new coffee chain starts life in downtown, hours up for discussion
Community input requested!
Responding to the unique coffee culture in Los Angeles, a new take on the traditional coffee shop experience is being introduced right here in Downtown.
Lot 44 Coffee, described by owner and founder Ariel Graham as “a home-grown Downtown LA brand,” will open its first location of many inside the Douglas Building at the corner of Spring and 3rd within the next four to six weeks.
“Our drink selection will feature espresso beverages, organic blends as well as signature drinks and teas. Other offerings will include small batch artisanal rainforest organic certified chocolates with herbs, spices and flowers in addition to fresh pastries that are also organic and gluten-free,” says Graham proudly.
What differentiates Lot 44 different from other coffee shops is its understanding of Angelenos’ sophisticated affinity for java. Graham, who has over 16 years of experience in both corporate chains and indie shops from Starbucks to The Abbey (back in its days of modesty), knows that coffee is a very serious pastime for people in this city.
“We will be the first ‘cup bar’ in Southern California. Each cup you buy (of single origin or blend), will be brewed to order exactly how you want it — without attitude. The cup menu is varied to satisfy diverse palates, offering about ten choices of organic, fair trade, pesticide-free brews from small lots as well as larger coffee estates,” she says.
“It’s how we do coffee in L.A.”
Prices for that perfect cup of gourmet joe will set you back about $4.50 for 12 ozs. or $5.50 for 16 ozs. For those of you who feel that coffee should be less of a indulgence, a more affordable house blend will range from $2.75 to$3.45 for the same sizes.
Graham hopes that patrons who appreciate the high-end product and want to support her choice to utilize all “green” serve-ware and eco-friendly materials will find the price point reasonable.
But if you’re not concerned with environment or only care about getting a caffeine perk from your coffee, free Wi-Fi and a comfortable seating area (approximately 1,300 square feet of space) may be enough to catch your attention.
Community Involvement from a Non-Local
The New York-transplant who now lives in West Hollywood is still getting acquainted with the neighborhood.
“I looked at locations all over Hollywood for about six months before settling on Downtown. It offers the urban mix and vibe I sought to establish my brand. I’m excited about being here!”
The active entrepreneur states that she is committed whenever possible to partner with local vendors and businesses. She even made an effort to hire Downtown residents for her team of four baristas, offering a generous hourly wage.
Plus, Lot 44 Coffee will set one day a month where 10% of sale proceeds will go to a deserving local organization or charity, such as Project Angel Food. Leftover pastries and other edible items will be donated to local food banks to serve the needy on Skid Row.
Even with all these community efforts, Graham is still getting a feel for the local market and is unsure whether it has reached a critical mass of residents, which launches us into the great debate of business hours.
The Great Debate: Hours of Change
When Graham contacted angelenic earlier this week with information on her new café, her proposed hours concerned me.
Monday – Friday: 7:00am – 7:00pm
Saturday: 8:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday: Closed
We met in person yesterday afternoon to further discuss details, and the hours of operation became the focus of the interview.
I explained to Graham that Downtown residents, particularly those around the Old Bank District, are expecting new businesses to hold longer evening hours to meet the needs of the after-work population.
With limited coffee shop options around the Historic Core, Lot 44 Coffee has the potential to be extremely popular, but the community’s perception of her sensitivity to the neighborhood is critical for success. Moreover, the customer base around 3rd and Spring is mature enough to sustain expanded hours, especially with two new restaurants next door anchoring the block.
“I want to stay tuned to the neighborhood and I’m keeping an open mind, but I don’t want to be standing around picking my nose,” she says laughingly. “If the business is here, I have no problem staying open later. After hearing this brought up once, twice, three times… I know I should pay attention.”
But the real challenge is finding that delicate balance of business sustainability and resident demand. Opening a new business in Downtown is cumbersome and expensive, and every slow hour is money out of pocket that often can’t be spared.
What say you, Downtown?
Graham is looking for community input on Lot 44 Coffee’s debut hours. It’s also a discussion that can be applied to other service sector entrepreneurs considering Downtown. Please leave your constructive comment below!
Lot 44 Coffee
257 S. Spring Street #115
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Project Opening: Late March/Early April 2008
www.lot44coffee.com
-first look: crown cafe
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-first look: ma petit bakery & cafe
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33 comments
you can never have too much GOOD coffee!
I hope it is as legit as she claims :).
When does urth cafe open?
