shows, and even meditation
0:53
seminars. Jing and I cover the concept and
0:57
her roundabout way into the coffee industry from her
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previous career in the movie business.
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If you want to follow along or multitask while you listen to
1:05
the show, please check out Coffee confessionals.com or
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click through at Coffee Confessional social media links.
1:11
In this podcast show notes, you'll see a list of all their
1:14
events there as well. But first you got to make sure
1:18
that coffee mug is full. Mine is half full and once
1:23
again, I'm drinking a cup of our ya no ya collab with Relative
1:26
Coffee Company. Our friend Bryant out of
1:29
Minneapolis roast this up. It's a blend of Colombian and
1:33
Ethiopia beans that when they come together, oh so smooth.
1:39
I'm going to drink this. Well, you listen to another
1:42
Coffee People podcast conversation, this one featuring
1:46
Jinglin, founder of Coffee Confessionals.
2:18
I'm Jane Lynn, and I am the founder and owner of Coffee
2:22
Confessionals in Los Angeles. So the idea of coffee
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confessionals and I want to talk about background and all that
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other stuff first, but I just want to get the idea behind it
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out. Is it a coffee shop?
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Is it a community effort? What is coffee confessionals?
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Yeah, that's a great question. It is a coffee shop, so we have
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a physical brick and mortar. But, you know, when I was
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building Coffee Confessionals, I loved just being at, you know,
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cafes and meeting people. And I thought, you know, I want
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to do this, but how do I make it into a brand that really just
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embodies the idea of community and getting together?
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And I thought like, what is the most, you know, what do you do
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in coffee houses? You're talking, you're telling
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stories, you're sharing stories. And by inspiring each other
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through stories, you're connecting deeper, right?
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That's kind of how friendships are built.
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That's how relationships are built.
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So the idea is you're kind of confessing, you know, you're
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confessing certain things about your life and you're so, so to
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speak, spilling your beans. And that's our motto, which is
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spill your beans. And I think that is really what
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has been kind of my North Star with everything that we've kind
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of built around the brand. OK, so we get the idea of coffee
3:41
confessionals and and the the brand and the concept.
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Let's rewind a little bit. First coffee experience, first
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coffee memory. Anything jump to mind?
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So I would say my first coffee experience, definitely Dunkin'
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Donuts. I grew up on the East Coast in
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New Jersey and we didn't have a lot.
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I mean, we had shopping malls, we didn't have that much to do.
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So as kids, we would, you know, after school go and get a
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doughnut and an iced, iced Frappuccino from Dunkin' Donuts.
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And, you know, that was kind of like even going to College in
4:13
Boston, that was our thing, you know, like, oh, it's Dunkin'
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Donuts. So I mean, not not the best
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coffee, but it definitely is like very endearing to me.
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You know the whole. Yeah, I, I'm not, I don't have a
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lot of experience with Dunkin' Donuts, but what little I do is
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that as far as fast coffee goes, seems to be like they put a
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little more effort into it. Maybe I'm just, you know,
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colored by the Ben Affleckness of it all.
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But so you start that you, how do you end up from the East
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Coast into California? I know you had a career, you
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know, whole career before coffee confessionals.
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What was that path like for you leading towards where you are
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now? Yeah.
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So I think that for me, I've always been a storyteller like
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yourself. And when I was a kid, I would
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honestly, like, make my sister dress up and I would put on
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these. I would put on these plays for
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my parents. And so I think I knew pretty
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early on that I wanted to do something in theatre or film.
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And that was kind of the career path I was going down.
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I studied filmmaking in Boston and then kind of in a weird,
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roundabout way, ended up NPR in New York.
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And I did that for about 3 years.
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We, a lot of our companies that we were working for were
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pharmaceuticals. And I just kind of was feeling
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like deep down inside, you know, I'm getting lost and this is not
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really what I wanted to do. I graduated during the
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recession, so 2008. And so it was honestly just like
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hard to get a job. So I was like, OK, you know, I
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got a job like I'm doing it. I live in New York.
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I live in like a shoe box, but I'm doing it, you know.
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So essentially, you know, I, I wanted to get back to
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filmmaking. And so I, I applied for this
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program called the Entertainment Management Program at Carnegie
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Mellon. And I got in and I remember the
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day I got in, I like gave my notice and I was like, bye, I'm
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out of here. So you you go through that
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program and from there, I'm assuming that's what brings you
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out to the West Coast, which is, as we all know, where movies are
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made or they were before recently.
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Yeah, so part of it, I felt like going into that program was a
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way for me to move out to the West Coast because honestly, I
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didn't know anybody. I didn't.
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I think I had one college friend that I was really close with
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that lived in Los Angeles. So I was like, I want to get
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back into the movie business. I, you know, I didn't.
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I did some internships here and there, but I never really felt
6:52
like I gave it. I gave it a good chance.
6:59
Hey there, thank you for tuning into our Coffee People podcast
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7:31
And now, back to the show. Yeah.
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So I'd done a few internships in college and then I took that
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job, NPR in New York. And I just, you know, felt like
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I lost my way, you know, felt like I lost my North Star.
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And I, you know, I was like, you know, I really wanted to pursue
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the film, being in the film industry.
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And everybody says it's so hard. Like, how are you going to, what
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are you going to do? You're going to move to
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Hollywood and you're, you know, you're going to work at a big
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studio and all that stuff. And I just always had this kind
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of drive in me. And I'm like, you know what?
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I'll show you. Like I can do it.
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I can definitely do it. So I, I got into this amazing
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program at Carnegie Mellon called the Entertainment
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Management Program. And I took a gap year actually
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in between. I went to Beijing, took a year
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off because I was just really burnt out from my, from my job.
8:23
NPR and when I came back I moved to Pittsburgh and that's kind of
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how I started the transition to moving out to the West Coast.
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So I did a full year immersion in Pittsburgh.
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It was like management courses, accounting, all of that stuff,
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but basically setting you up to, to kind of understand how the
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entire industry works, you know, like how the, you know, the
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revenue and the profits and how distribution models work, all of
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that. And then, and then the second
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year, which is the best part, they help you move out to
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California and there is actual Career Center and you're taking
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classes out here with actual teachers and professors that are
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working at the studio. You know, they're, they're part
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time faculty and they're like part time.
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Well, not me, but probably not part time, full time employees
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of these like big studios or their producers.
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So we really got to work with some really, really incredible
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people and learn from just incredible professionals in the
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industry that. Sounds like a win win too,
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because on their side they're kind of seeing who might be the
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next person with skills or, you know, willingness to work hard
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and, and all that sort of things to hire afterwards, I would
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assume. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
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And actually, I got my big job through one of my professors.
