Meet Karen Lee, Jonathan Dizon and Tommy Lee of Spl. Coffee in Koreatown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Lee, Jonathan Dizon and Tommy Lee.

Karen, Jonathan, and Tommy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
“I always knew, since I was 12 years old that I wanted to have my own cafe/coffee shop. Even had the name picked out, “spill the beans.” And that’s where “spl” comes from. Short for spill. I started working in the food/beverage industry when I was 14yo, from restaurants and cafes, culinary school to kitchens, to managing and consulting; to finally opening my own place.” – Karen

Having been born and raised in LA, we’ve seen the crazy as well as exciting changes in all the neighborhoods we grew up in (Silver Lake, Echo Park and Koreatown). We just wanted to make sure that when we opened up shop, that we keep it real and honest and definitely make it a point to represent the LA we grew up in and with.

“This is all so special to me because I get to do it with the people I love (my husband, Jonathan and my brother, Tommy) in the city we love.” – Karen

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
On the real though, not really. LOL

We decided when we were going to do this, that we’d quit our full-time jobs and throw every cent of our savings into this.

I’m sure any startup/small businesses will tell you the same thing: but wearing ten different hats, having to do all the jobs meant for an entire team of specialists was definitely not easy, including having very little capital to start with and continue to try and grow off that.

Creating and continuing to stay creative and original.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Spl. Coffee story. Tell us more about the business.
We’re a specialty coffee shop… born and raised in LA.

We make coffee. So many shops in LA also make great coffee. But it’s important and we take pride and stress to work with local products, ingredients, vendors and support other small businesses just like us. For example, it is important to us that our coffee is roasted locally, right here in LA proper. And our baked goods, just down the street in the East Hollywood area.

We make most our products, sauces and syrups in-house.

Customer service is so important to us.

And Staff is not just staff. They’re family to us. So we put in a lot of time finding the right fit not only for our little coffee shop family but for our regulars and customers.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
At the end of the day, we definitely feel lucky.

We get do the things we love with the people we love the most and call it “ours.”

Contact Info:

• Address: 4059 W. 3rd St.
  Los Angeles, CA 90020
• Phone: (213) 915-0037
• Email: info@splcoffee.com
• Instagram: @splcoffee
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/splcoffee/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/spl-coffee-los-angeles?uid=6TwM2Y4vLeisfRodF7piqA&utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

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