I dont live downtown, but I happen to go there often.
In my opinion, she should open till whatever time she feels like, and work up from there, little by little. IDEALY, hours in downtown LA should resemble hours on main st santa monica.
AS for business advice (From a non-business owner)
Just do the following
1) Have a quality product. The better the coffee, the better the business. PERIOD. People will gravitate to a quality product.
2) If you cant be funky and super urban hip like lost souls cafe, then be comfortable. Make a coffee shop that is comfortable, inviting, and good for the locals. A place where people go to unwind after work or just hang out. An overly commercial space, won’t draw locals as much.
3) Have an X-factor. Lost Souls has events. maybe you can display local artists. Maybe you can incorporate some music. Having a little something extra is always great for a coffee shop. Maybe the xfactor is just free Wifi.
4) Make sure you take advantage of the downtown arts walk, however you can.
5) Open up to the street well to catch the eye of residences.
6) check yelp, chowhound, or blogs to see what customers are saying about your establishment. Most times, people complain about things that are very easy to fix. Many failed downtown businesses had GLARING problems.
Good luck.
If I hear the coffee is legit, I will most likely make my way over there.
you need to establish yourself as resident-friendly out of the gate. stay open later at night, and definitely start with sunday hours. definitely. there is a reason pete’s is ALWAYS crowded late into every night - people KNOW it will be open. if you don’t start that way, people won’t make the effort.
welcome to the neighborhood! looking forward to some good coffee at 9pm on a Thursday or 4pm on a Sunday :)
Good to hear its not just your average coffee place.
I pass thru downtown LA almost daily for work and even like to eat and shop there.
Even though I live 8 miles south east of downtown LA.
I frequent places such as Metropolis books on Main St- sometimes its that immediate gratification need that amazon/ebay can’t meet.
I forgot and to start off - try staying open til at least 8pm or 9pm -7 days a week.
You will and can benefit from people like me who go catch a movie at the Imaginasian Center on Main St. not too far from your location.
Wow me again lol.. I use to frequent the abbey from like 2001-2003 and it was cool and quiet then, now “too straight and mainstream” lol.
I guess that you already know this as a business person, but it takes time and money for a business to succeed. Especially a non brand that is not established.
If you truly are passionate, you will hang in there.
I am not so concerned with the price points at all but rather the “quality”.
If its there then people and word of mouth will pay off for you.
yes, sunday hours are absolutely a must. what better time to enjoy a good cup of coffee and a pastry than sunday morning or afternoon?
one thing most downtowners have in common is the desire for a walkable, lively and happening pedestrian atmosphere. retail that stays open longer will do a big part towards achieving this goal. you see; we need you as much as you need us. if we feel like we are on the same page and you offer a decent product, we will support you and welcome you with open arms. a simple thing like leaving the lights and the business sign on at night when you’re closed can make a huge difference in the appearance of the entire block.
also, if i may say so, please don’t be boring. we don’t need yet another starbucks or coffee bean lookalike. be a little funky. dare to be different. wear silver shoe’s and a giant pink hat. you know what i’m saying? simply having a clover machine isn’t going to cut it.
good luck.
have a street level outdoor seating…would be good during spring/summer months…
I too think Sundays are a must- lots of people roll out of bed at 10am and want a good cup of coffee and pastries. To be different, offer DIY s’mores perhaps? That would be a great late night activity if your hours eventually get extended. :)
Unless I misunderstand the “cup bar” concept, I don’t think it’s true this will be the first in Southern California. Intelligentsia in Silver Lake brews each cup to order with a special machine. The Village Grind in Long Beach and the Blue Cup in Escondido both brew one-cup-at-a-time in a less high-tech way—they just pour hot water over a regular drip filter directly into your mug. There may be many more examples—these are just the ones I’ve come across while looking for good coffee shops wherever I happen to be.
This is great. I should point out that Groundworks on Main also does the “cup bar,” with a Clover and a choice of many different premium beans. They are open 7 am - 7 pm, 7 days.
Since this place will have wine, I think they could open late and stay open late. Maybe 11 am - 11 pm to start, and closed on Monday. Like Pete’s which took time to get up to speed, I can see this place full until closing most nights, if the vibe is right and the quality is there.
Hmmm..coffee, wine, and free wi-fi…..I’m there. Let’s hope there are lines out the door til all hours. I wish someone would copy what “The Alcove” in Silverlake is doing and bring it downtown, now that’s fantastic food/coffee/pastries/vibe.