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And the crazy thing is when I right before I moved out here,
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we had to get a summer internship like during that like
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move between Pittsburgh and LA and I could not land an
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internship. Like I I was like, I have a good
9:59
background. It just wasn't really in film.
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And I was like, you know what, I'm going to be the only one in
10:04
class that has 0 internship like opportunities when I moved out
10:09
here. And I don't know, miraculously I
10:13
got a call from Paramount, from the HR recruiter at Paramount
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and she said, Hey, your resume landed on our table.
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And you know, we are reaching out because someone in our,
10:25
someone in our program had to drop out.
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They had already finished their hiring round And someone, you
10:30
know, for personal reasons had to drop out.
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And there was an opening in digital marketing.
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And I was like, Oh my gosh, Paramount Studios.
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Like I had, I was like, that's the, I was like, that's the
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cream of the crop. Like I thought I was going to
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get, you know, shitty little interns.
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No, I mean no offense, but like not a really great internship.
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No, that's what internships are. Yeah, yeah.
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But my Paramount internship was a dream.
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And how that kind of came about was I had given my resume to
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someone at a, it was a career networking event and someone
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from MTV was there like AHR person, HR recruiter.
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And they're like, oh, you know, we are looking for people.
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And I was very adamant about like, I don't want to work in
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TVI want to work in film. And this is what I want to do.
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And they were like, OK, well, we'll take your, we'll take your
11:18
resume anyway. Because our sister company
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Paramount, because they're all they're everybody was owned by
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Viacom. So our sister company, you know,
11:27
might be looking for someone. And, you know, miraculously, my
11:32
resume just kind of ended up on the right person's table.
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And that just goes to show you like I, I think don't be afraid
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to say what you want. And you never know what person
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or opportunity is going to kind of swing back around or lead to
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like your big shot, you know? It's also, I mean, a story that
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I think also reflects a little bit maybe of the time period.
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And I wonder about that a lot now because now a lot of resumes
12:00
get filtered before they ever get to someone's desk.
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The idea that a resume would be the thing that lands on a desk
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now, as opposed to a resume that's been filtered by multiple
12:08
levels of computer programming or AI or whatever, you know,
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you're, it becomes this tough thing for, I think for everyone.
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Like are you writing your resume for the job you want or for a
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person, or are you writing it to get past those filters and then
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is it reflective of who you are and.
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Honestly, these days I don't even know like how I was like, I
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don't know how kids get hired. I I don't think I would get
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hired out of college. I was like I don't even know the
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process. Kids, adults, every now and
12:36
again I'll see a job and apply and like, just because it seems
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like something I'd really love to do.
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Yeah. And I've, I've learned that
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unless I have like a connection to the, to the role, even if I
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feel like I have the right references or the right, the
12:52
right skill sets, I have no idea if anyone ever sees it.
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And I spent a day with a recruiter in New York when I
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first moved to New York, a creative recruiter, I had gone
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in and pitched like my creative work.
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And they said, well, how would you feel about being a recruiter
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'cause we think you might be better at that, 'cause you're
13:11
not actually very creative? I said Oh well that's very nice
13:14
of you to say. They said why don't you come
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spend a day with us? And so I showed up on Monday and
13:19
there's a little aside, but the woman that I was going to be
13:23
following for the day one didn't know I was going to be there. 2
13:28
had just gotten back from like a week in Cabo or some other type
13:31
of party esque trip and was very hungover.
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And we sat down at her desk and she opened her computer and she
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goes, here's your first lesson. And there were 7000 emails from
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the week that she had been out. Oh my.
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Gosh. And she just selected all and
13:47
deleted and I went, Oh my God, those are all people like me who
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are like trying to find these jobs.
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And she said, if they're people like you who are passionate
13:55
about what they do and they really want it, they'll e-mail
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me again. Yes.
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Exactly, just moved on with her day and I was just like so
14:03
overwhelmed. But I'll and and like, wow, like
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and so that was back then and now that delete button is, you
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know, a computer program, so. Yeah, no, I I could just imagine
14:14
recruiters, I mean, they get hundreds of set thousands of
14:17
resumes. It does.
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Not seem like a fun job. No.
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I did not stay. So anyway, you get your resume
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lands in the right place, the right person sees it, you start
14:28
working with Paramount, what happens?
14:32
Where does that go? And somehow it leads you to
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coffee. And that's where I think we're
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ultimately going here. So I think so at Paramount, it
14:40
was such a great internship and it really was kind of my foot in
14:42
the door into, you know, the movie industry.
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And from there I went to Disney. I did a year at Disney and
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ultimately I landed at Universal Pictures.
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And that was definitely, I would say a direct connection from a
14:59
faculty member at the, in the program that I was in.
15:03
And Jeffrey Schneider, he was teaching, I'm trying to think
15:09
business law. He was teaching business law.
15:12
And I saw this again, going back to resumes and job
15:16
opportunities. Finding an internship was hard.
15:18
Finding a job before the program ended was like trying to find a
15:23
like needle in a haystack. It was we everybody was sending
15:26
out resumes here at left and right.
15:27
You're trying to just do something to like get a
15:30
permanent position, right? And so I ended up temping at
15:34
Disney for a little bit, which was great because they extended
15:37
my internship and they were like, we want to EU to keep
15:40
working with us. And ultimately they couldn't get
15:42
the budget approved to have another ad on another head.
15:46
So that's fine. But I reached out to my
15:52
professor, Jeffrey Schneider, and I saw an opening.
15:55
It was kind of this rotational. It was almost like the page
15:58
program that NBC has, but it was for postgraduate students, so it
16:03
was at a higher level. And it was like a full time 2
16:06
year rotational program. And he was the only person I
16:10
knew at like NBC Universal. And I just said like, hey, like,
16:14
can you send this to somebody? I don't know, Like, I just don't
16:16
want to send it to through the portal.
16:18
And then it gets lost. And again, this is where I'm
16:22
like, OK, you know, the stars are aligned or something.
16:25
And he's like, I know the woman in the HR department that is
16:29
heading up this rotational program.
16:32
I will send it to her. I send it to her.
16:35
They call me. They were like, you were
16:36
literally the last resume in the door before we like close it
16:40
before we closed it. So anyway, in a long roundabout
16:45
way, I go through like 10 rounds of interviews, even with the
16:49
head of the literally the head of the studio at the time.
16:52
And I got the job. I got the job, Long story short,
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and I love the job. I love the job so much.
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I worked, I went through different departments,
17:02
different, different groups they had.
