An Inspired Chat with Victor Yuen of South Bay

Victor Yuen shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Good morning Victor, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
To open up a coffee shop. It is not that I am afraid of the venture, but I was originally VERY MUCH AGAINST pursuing coffee as a business. It is very selfish of me to be discomforted by the fact that successful coffee business are dependent on volume- regardless of its emotional/social relationship with its customers. I have kept the venture into coffee as a period with a means to end- to be purely kept as a personal hobby in regards to any pursuit. Ironically it has been a year and some months, and my career looks like what most in the LA coffee industry views as a business in the service of Coffee Omakase.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Victor Yuen, I am currently facilitating LA’s Coffee Omakase. In the conversation of coffee, there’s an objective goal society is fixated on: the utility of caffeine. The very common perspective, in the way we see a morning, often repeats, “how fast can I get through this,” being a quote that proposes reluctance.

I, with every ounce of passion, HATE that the majority RELUCTANTLY get out of bed. Of the many things we have control over in life, one more day will never be one of them. I have built Tangible Gratitude in purpose of elevating our perception with commodity to exercise our sensory and being through the act of consuming coffee. The omakase breaks pretention in the world of Specialty Coffee established by SCA and enables an experience through the eyes of international to local roasters and palate philosophies; this is done with a dialog of design that spill into every aspect of life.

The irony of the service, that is now synonymous with the name Tangible Gratitude, is in the fact that volume is the core metric that defines success in the world of business; the industry of hospitality, especially in coffee, is no different. But TG isn’t looking to maximize volumes of coffees sold. We are in the business of asking how far we can push the conversation.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The painter in me created an artist who I’ve loved, is no longer with us.

Becoming an artist, through my career of illustrating and painting taught me to love myself. To value ones self through manifesting literal imagery started with allowing subjective meanings to hold a certain price in a buyer’s hands. The moment I saw “success” in my place as an artist, to eat, to live and have a place to sleep, to continue all of “this,” was where I found my purpose deteriorate.

I no longer wanted conversations that fruited subjective interpretations, it all grew to feel progressively selfish. I think what I started to want more, was to be a part of a conversation that could grow and observe even more perspectives in rooms I’ve been granted access to.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Early 2024. I actively chose to leave the coffee industry as a whole.

I consciously decided to depart from a misaligned venture- ending a 3 year deep project and an 8 year practice. The venture was a coffee shop I was set to call home to my dreams and a place where conversations could flourish- the irony struck when all parties of the venture realized the health of business is defined by volume.

I loved the industry of coffee as a barista because I got to have real conversations with real people, and just coexist within these growing relationships that seeded moments and careers. It is a different story when you’re the one building the business- payroll needs to be met, maintenance, sales, etc.. but most importantly sales, by volumes, because what other way is there to be able to feed a team and pay rent? MINIMAL time was allowed for there to be a coffeeshop owner to truly spend time with the clientele, people, human beings…….. So I dropped out of this pursuit and took career break that lasted 2 months..

A conversation with a former regular of my previous venture changed the trajectory of my career that I deemed voided. I found myself opening the doors to my own home, re-inviting my old friends and colleagues. Hosting a moment over courses of coffee in my furnished livingroom became my career.

My focus was no longer in trying to sell one more coffee, but getting to relish in the opportunity in sharing this rarity(coffee) over getting to exist one more day.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
No matter what industry you’re in success rides on volume. Very rarely do deeper relationships and purpose directly fuel success.

“Make the sale and figure out how to create a system that ensures this to be a continuous loop. Don’t tie yourself too close to individuals.”

I created my place in the industry of design and hospitality to fight everyone whose pursuing life in this way.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
What most people misunderstand about me is that I am trying to create something for MYself. To make something of MYself.

I created Tangible Gratitude as a means to see if people would allow themselves to be present unconditionally, and to imagine a world where we get to appreciate given time as much as the person sitting next to us no differently. We have enough commodities and events driving us all into disassociation as is- and the only reason we look forward to one more day is for some hope that it could be any more prettier than yesterday. It is sad to see most forget today was what we longed for. It would be nice to see that we’re all on the same page, and relish in being able to be here and for us to get to share this very fact, together.( For those of us that are still here. )

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tangiblegratitude.com/
• Instagram: tangiblegratitude
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tangible-gratitude-hermosa-beach-2