I absolutely agree that late hours off the bat is a must. If you immediately establish yourself as a destination for people looking for a cup long after Starbucks has shuttered for the night, you will become known for that. Conversely, if you close early, people will stick with that assumption. It is much harder to expand hours later and make it common knowledge—first impressions matter. I hear Tiara Cafe has expanded their hours; I never ever think of them for dinner, though—they’re indelibly ingrained as a lunch spot in my mind. I would love for you guys to be like Lost Souls—I know I can run there at 9:45pm and still snag a cup of chai. Oh, also, pleas have chai.
Decor really matters. A pleasant, inviting space, with warm or neutral colors, really does a lot to make people want to come in, spend money, and stay awhile, and when you have people who will stay for a bit, it builds a strong, loyal resident base. I would rather own a shop where people took up my tables for awhile rather than have a joint where people dashed in and dashed out because it lacks ambience. Besides, a busy joint draws more people, who are naturally curious as to why a place is busy in the first place. In terms of decor, I really think the Wolfgang Puck does a great job with earth tones, and Groundworks and Pitfire have made brilliant use of their loft space; I’m not saying “copy them!” but rather, look at good examples of strong, unified design elements in order to build a visually harmonious space that really invites a coffee fan in for a visit. Those’re my two cents.
The whole thing sounds great for now. We love any business that is being opened by someone who is passionate about their product, concerned about their environmental/community impact and aware of just how important chocolate and coffee are.
But if you can’t be there with my coffee and chocolate on Sunday morning, do not expect my local resident business during the week. You gotta commit to the locals or your business is not going to last down here.
I need to make a correction on the record:
Lot 44 Coffee will not be offering wine. That was a mistake I had in my notes, and it’s been corrected in the text.
Also, I just heard back from Ariel Graham - the owner, she says this in response to the TH’s comment about cup bars:
“Yes, there is a legit cup bar in San Diego (my bad). Legit cup bars make coffee by the cup a focus not an after thought or cool show off toy $12,000 (clover). Only well to do chains, like the Chicago based Intellegensia or GroundWorks that has six locations can afford a “cup machine”. (I am not slamming Groundworks, they are local and I respect what they have done.) Our cup bar is old school handcrafted, pour over. Our menu puts the cup front and center, on equal footing (where it should be) with quality espresso beverages. Each cup comes with choice of steamed soy, rice or milk it is inclusive (no extra charge). The only other place I have truly seen this is Blue Bottle in S.F. – although again the cup bar in San Diego sounds hot.” - Graham
Thanks for the clarification. Knowing that there is no wine, I would now suggest 7 am to 7 pm, and closed Mondays. We need this place to be open on weekends.
Since I haven’t chimed in on the hours - I would suggest at 9-9:30pm on the weekdays (including Sundays), 10-10:30pm on Fri-Sat nights.
Wine or not, 7pm isn’t late enough in my opinion.
I don’t drink coffee.
But I might stop in for a cup of tea, so 7 pm isn’t going to cut it. I’m not saying Midnight either. Maybe 10 PM is a good compromise.
make it dog-friendly. if i can’t leave wonton tied up at the front door while i go in to order, or bring him inside momentarily while i order, then we’ll probably go elsewhere.
judging by the number of dogs i see outside groundworks, lost souls and banquette, i don’t think we’re alone.
Consistency. I don’t go to Starbucks too often anymore because I’m tired of ordering one thing, and getting another. Starbucks recently closed all of their stores (forgot where I read it, might have been on this blog) to better train their employees. One thing the article mentioned was the fact that they would measure out all the espresso shots in glass shot glasses. Supposedly you can see the quality. Anyway, I think this would bring more customer involvement into the experience as well as a better, more consistent product.
Um, that’s a VERY expensive cup of coffee. Between mortgage payments, HOA fees, or just high loft rent, is a $4.50-5.50 cup of coffee a necessary expense????
Seems like with the economy taking a nose dive, people will more and more seek value for their dollar or to just plain economize where possible.
Roy, the house blend option, teas and espresso drinks will be more affordable alternatives to those pricier brews.
To say the Clover is “$12,000 toy” is a bit of a misnomer. The Clover is a serious piece of equipment, similar to an espresso machine, and requires skill and proper training to use it. There are now several cafes that have one (or two), but there are very few using them correctly… also similar to an espresso machine.