17:04
So I started off in focus features and I did publicity for
17:07
them and we worked on awards campaign.
17:09
So I worked on the Dallas Buyers Club, we worked on The World's
17:13
End and that was super fun experience.
17:17
And then I ended up what was my next and then I ended up in
17:21
brand marketing. And so that was my next
17:23
rotational program. And there I was able to really
17:27
land a full time job with them. I had a incredible mentor, Dave
17:31
O'Connor, and he just kind of like took me under his wing and
17:35
taught me a lot. And in that position, I was able
17:39
to find, you know, a really like something I loved and something
17:43
that I was good at. We worked with brands doing
17:45
collaborations on films to like kind of help promote them.
17:50
And I did that for, I'm going to say like 8 years.
17:53
I was there for a long time. So, but how I got to coffee was,
17:59
you know, after I would say after like the first four or
18:03
five years, I was like, OK, you know, I kind of get the game.
18:06
This is this is what it is. And to be honest, I felt like I
18:11
was more, you know, like it wasn't what I initially wanted
18:16
to do, which was to make stories, to tell stories, to
18:21
create stories, to film stories, kind of like that little girl
18:24
when I was like putting on, you know, these like theater shows
18:27
for my parents and my sister. And I was very much stuck in the
18:32
nitty gritty of like, emails and, you know, getting, you
18:36
know, just pushing, pushing paper, so to speak.
18:39
You're storytelling adjacent. Yeah, story so adjacent and and
18:46
I just really was, you know, yearning and longing for that
18:50
connection to be honest, you know, not feeling like and also
18:55
just wanting the work that I was producing, whatever I was doing
18:59
in life to really have an impact on people.
19:02
And I never I and I think the biggest driver for me was I
19:06
didn't feel a connection to the service or product that we were
19:11
creating. You know, I don't know if the
19:14
work we were doing were actually helping to sell more movie
19:17
tickets. Was it like getting more
19:19
audience in the chairs? You know, I hope it was, but
19:23
then I also didn't have like direct feedback.
19:25
It's like, hey, like, did you enjoy that movie?
19:27
How did you like that? You know, how did you like that
19:30
product? You know, like I didn't really
19:32
feel like I had a hand in creating it.
19:33
And so I think the creativity and the, you know, my creative
19:38
side was just yearning for something, yearning to get back
19:41
to that. And so I just started, I started
19:43
spending a lot of time in coffee houses.
19:46
I started just like talking to people in coffee houses, meeting
19:50
people in the coffee industry. And I would say that like, and
19:54
then I was trying to find a creative endeavor to 1 relieve
19:58
stress, but then to just do something that was like, OK,
20:01
well, you know, like I'm in the office, like, you know, 9:00 to
20:05
6:00 every day, Like, let me do something that's for me.
20:07
And so I, I started a coffee blog back then when it was like,
20:10
it was, it was fun to blog and it was popular to blog.
20:13
Nowadays I'm like, I don't know. I don't know that a blog is a
20:18
term that is people are that are.
20:21
I don't want. I don't want to presume that
20:23
under a certain age like my God anymore.
20:27
I don't think they know what a blog is.
20:30
I also got my start as a Blogger.
20:32
Oh yeah, you were writing about coffee.
20:35
No, I had a blog which is definitely of a time about
20:41
hipsters in New York. And that was my my first, my
20:45
first blogs experiences. And I was just like in my studio
20:49
apartment randomly writing about hipster products and hipster
20:53
people. And hipster was still kind of a
20:55
new term, I think. And I very clearly remember I,
21:02
somebody had reached out and they sent me this product they
21:04
called Hipster Spice. And it was essentially just a
21:08
collection of like, I don't know, like, like a Trader Joe's
21:12
everyday seasoning essentially put in like a special package
21:14
and a whole thing. And I, you know, wrote, I wrote
21:18
this review about it and wrote a whole article about it.
21:21
And then years later I was working somewhere and was
21:27
talking to someone and I mentioned that I had got my
21:29
start as a blog and they mentioned that they had this
21:32
product called hipster spite. And I was like, Oh my God, like
21:34
I know that product. And they're like, really like no
21:36
one knew that product. And I was like, well, I wrote
21:38
this thing about it and they were like, that was like the
21:41
biggest day ever for us. Like our little company, like
21:44
getting this like professional thing.
21:45
And then my head, I was like, Oh no, like I was just thinking
21:48
like 1 little guy like over here.
21:50
But it, it was a good lesson on how we impact other people
21:54
without realizing it. You know, what you might feel as
21:56
a throwaway isn't, and I think that gets to the point of you
22:00
were exploring these coffee houses and kind of doing
22:03
something for you that meant something.
22:05
Yeah, absolutely. And I felt like it actually
22:08
opened up a lot of doors for me. And to be honest, I never really
22:13
thought I would open a coffee shop.
22:15
You know, it would. It's like, I think it's in
22:17
everybody's sometimes, like everybody's fantasy to be like,
22:20
oh, I want to open a coffee shop one day and just.
22:22
Or a bar or something. Yeah, serve, serve coffee.
22:24
You know, I get so many customers in here that's just
22:26
like, oh, I want to quit my job and do that.
22:29
And I'm like, yes, but do you really know what it means?
22:32
Yeah. Then you say go home and clean
22:34
your bathroom every day and like have no one say thank you for it
22:37
and then maybe you kind of want to do it.
22:40
Yeah, exactly. But but no, I think it's such I
22:46
I I honestly still don't know sometimes.
22:48
Like, I feel like I'm living in a dream because I was like, how
22:50
did I get here, you know? Well, there, it's a big leap to
22:54
say to one. It's an industry change, Yeah.
22:59
So somewhere along the line you had to be in your office and
23:02
that during that nine to six and say this isn't it anymore.
23:07
Yeah, no, you're right, 100%. I and A mentor of mine had told
23:12
me outside of this industry, you know, he said, look at, look at
23:17
someone you aspire to be like. Look at like somebody, you know,
23:21
in the hierarchy that's like, you know, a few rungs above you.
23:25
And in 10 years, is that where you want to be?
23:27
Do you want to have that job? Do you want to have that
23:29
person's life? And I took a look and I said, Oh
23:31
my gosh, no way. I mean, you're getting like, you
23:36
know, the compensation is great, but it's just you're losing more
23:41
time, more of your own personal time, right?
23:43
And you're just really feeding kind of this corporate machine,
23:46
you know, and, and I was like, you know, unless I'm on the
23:49
creative side, unless I'm actually a director or a
23:53
producer or like I'm on set, you know, and I've always liked
23:56
being behind the camera. Not, I'm not necessarily in
23:59
front of the camera. I just thought, you know, I'm
24:01
losing, I'm losing my creativity.
