Meet Cristian Quintanilla of Don Leo Coffee in West LA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristian Quintanilla.

Cristian, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in El Salvador and was raised there until I was ten years old, by my grandparents, aunts, and uncles. My mother had to leave El Salvador when she was 18, due to the civil war going on in the country. She had to come to the United States, leaving me behind at the age of 1. It was not until I was ten years old that my mother was able to bring me to the US to live with her, my step-father and sister. I have been living in Los Angeles ever since.

I take a lot of pride in my Salvadorean roots. As a kid, growing up in El Salvador, during a time when the internet or cell phones did not yet exist, I enjoyed reading encyclopedias to learn about other countries around the world. One of the things I learned from an encyclopedia is that El Salvador was once one of the top coffee producing countries in the world. As an adult living in Los Angeles, reminiscing about my childhood in El Salvador, I remembered that piece of information and decided to search for some good Salvadorean coffee.

Much to my disappointment, I was not able to find any. I decided I would have to do something about that at some point in my life. Fast forward a few years to 2015/16 while I was going through my MBA program at Pepperdine University, the idea of creating a Salvadorean brand of gourmet coffee kept popping into my head while I worked on projects that taught me how to operate a business efficiently.

After grad school, I was working in corporate finance for a Fortune 500 company, but I found that I was not happy and did not want to continue following that path. I was able to raise enough capital to help me get the business started, and in February of 2018, I quit my job and launched myself into the deep end of entrepreneurship.

Once I quit my corporate job, I spent months in El Salvador searching for the right single origin coffee that I would use to represent my birth country. Some of the major requirements were: low acidity, enchanting aroma, smooth body, well-balanced flavor, and grown at high elevation.

Don Leo coffee is the first 100% Salvadorean brand of gourmet coffee in the US. It is grown, processed, roasted, ground and packaged by the farmers in El Salvador.

I named the brand after my grandfather, whom everyone used to call Don Leo when he was alive. I currently sell my coffee through my website www.DONLEO.coffee, and I am working on finding other distribution channels for my coffee, such as grocery stores, restaurants and coffee shops.

Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road; there have been numerous obstacles along the way, and I foresee there will certainly be more. The very first challenge was finding the capital to start the business. Starting a brand new business definitely requires capital.

After finishing grad school, with substantial school loans, I found it necessary to raise capital through angel investors, in order to start the business, since banks would never approve a startup business loan. This is something I will most likely need to do again shortly and in other various phases of the business.

This means having the knowledge and capacity to convince potential investors of my capability to make this a successful business so that they will want to invest in it. Once I was able to raise some startup capital, I needed to fly to El Salvador and spend time there dealing with different business culture and weeding out the sharks who were out to take advantage of a novice entrepreneur.

Then there are the flakes who do not take you seriously, and those who are ignorant and just don’t understand you. This also required having a clear vision and knowing how to explain that vision to suppliers that had never been asked to do what I was asking of them.

Establishing the back end of the business is just the beginning. Once you have a solid supply chain in place, the fun starts. That’s when you have to let the world know you have this amazing coffee you want them all to taste and to buy from you. This requires resources such as time, money, preparation, strategy, contacts, etc.

As a small business owner, you have to wear all the hats: Finance, marketing, branding, sales, accounting, shipping, invoicing, etc. Especially when you do not have the budget to hire anyone yet. I don’t expect to own a business to get any easier than it has been, but I definitely plan on learning as much as I can along the way, to try to make a smooth ride to the top.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
As I mentioned earlier, I take a lot of pride in my Salvadorean roots. That is why I stress so much that Don Leo coffee is the first brand of 100% Salvadorean gourmet coffee in the US. There is no other brand of gourmet coffee that is grown, processed, roasted, ground and packaged by the farmers in El Salvador.

I want Salvadorean coffee to get the credit it deserves, and to be considered one of the top coffees in the world again. I want Don Leo coffee to be synonymous with exquisite gourmet coffee and to be recognized as an ambassador of Salvadorean culture. I want the people of El Salvador to be proud of knowing that Don Leo coffee is representing them around the world.

Finally, I want my grandfather to be proud when he looks down from the heavens and sees the work I am doing along with the legacy that he left behind.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles is the perfect place for a business like mine. I love this city for all of its diversity and air filled with the hopes and dreams of all the transplants who have come here.

It is precisely because of these qualities that someone like me can come up with this crazy idea of quitting his corporate finance job and betting the farm on himself to start an imported gourmet coffee business.

This city is filled with opportunities for those who are hungry to live their best life, I could not think of a better-suited place to start my Salvadorean coffee business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.DonLeo.coffee
• Phone: 310.980.3974
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: don_leo_coffee
• Facebook: Don Leo Coffee

Image Credit:
Oscar Madrigal

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