Today we’d like to introduce you to Jane Tansurat.
Hi Jane, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Dash Coffee Bar started with just friends who love coffee and good food. Jane once owned a cafe in Thailand and had a chance to learn about specialty coffee operating there. Weekly, we would visit different coffee shops to taste and learn about their stories and beans. Just like fate, we coincidently met our roaster Unity out of the blue, and at the same time, there was an empty space available. We really felt like it was fate that everything happened at the right place and the right time. That’s when the bright idea comes, “Let’s open a specialty coffee shop!” Why Dash Coffee Bar? Dash is a symbol between two words. Its main task is to give a break between two words. Just like our daily lifestyle, between work, home, LA traffics, we all need a break. That’s exactly what we wanted to be: the place where people can freely come, relax, and enjoy their cup of amazing coffee. We signed our lease in April 2019, then during the planning phase, Pandemics shut our project down in the middle of construction. When we finished construction, shutdowns happened; we were only about to open for take-outs, which was very hard because our location is right in between all the office buildings, and all of the buildings were emptied out. We thought construction phase was hard, but opening phase was worse. We were selling about $200-300 a day. We changed our direction and spent more time on marketing than anything else. Three years later, we have amazing teams and customers who all became families to us. Most importantly, we survived!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all. Our original target market was all the big buildings that surrounded us. People used to walk all over Lake Ave. looking for their favorite lunch spot. Coffee is always the best thing to bring back to office after lunch. Unfortunately, even after the down was lifted, no one came back to the offices. These buildings were still empty. We had to switch our target market and focus on people outside of Pasadena, people who are willing to drive to us.
We’ve been impressed with Dash Coffee Bar, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Dash Coffee Bar is a specialty coffee shop that not only focuses on specialty coffee beans but also bring a mixture of Asian flavors into our espresso drinks. We’re known for our Pandan Latte, Ube Latte, and ceremonial Matcha. Because we are all from Thailand, many of our drinks are influenced by the Southeast Asian flavors. We offer many seasonal drinks like Strawberry Americano, Matcha Latte with Strawberry cream, and even Popcorn Latte. Our sandwiches are known for our fluffy egg soufflé sandwiches.
How do you define success?
Arthur Ashe once said, “Success is the journey, not the destination.” We love what we do; we love every moment of making drinks to customers to hear them say, “This is great!” Our biggest compliment is not 5-star Yelp reviews, but our biggest compliments are those who returned to us and bring their friends and families to us.
Pricing:
- $5-8 drinks
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dashcoffeebar.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dashcoffeebar/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dashcoffeebar/
Image Credits
Jane Tansurat