24:03
It's not who I it's not who I am, it's not who I aspire to be,
24:06
and it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
24:09
And so then, you know, I kind of had to ask myself the hard
24:12
questions, like what do I want to do for the rest of my life?
24:15
Because for me, I felt like in a way, I was chasing, chasing that
24:21
dream for so long. And, you know, it was definitely
24:24
challenging and difficult at times, but I did it.
24:26
I got there, right. And then it's kind of like, you
24:29
know, you're standing at the finish line or you're standing
24:31
at the top of the mountain and you're just kind of like, oh, I
24:35
thought I was going to feel differently about this.
24:37
Or kind of like, oh, what's next?
24:39
You know, it's not that, I don't know, satisfactory feeling.
24:44
And then it's then I just felt very lost, like, OK, well, like,
24:47
if not this, then, then what? Because I had dedicated my
24:50
whole, you know, my whole career and my life and, you know, my
24:53
identity was all wrapped up in this, you know, in this
24:58
corporate job and also, you know, everything that I created
25:01
and my lifestyle around it. So I, I think just for me, as a
25:06
way to decompress and relax, I would write, I would blog and I
25:10
would, I just found comfort in these coffee houses.
25:13
I found comfort in these coffee houses.
25:16
And one of them was brew coffee brew coffee bar in, in Los Feliz
25:21
on Vermont Ave. And I found a real friend and
25:24
mentor, Brent Goey, and he actually he's from Brent,
25:27
Oregon. And, you know, he would just, he
25:31
was just one of those baristas that like would just talk to you
25:34
and, you know, want to, you know, and remembered your name.
25:37
It was so small, but I was going to this meditation temple kind
25:40
of around the corner. And he's like, oh, where you,
25:43
you know, where you headed off to?
25:44
And I told him and he was like, oh, that's great.
25:46
Next time I came back, he was like, oh, are you going to the
25:48
meditation temple? I'm like, oh, wow, you
25:50
remembered, you know. And so what's really, really
25:55
fascinating about him is that he has this incredible story where
25:58
he owned his own coffee house in San Francisco and he was also
26:05
roasting for ritual coffee. So he was roasting for ritual
26:08
and owned his own coffee house and then got super burnt out,
26:12
moved back to Los Angeles where to be with his wife and his his
26:17
daughter. I think they separated, but he
26:20
came back and he's like, I just want to work in coffee.
26:22
I just want to be a barista. So he sold it and then just is
26:26
like their their main head barista and just loves it and
26:29
loves meeting customers every day.
26:31
But like he was, he's kind of like was my guiding light and I
26:34
would just pester him with all these questions about like, you
26:37
know, even even from like roasting to creating coffee.
26:41
And I mean, even down the line, like nowadays, I still text him
26:44
when I have a question. I'm like, wait, so how does
26:45
this, how does this work? Why is this machine not working?
26:50
But yeah, I think it's interesting that your mentor in
26:53
in coffee or the first person that you kind of look to in that
26:56
way decided he was too burned out to be an owner and just
27:01
enjoyed the engagement part of it.
27:03
And so you decided, well, I want to do the engagement, but I'm
27:05
also going to be the person at the top getting all the stress.
27:10
Yes, exactly. I don't think he sold it like
27:12
that, but I think I was still kind of like I sealed blinders
27:17
on, like I didn't really see everything, you know, I didn't
27:20
lift back the veil, but I wanted to.
27:22
I wanted to really create a space for people to be honest.
27:25
And but he, I think the best way to describe it is he made it
27:30
seem like he made it easy. He made, he made interactions
27:35
with customers, like really showed me what it is to create a
27:38
relationship with their customer and really care about what's
27:42
going on in their life. And also creating a great cup of
27:44
coffee, right. And so I found comfort in those
27:47
coffee houses, almost like, you know, honestly, like drinking
27:51
coffee, you know, like in the morning when you have like a
27:53
warm cup of coffee, like that's how I felt in those coffee
27:55
houses. And so with my blog at the time,
27:59
I would just, I would just reach out to people honestly and just
28:02
say like, Hey, like I want to interview you.
28:04
And I got press passes to like coffee festivals and coffee
28:08
conferences. And I was like, whoa, go me.
28:11
And I'm like, wear a badge and like, go interview these people.
28:14
And then like put on a suit Monday morning and you know,
28:17
like go back to my corporate life.
28:19
So that was, that was my life for a for a while.
28:22
When did you decide or what was the tipping point that you
28:25
decided? I'm going to step away from the
28:29
suit life and into the grind life.
28:33
Yeah, so I think, I think there were baby steps, but I just
28:37
thought, OK, you know what, I'm just going to learn how to be a
28:39
better, you know, I know, learn how to make coffee, learn to be
28:43
a better barista and just for fun, like almost like a home
28:45
barista, right. And so I took, I took a coffee
28:49
course up in where did I go? Was it?
28:52
No, actually, I did go, I went to Oregon and it was with
28:56
Bellissimo Coffee and took like a full immersion weekend with
29:02
them. And just kind of I, I think I
29:05
was floating at the time. Like I didn't really 100% know I
29:08
wanted to open a coffee shop, but I just knew I liked being
29:11
around coffee people. I liked being around coffee
29:14
people. I like being around roasters.
29:15
I like, love learning about coffee.
29:17
I like talking to people about coffee and as I learned more
29:20
about coffee, it just gave me more confidence kind of just, I
29:24
don't know, it just gave me more confidence to like step into my
29:27
creativity, I think. And I, and so I initially maybe
29:35
just was researching, you know, how much would, how much would
29:38
it cost to open up a coffee house?
29:41
You know, I was just kind of crunching the numbers.
29:43
OK, well, what does it mean? Like, what does 500 square feet
29:46
mean in Hollywood? What does 700 square feet mean
29:50
in Santa Monica? You know, I'd learn almost also
29:52
like, you know, it's price per square foot.
29:55
And you know, what are what's, you know, what's triple net, all
29:59
of that, you know, And I was just kind of like, I was
30:01
definitely getting a little intimidated by the numbers.
30:04
And again, I just met really, really incredible people along
30:07
the way. I met developers and restaurant
30:09
tours and they kind of taught me about like, OK, if you're really
30:12
going to look for a place, don't get a first generation space,
30:15
get a second generation space. You do not want to go through
30:17
the permitting and everything. So honestly, it was just kind
30:22
of, I was like a squirrel. I was just gathering, gathering
30:25
research, gathering information and being like, OK, maybe this
30:28
is something I want to do, you know, like, do I want to do it
30:31
now? This is safe.