I am curious about who’s coffee they’ll be using. Is it fresh crop? Or last years left overs? Too many cafe’s use old green.
I wish them the best of luck though.
If I might also suggest that you really have excellent pastries..I had a croissant at Banquette once and it was awful. The pastries at Bishop Coffee (which closed) were marginal. Currently there is not a bakery or patisserie Downtown that I am aware of that was worth going to. Good luck and I look forward to giving your business a try.
Lost Souls Cafe is a block away with extended hours and the true feeling of being in the inner sanctum.
They just need to clean up the alley and the stink you have to walk through to get in.
I am not a downtown resident but get over to downtown fairly often. It would be great if they stayed open at least until 9:00 PM and opened on Sundays. I’d prefer not to have to drive over to Starbucks in Little Tokyo for a cup of coffee at 8:00 PM.
rc - i agree that pastries make a huge difference. however, i think the croissants are the only bakery items that banquette doesn’t make, therefore the only thing to avoid. their sour cream cake and their blueberry mini-loaves are really good, but their donuts (i think they’re baked) are wonderful. and addictive.
Thanks Celia. I never went back to Banquette after that one croissant so I will give them another try. It is funny how one bad experience can affect you. Croissants need to be crisp and flakey on the outside. Baked goods are coming to Downtown however…B&G Cookie Company, Ma Petit and Urth Cafe will open soon. Competition is good for quality improvements.
RC, have you tried Francis in Little Tokyo? 2nd. & Central, inside the Honda Plaza. Not your typical all-American bakery, lighter touch with Japanese twist. For example: Green tea chocolate mouse cake, Maron cake (which is Chestnut cake), and passion fruit mouse cake. They also have home-made chocolate truffles, croissants and other pastries. From what I have read, Francis probably won’t be “cool” enough for a lot of people to hang out there, but may be you can just do take-out, which I often do. They close on Sunday and at 7pm during the week. They serve coffee also, but I am no connoisseur, may be you can let me know.
I fear that over $4 or even over $5 for a cup of coffee will strain the credulity and wallets of many potential patrons to the breaking point. And I’m a total coffee snob.
Yes, there is a market of people who make $400,000 a year or more for whom it is really immaterial if their daily joe costs $2 or $10, but how many of them are there? For mere mortals making say, only $200,000, a five plus dollar cup of coffee is going too far.
I also have serious doubts that this will really be worth double the price of other high end cafes (though see above re: income), and while I spend a LOT of money on coffee beans and equipment, and go out of my way for artisan coffee, a $5 cup is over the line.
I’ve noticed similar trends at other recent downtown eateries that signed leases during the peak of the real estate boom, and if downtown RE is so expensive that you can’t make it without charging double what it costs in other places, I have a hard time imagining long term success. Real estate prices are falling like a rock, and restaurants that signed leases at the peak will suffer for it - timing, as they say, is everything.
As the Owner of Lot 44 Coffee I wanted to provide some clarification. Pricing for any product in business is always a calculation of COGS, contollable costs, uncontrollable costs, to produce your flow through to your bottom line. Coffee is a traded commidity ( which like oil, wheat and everything else has recently gone up in price considerably). At Lot 44 our coffee is ethically sourced (organic and fair trade) from small farms, not huge conglomerates. All coffees are individually brewed by the cup, there are only a handful of coffee bars that offer this elevated level of service and freshness. In coffee circles, it is referred to as the third wave. Our pricing is competitive for the quality of our product(and our lease terms quite reasonable). Although several of our Cru and estate coffees are over $4.00; the average 12oz is $3.25 and average 16oz is $4.00. The organic house blend is cheaper and all coffee comes with steamed milk of choice. I certainly hope you give us a try but if not sincerely hope you support a neighborhood java joint as opposed to a national chain that can afford to sell their product for pennies on the dollar.
I’ll absolutely come by, and am glad for both our sakes to hear that your prices are not generally as high as listed above. (I was basing my comment on “$4.50 for 12 ozs. or $5.50 for 16 ozs”, which might work for a few cups of an expensive CoE auction lot, but not for the average consumer even in a 3rd wave joint, IMHO…) :-)
I am so excited to be a part of the Lot 44 business. I hope to see you all coming to the store and I will tell you this now, you will have the best customer service in a coffee shop at our store.
I am confident that the public will enjoy this new way of coffee by the cup…hope to see you all at our opening on May 5th!!!
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