30:32
This is safe to like stay in my little, you know, corporate
30:35
bubble. But then COVID hit 2020, COVID
30:38
hit and everybody, our, our departments were getting slashed
30:45
left and right. And my department unfortunately
30:47
was one of them. And I had already kind of put
30:50
together a business plan and, you know, like basically all the
30:54
all the steps behind it, but I just wasn't ready to really make
30:58
the jump. And then when I got laid off, I
31:02
was like, oh, OK, like this is this is the universe like giving
31:06
me a push. Like, OK, I maybe you're not
31:09
ready, but we're ready for you to just take the leap, you know?
31:13
And so again, I think I was really blessed with all of the
31:16
years I spent with Universal because they gave me a great
31:20
severance package. You know, it was, I still have a
31:22
great relationship with them. They actually ended up hiring me
31:26
back multiple times to consult for them at one point while I
31:31
was running the coffee shop, which is the craziest, craziest
31:35
like couple months in my life juggling those two jobs.
31:39
But that severance package helped me really to kind of
31:44
find, give me some time to really like find my space.
31:49
And it, it still took a couple of years after that, to be
31:52
honest, but I was just working on other personal things and I
31:55
was helping like the family business and things like that.
31:58
But it was kind of a transition from me being, you know, getting
32:01
sort of this corporate paycheck to being an entrepreneur by
32:03
myself. And, and I think I think I would
32:07
have made the leap eventually, but I definitely don't think it
32:10
would have been so fast if it wasn't for COVID.
32:13
So. What made you want to have your
32:17
coffee shop near Hollywood? I mean, you mentioned real
32:21
estate. It's not the cheapest place to
32:23
find a, a rental space to rent. You know, was there a reason
32:29
that was appealing to you or was that just the opportunity that
32:32
came up? And you know, when did you?
32:34
I think that it was more the opportunity that came up.
32:37
And I mean, I don't know about some of your other guests or
32:41
people that you've talked to, but for me, it was so difficult
32:44
to convince, to convince somebody to convince landlord or
32:49
you know, to even give me a chance because I felt like, I
32:53
honestly felt like, you know, applying for a job like that,
32:57
like, you know, like closing the loop on that.
32:59
Like going back to like when I was applying for jobs, I was
33:01
just sending out not resumes, but like, you know, LO is like
33:04
left and right. I was like, here, I'm
33:06
interested, I'm interested, I'm interested, you know, and I, I
33:10
really do think it's not an easy road and it's tough because
33:12
you're not a proven concept. You're not a proven concept.
33:16
You don't have the backing of, you know, a restaurant group
33:19
behind you. They don't know if you're going
33:22
to flounder or fail or, you know, it's like, OK, great, you
33:24
have this great concept in the business plan and, you know,
33:27
this nice little presentation that you put together.
33:30
But you know, how are you going to be able to make the rent is
33:33
basically what they're thinking, you know, and you know, are you
33:36
going to be good for the community?
33:37
Are you going to be good for the neighborhood?
33:40
So I was actually looking all over.
33:42
I was looking in Silver Lake, I was looking in Los Feliz, I
33:45
looked in Studio City, West Hollywood, Santa Monica.
33:50
I was looking at, I had a couple of real estate agents and I
33:57
looked at places that were just like buildings that were just
34:00
opening. I looked at second generation
34:02
spaces. I even looked at first
34:03
generation spaces, even though that was like against the advice
34:06
I got. I was just kind of like
34:07
desperate. I was like, I don't care, I'm
34:09
just going to boots on the ground.
34:12
But I ended up finding a space that another coffee house wanted
34:18
to move out of. They were having some issues
34:21
with the landlord. And they also, they wanted to
34:23
change the, their name and there was just like a lot of issues
34:26
that they were having. So they had another shop in
34:29
North Hollywood and they, they wanted to focus on that coffee
34:32
house. And this one maybe wasn't as
34:34
profitable for them. So they were just, it was
34:37
essentially kind of like an asset sale.
34:39
And I still remember it was like a Saturday and they had an open
34:44
house. I, I went in there and there was
34:47
at least two other people that were there, like kind of just
34:50
looking at the space. They had all their equipment
34:51
out, you know, and then they were like, we want to get out of
34:54
here, you know, like we just, you know, and I looked at my
34:57
funds. I had enough to do, you know, to
35:00
go into escrow with them. And then it was just kind of,
35:04
you know, trying to figure out would the space work for me?
35:06
And it's, our space is about 780 square feet.
35:10
And then we also have a patio, but I'm going to be honest, the
35:13
neighborhood wasn't like it's not fancy Hollywood.
35:17
When I was looking at the space that it was like tent city
35:20
across the street from us. There was so many like homeless
35:24
tents and I and pretty sure there was a meth tent because
35:31
the first week we moved in, one of the tents blew up, literally
35:35
just blew up on fire. And I remember my staff was
35:40
calling me because I was getting some more inventory around the
35:43
corner. And they're like, So what do we
35:44
do in case of a fire? And I'm like, what, What do you
35:48
mean a fire? I was like, is the place on
35:50
fire? They're like, no, but you know,
35:52
the tents across the street are on fire.
35:54
And it's so bad that it's literally like shaking our
35:57
windows and they're like, we're hiding in the kitchen right now.
36:00
And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is this is my first week on the
36:03
job. Well, and I don't, I don't mean
36:08
I don't know necessarily had you been a boss at up to that point.
36:14
I mean a hospitality boss is different than but having some
36:17
experience leading a team is always.
36:19
Yeah, keep the moment. It's so it's so different.
36:22
I did. I was a director at my at my
36:25
rolling universal. So I did have a team, but it's
36:27
so different. It's like, yeah, like I said,
36:31
it's hospitality is so different.
36:32
And I think the other difference is I felt I had a lot more
36:35
support in my other role because it's like, oh, OK, you know,
36:39
something technical comes up, your computer doesn't work.
36:41
OK, take it to, you know, call IT, call IT, take it down to the
36:44
IT department. You know, that's easy here.
36:47
It's you're just troubleshooting and.
36:50
You're the help. Yeah, you're, you were I I I
36:53
think I will have worn every hat in the closet.
36:56
And sometimes I don't know what I'm doing.
36:59
I don't know. I feel like imposter syndrome
37:01
all the time. And a lot of times you don't
37:03
have time to really figure it out.
37:05
You just got to, it's one of those quick decisions you just
37:08
got to make, you know, and you just got to make it.
37:11
It's like, OK, well, you know what?
37:13
This is the decision I'm going with.
37:14
And we'll, you know, move on. We'll see.
37:16
You know, it's like whack a mole.
37:19
I don't want to lose out on this because I'm really enjoying
37:22
hearing kind of the shade and Freud of hearing your horror
37:26
stories here about the meth lab and everything.
37:28
To be fair, the guy in the meth tent or the woman in the meth
37:30
tent was probably making more money than you that first.
37:32
Week, yes, absolutely. And they didn't have to have
37:34
licenses for, they didn't have to have a sales.
37:36
License No licensing for meth labs.
37:39
No health permits? Yep.
37:42
Shorter, you know, shorter business lifespan.
37:44
But the idea of coffee confessionals, one of the things
37:48
that really struck me about it and and why when I received a an
37:54
inquiry from from your PR person in January and I started looking
37:58
into it was the creating a space for customers to engage with
38:02
each other, which immediately makes me uncomfortable.
38:08
You know, like I even though I am absolutely the person who
38:12
sits at the bar and talks to the bartender and talks to the
38:15
person next to me. It's this thing that I can troll
38:18
to some extent or I get to choose if I do.
38:21
You're creating a space that naturally encourages people to
38:26
engage, which means it's more likely that someone's going to
38:28
try to engage with me if I'm not ready for it.
38:31
What made you think this was a good idea for one, and how did
38:35
you approach introducing that concept not just to customers,
38:40
but to your staff and to your business plan?
38:43
Yeah. So that's a great question.
38:45
And I think it was definitely difficult for for us at first
38:49
because I understand sort of the hesitancy of people, you know,
38:54
oh, you know, I don't know if I want to be approached.
38:56
But I also think a lot of times, you know, whether you're at a
38:58
coffee house or a bar or anything like that, there is
39:02
this desire for connection. You want to connect, but you
39:06
also feel very self-conscious and you're very, you know,
39:10
people can be, you know, am I saying the right thing?
39:12
Am I doing the right thing? And it's like I almost kind of
39:15
want to take that veil off, right?
39:17
And I think coffee and alcohol sometimes is very much so kind
39:22
of like this social lubricant, right?
39:24
And it kind of helps loosen you up.
39:26
But other ways to do that, it's, you know, we were really Iding
39:30
it around it and I was thinking, OK, like, what if we just had
39:34
these conversation cards, You know, these conversation
39:36
starters, we put them on the tables.
39:39
A lot of times it might just be like 2 friends that are just
39:42
getting coffee. And while they're waiting for
39:43
their, their coffee, you know, they're looking through these
39:45
cards. But I think our bigger goal and
39:48
what I really, you know, I'm really starting to create in the
39:51
space is creating these meaningful events, meaningful
39:55
events where people can really come and connect with each
39:58
other. So we have like a comedy show,
40:00
we have an open mic, We've done an artist art walk.
40:05
We've got, we've done an entrepreneurial tech panel
40:08
before. And so I want to create all of
40:10
these different events so that if you're like, you know, you're
40:13
a comic book writer or if you're an artist or if you're like a
40:17
comedian or aspiring comic, these are places where you can
40:20
come and just feel like, OK, this is.
40:23
You know, this is a coffee house, but it's also kind of a
40:25
social space that I can meet, you know, someone fun and new.
40:28
And it also just goes down to for us, for me is my staff
40:33
training. You know, it's sort of like, you
40:35
know, obviously you're always friendly, greeting the
40:37
customers, but really asking them, hey, like, what have you
40:40
got exciting going on for the day, right?
40:42
And sometimes that really just helps to open people up.
40:45
And my whole thing is like, we're not forcing you to be
40:48
social, right? Some people just, they're like,
40:50
no, I just want to like, get my, you know, I want to just finish
40:53
my script, like don't talk to me, right?
40:56
But I do think a lot of times people have that desire and they
40:59
just don't have the tools to be able to just go up to somebody
41:04
and say like, hey, like I, I literally just moved to the area
41:07
and, you know, I'm trying to make new friends and I don't,
41:10
you know, I don't know how to go about doing that.
41:12
Right. And I've actually heard that
41:13
from customers, like even just me interacting with customers.
41:17
Oh, Oh my gosh, you have a comedy show.
41:18
That's great. I just moved out here from New
41:20
York and I love comedy. Or oh, you guys have an open mic
41:24
like once a month. I'm an aspiring musician.
41:26
You know, I just moved out here from, you know, I don't know,
41:29
Florida or wherever. And so I think it's just having
41:33
that space where people can be like, OK, well, you know, I'll,
41:36
I'll attend the shop. I mean, I'll attend the show and
41:38
see how it goes. I'll meet someone new.
41:41
And so that's, I think that's us like kind of trying to cultivate
41:45
or guide people into these connections.
41:49
And another thing I'm really proud of is we have a spill Your
41:52
Beans. It's like on craft paper, the
41:53
Spill Your beans board. And we do a different topic
41:56
every week. Just it's like a fun topic.
41:58
Sometimes it's a serious 1. You know, what's your New Year's
42:01
resolution? What are you grateful for?
42:05
You know, what's a household disaster that happened to you?
42:09
You know, what is 1 clothing fad that you really regret doing?
42:13
And then we just create these little, you know, snippets,
42:16
these little videos around it and we read these out loud.
42:19
And what I really want to do eventually is start to create
42:21
these into more, create them into almost like video, video
42:27
reels and video blogs about like different, you know, different
42:30
people, different stories. And honestly, I was really
42:32
inspired by Humans of New York when I lived out there.
42:35
I just, I love what that whole brand was about, you know,
42:38
telling the story, you know, the common person and you're
42:41
smiling, 'cause I feel like you really maybe, you know.
42:44
The I'm smiling because my computer is propped up on a
42:47
Humans of New York book. Oh, OK.
42:51
I love that. Yeah, yeah.
42:52
So I, I, I love, you know, everything that Brandon did and
42:56
that was really a true inspiration for me.
42:58
So that's that's kind of what I wanted to do with my own brand.
43:02
So I had this coffee smarter question I was going to ask you.
43:06
Rostar asks us to, you know, get advice for other aspiring
43:10
entrepreneurs in the coffee space about changing careers.
43:14
But I think what I'd, I'd rather hear is now that you're into
43:19
this world, what advice might you offer to somebody thinking
43:24
of leaving a corporate structure?
43:26
What have you found to be the bigger challenge or the sticking
43:31
points that make you sometimes either reconsider or make you
43:35
go, yeah, this is the right call for me.
43:39
I definitely think that it's not a, it's baby steps, right?
43:44
It's not just one day, you know, I don't like my boss.
43:47
I don't like this. I'm just, I quit.
43:49
Don't do that. Definitely don't do that.
43:52
I think that for me, the more research I did, the more I
43:56
understood what I was getting myself into.
43:59
Even though I understood a lot of what I was getting myself
44:01
into, you still don't really know until you're in the thick
44:03
of it. But it was baby steps.
44:07
And I remember, I think a quote from Jack Campbell, which I
44:10
heard on like the attraction video or the attraction movie
44:14
was it's like you're driving at night, right?
44:17
And you have headlights on and you can only see like, you know,
44:20
3 feet in front of you and that's it.
44:22
And then you, you know, get to that destination and then your
44:25
headlights shine another 3 feet in front of you.
44:27
And that quote just really stuck with me in terms of how I got
44:31
here. It's you kind of had this
44:33
destination in mind, but you have no idea how you're going to
44:35
get there. You have no idea you get the
44:36
funding, you have no idea how you're going to train your your
44:39
staff, who you're going to hire, where you're going to end up.
44:42
Are you going to get a lease? What kind of lease are you going
44:44
to get All of these questions, but I just think I started to I
44:49
started to interview roasters. I started to interview coffee
44:52
shop owners. I started to interview Brent, my
44:54
mentor, and he gave me a lot of confidence in like, you know,
44:58
you can do this, you know, but it was honestly baby steps.
45:02
You know, the more that I and, and it's not so much I just quit
45:08
my corporate job and open a coffee shop in between.
45:10
I did a lot of coffee pop ups. I did, I brought like a little,
45:16
you know, like one of those home coffees brewing the Breville,
45:20
the Breville barista and I went to coffee events and I, I made
45:24
lattes and I made drinks and I, you know, I did that whole
45:27
thing. I, I never felt like I wanted to
45:31
just have a coffee cart or, or truck because I wanted that
45:35
space. I knew very early on that I
45:37
wanted a physical brick and mortar for people to congregate
45:41
and for people to gather and create, literally be creative,
45:45
you know, and meet each other. So that was always my goal.
45:48
But I along the way, you know, I partnered, I had I had partnered
45:53
with this group called forward Female and they had a space in
45:57
downtown LA was for female founders.
46:00
And I did tons of pop up events with them, serving coffee,
46:03
talking to customers. So I think it doesn't need to be
46:06
such a big leap. I think you just kind of, you
46:08
know, maybe you go to farmers markets and, you know, you talk
46:11
to other baristas and other founders and you really see if
46:15
it's for you because it's never going to be this like straight,
46:19
straight arrow, you know, straight shot into it, I think.
46:23
And if you keep going, you're like, OK, I do like this, you
46:25
know, I do like serving coffee to people, but in kind of, you
46:28
know, a smaller setting. It's like, OK, I did this event
46:31
for 50 people. That was great.
46:33
Next, I did this event for 100 people.
46:34
OK, that turned out OK. You know, I didn't, I didn't
46:37
lose my I didn't lose, you know, lose it over that.
46:40
And you just kind of keep, I feel like you just keep
46:45
expanding and testing your boundaries and testing your
46:49
limits to see like, is this really what I want?
46:51
You know, instead of just stepping into a coffee shop and
46:53
be like, OK, I'm going to, I'm going to buy this.
46:55
I'm going to do this. I'm going to, you know, and and
46:58
then you regret it. But I definitely think that to a
47:01
certain point, I had gotten to the end of my career and there
47:05
was nothing else I wanted to do with it.
47:06
And I think that was another big revelation for me in that I
47:11
didn't want to pursue it anymore, and that was a really
47:14
big push for me to do something else.
47:18
In that moment, was there any reticence because you had worked
47:24
so hard to get there? Like knowing that identifying
47:29
that you are ready to move on is important, but there's also
47:33
this, well, I did all this work to get here, is it OK to do
47:36
something else? That's what I would be concerned
47:39
about. For me, yeah, absolutely.
47:41
And I have been a million times over SO.
47:46
I don't, yeah. I don't know of reticence is the
47:49
maybe maybe a little bit of reticence.
47:51
It's kind of a mixed bag for me. Part of it is like, do I have
47:55
permission? You know, do I have permission
47:57
to step out of this life and do something for myself and do
48:00
something that's, you know, and culturally, you know, I'm
48:05
Chinese and my parents are very, you know, they have a certain
48:09
idea of what your profession should be.
48:10
And I still remember when I told my mom, she was like, what do
48:13
you want to do? She treated it kind of like a
48:16
lemon. I love my mom, by the way, but
48:17
she treated it like, like a lemonade stand.
48:19
She's like, how much are you going to make selling coffee on
48:22
the corner of like, so And so, you know, she's like, you're
48:25
just selling cups of coffee. Like I don't understand.
48:28
Yeah, I mean, well, and that's part of it too.
48:30
If you have a certain level of income, becoming a founder means
48:35
giving up kind of some ideas of what every week's income is
48:38
going to be. It becomes less predictable.
48:41
It becomes sometimes non existent.
48:43
Sometimes I think that that honestly was the scariest part
48:46
for me being like, OK, so you're getting, you know, 401K, you're
48:49
getting, you know, weekly or bi weekly paycheck.
48:52
And now it's like you have to make sure that you make payroll.
48:57
You have to make sure that you make payroll for your employees.
48:59
You know, you have to make sure you bring the customers in.
49:02
You know, when, when the espresso machine breaks, when
49:06
the ice machine breaks, when a crazy person, you know, goes
49:09
into your shop, you're like, you're the, you're the stop.
49:12
Like you got to figure it out. And that's why I think like
49:15
sometimes, and the corporate training definitely did help
49:18
because a lot of times we have to just troubleshoot and just
49:21
figure out certain things, like in a really fast pace.
49:24
But it's like, OK, if the tent across the street is on fire,
49:27
like what are you going to do? Like what do you tell your
49:28
staff? You know, you don't really have
49:30
a moment to think. You're just like, OK, this is
49:32
what we're going to do. You know, and I'm going to make
49:34
a decision now. And I'm going to, you know, if
49:35
it's the wrong decision, we'll we'll course, we'll course
49:38
correct later. But you just have to really have
49:40
confidence in, OK, I'm making this decision.
49:43
I'm going for it. But yeah, I think giving
49:47
yourself permission maybe, yes, being a little resident to take
49:52
the leap because you're like, well, where's my next paycheck?
49:55
How am I going to pay my employees, you know, and to be
49:59
honest, it's like I, I still really do feel imposter
50:02
syndrome. It's like, who do I think I am?
50:04
Like, why do I deserve this? You know, and I don't have the
50:07
traditional, I don't have the traditional route from, you
50:12
know, that a lot of coffee shop owners, you know, they might be,
50:15
they might have been in management at another coffee
50:17
shop or they work their way up from being a barista to a
50:19
roaster. You know, I've worked in the
50:21
hospitality industry like I've been a server, I've been a
50:25
Hostess, I've done, I've done all that, you know, so I
50:29
understand it, but I didn't really understand the operations
50:32
and the management of it. And for me, it really was a huge
50:37
leap of faith for me to do that and to but to have all of the
50:42
mentors that were sort of cheering me on and guiding me.
50:45
And, and I always tell everybody, I think that people I
50:48
meet in the coffee space and the coffee world are some of the
50:51
kindest, like kindest people you'll ever meet.
50:55
And they just, they're not looking to see you fail.
50:58
It's like a hard enough industry as it is, you know, everybody
51:00
knows and they're just there to support you and they give you
51:03
free advice. And sometimes I'm like, Oh my
51:05
God, I'm getting all this free advice.
51:06
Like, you know, are we competitors?
51:08
No, we're not competitors. Like it's a, it's a tough space,
51:11
you know, And I think it's like what they, what did they say
51:14
about doctors? It's like, you know, to be a
51:16
doctor, you really have to like want to care for people.
51:18
You really want to be a doctor. You're not just doing it for the
51:21
money, you know. Where is the money going in the
51:26
medical? I feel like we pay so much
51:28
insurance and then every doctor, I mean, is like we're not
51:30
getting that money. I have no idea where it's going
51:33
other. Than pharmacy.
51:35
Anyway, that's another conversation.
51:37
Absolutely. OK, So what are you, what are
51:42
you watching? What are you reading?
51:44
You're in, you're from the industry.
51:46
I assume you're still paying attention.
51:48
What's the thing that you're getting excited about right now?
51:52
I'm just trying to think I this is an unconventional answer, but
51:58
I just read a lot of I don't have really that much time to
52:03
read like I I'm like reading insurance policies right now I'm
52:05
trying to switch in general insurance liability watching.
52:10
I really like it's true. I'm like reading.
52:13
It's been like a true owner right there.
52:15
I'm. Like trying to get through all
52:17
this paperwork for tax season too.
52:18
And I'm like reading, I did listen to a couple of your
52:22
podcasts, which I really enjoyed.
52:24
When I when I'm driving, I like to listen to podcasts and what
52:29
else to get my mind off of stress.
52:31
I'd like to watch tennis matches.
52:34
Huge tennis fan and I play tennis.
52:35
So that's that's my go to stress reliever.
52:38
So I'd like. To watch some big upsets this
52:40
week in The Australian. Yes.
52:42
Oh I see you're a definitely a tennis fan too.
52:45
I was paying attention a little bit, although I'm not very good
52:48
at playing anymore. Anything that we missed today
52:52
about coffee confessionals. I know there's a lot more that
52:54
we can go into in a future chat, but it was there something
52:57
specific or anything that you were like?
52:58
I really wanted to get this kind of idea out in this episode.
53:03
You covered a lot. I think that just for people who
53:05
are interested in being an entrepreneur doesn't necessarily
53:08
have to be in the coffee industry.
53:11
You know, I don't think that I don't think that it's what am I
53:16
trying to say? It's challenging for sure.
53:18
But I think once you start to take these baby steps of talking
53:21
to people and researching and doing all that, it, it becomes
53:25
less of a daunting leap of faith, so to speak, than one
53:30
thinks. And I just hope that my story
53:34
can really help to inspire other people to just try go for it,
53:37
you know, like, even if you were starting, you know, a book club
53:41
in your own house and then you expand it into something else
53:44
and then you write a book or, you know, whatever, it's just
53:47
take the baby steps, start at 1st.
53:49
And that's really what gave me joy when I was, you know, like
53:52
just buried in paperwork and emails.
53:55
And I was like, you know what, I'm just going to do something
53:56
fun and you never know where it's going to lead.
53:59
So, and I hope that our space can really create that kind of
54:04
safe and connective tissue for people in the community,
54:08
especially, you know, just given all the craziness that's out
54:12
there now. I I really do want it to be a
54:14
safe haven for everybody. What is it that you order when
54:18
you're out at someone else's coffee shop?
54:21
So I go between just getting a drip coffee because I just love,
54:26
I just love black coffee with a little bit of Creamer, no sugar
54:30
that really I just, I love holding on to that and just
54:33
having a conversation. Or if I'm feeling like, oh, I
54:35
really want to try all these signature lattes, I'll get
54:37
something adventurous like, you know, like I don't know, burnt
54:40
Creme brulee latte or something like that.
54:42
I love discovering what other coffee houses, their inventions
54:46
and things like that. If somebody is coming to Coffee
54:49
Confessionals and we'll share all the links, Coffee
54:53
confessionals.com, all the different YouTube and Instagram,
54:56
Facebook, all that. If somebody's coming there, what
55:03
would you recommend if it's their first visit?
55:04
I'm going to be driving through LA in a couple of weeks.
55:09
What should I expect when I walk through the doors?
55:12
Do you want Do you want a drink recommendation or an event
55:16
recommendation? Maybe a little bit of both, Like
55:19
what is the experience like? Should I be nervous when I get
55:22
there that I'm going to have to be social and real?
55:25
Oh, no, no, it's not, it's not like that.
55:28
You walk in the door and it's like, go make a friend now.
55:31
No, it's a very honestly, it's a very casual coffee shop.
55:34
It's it is a coffee shop. It's not like this new weird
55:38
invention where you have to talk into like a speaker box or
55:41
anything like that. Now we just, we have our briefs.
55:44
This I would recommend. We have a drink called the Mocha
55:47
Moose, which was named after one of the Pantone colors I think
55:50
last year where we have it's a hazelnut latte with dark
55:55
chocolate foam on top. And it's it's so good.
55:59
People love it. It's like it's Nutella.
56:02
It's unhealthy, but it's kind of like a fun Nutella drink.
56:05
You sold me. That's that's what I'll be
56:07
getting. Jane, thank you.
56:10
Thank you so much for being here and sharing some of that.
56:12
I'm looking forward to chatting again at some point and and
56:16
having that mocha boost. Yeah.
56:18
Thank you, Ryan. Now we get to do this really fun
57:16
awkward thing where we record room tone for like 30 seconds.
57:20
We just stare at each other or look off into the distance.
57:59
That's it. Thank you, Ryan.
58:01
Yeah, you bet. Hang on one second.