I am so excited to bring you my first PasadenaMom Highlight. This will be an ongoing feature on the blog where I share the story behind the influential women in our community. I really believe every woman’s story is so powerful and with the start of this new decade, I’m on a journey to listen, learn, and share the stories of as many women as I can - women of all backgrounds and walks of life. If you have an amazing story to share or know of someone in your community who has a powerful story, please send them my way!
For my first highlight, I am so honored to introduce you to Melanie Porter, owner of Lavender and Honey Espresso Bar in Pasadena, CA. I’ve been a fan of L&H since they first opened their doors in 2014. If you follow my Instagram stories, you’ll know I am there at least once a week to get my coffee fix because there’s just something about L&H that makes me feel like I’m part of the community. In the past 5 years, Melanie has not only grown this little coffee shop into a thriving business, but she has also grown her family. She is now the mother of two beautiful girls, and I sat down with her to talk about coffee, Pasadena, and how life as an entrepreneur has changed for her since becoming a mother.
Let’s start with the first question: How do you drink your coffee?
What am I not drinking? I love the taste of coffee so usually a cortado, cappuccino, cold brew, or black coffee.
What brought you to Pasadena?
I’m originally from the Bay Area and my husband, Charlie, is from La Canada. After dating for a few months long distance, I moved from the Bay Area to LA - I would’ve never thought I would live in LA. We lived in South Bay (Manhattan Beach) and both worked corporate jobs. Every time we visited the La Canada/Pasadena area where Charlie’s mom still lived, we could never find a coffee shop to our liking.
We talked about opening coffee shop on our 2nd date and after we got married, we decided it was now or never. We found this great spot, and with the support of our family and friends and financial support to start the business, we made the move to start Lavender and Honey in Pasadena.
What do you think makes Lavender & Honey stand out among all the coffee shops in and around LA and Pasadena?
Our focus has always been to provide a community experience with great coffee. Back when we started, there were not a lot of third wave coffee shops in greater LA.
We really strive to be the tastemakers and not just follow what is trending. There are so many coffee shops now that seem to emulate our concept or try to follow this cookie cutter formula for success. A lot of what makes our shop successful and stand out in a crowd of competitors is our authenticity, originality and our menu, which really resonates with people.
When we first opened, there weren’t a lot of cafes with a food component like ours. Now, you see a lot of menus with lavender lattes and our signature lavender and honey toast. It’s hard to be like “But, we were the first ones!” so we want to continue delivering that positive experience to our customers, keep trying new ideas for the shop, and testing to find what works.
I still have a lot of ideas running through my head and that is the great thing about being a small business owner - I can test the ideas right away and see if they work or not.
I’ve seen this little pocket of Pasadena thrive after the opening of Lavender & Honey. Why do you think L&H has affected this part of the community and was that your vision when you started?
Yes, that was what we hoped for when we started. We visited the area many times before and talked to the neighbors in the area. We saw that this was an area in Pasadena that could benefit from having a local coffee shop. Finding the space and building a great relationship with our first landlords really helped us create our vision.
If you saw our first business plan, you would laugh because we had very modest expectations for the shop. We knew we could succeed in the area with our concept, but it has wildly exceeded what we had initially imagined.
We’ve had great neighbors in our building too, which is something that’s really important to us. Neighborhoods and local businesses thrive when complimentary businesses work together to build up and develop a specific area. And, when you shop at a local business, you know that your tax dollars go right back into making your community better. We want this to be a place in the neighborhood where you can get coffee, shop, work out, and have lunch.
What has been the biggest challenge?
Cost Control - managing costs to lower expenses, increase revenue and profits. It is currently the most expensive time to own and operate a restaurant. Costs in the last few years are getting higher— raw materials and labor, for instance. A lot of this ends up being pushed onto the consumer which isn’t ideal, but it’s just the way things are.
Coffee and food will be much more expensive for the consumer in a couple of years, so it’s especially important that restaurants deliver on the customer experience part of things if we’re going to ask our customers to pay above what they have normally paid in the past for a cup of coffee.
What has been your greatest learning curve of becoming a business owner, especially in the hospitality and coffee industry?
You learn a lot on your first venture with all of the hoops you have to jump through just to open a physical location. There are so many approvals, permits, regulations etc. and it’s important that you rely on professionals in the areas of commercial real estate, planning, construction, architecture to build out your space. In addition, small businesses are held to the same standard as corporations, which is burdensome when you don’t have a robust HR, legal and IT department at your disposal.
You mentioned in your Voyage LA interview that when you were researching and fine tuning the concept for L&H, you noticed the world of coffee was very masculine, hyper-masculine, do you find that to still be true or has it shifted since you’ve been in the business?
Yes and no. There are definitely lighter touches within cafes to make them more inviting and not as masculine as before (mustaches and dark wood seemed to be everywhere), but there is still room to create more inviting and inclusive spaces in the coffee world. It is still quite uncommon to see women owners in the coffee industry, but not quite as rare as when we opened in 2014.
How was it first entering that space as a female entrepreneur?
I left my corporate job during the build-out phase while, Charlie still worked at his corporate job the first few years of opening L&H. I was in my mid-20s starting my first business and usually the only female in a room filled with men. Nobody took me seriously at first, and if Charlie was at a meeting with me, they wouldn’t even talk to me. Charlie would have to say, “I don’t know, don’t ask me, I’m not the one in charge.” I had to find my own voice and once everyone saw how I not only talked the talk, but had the best business plan for the space and would roll up my sleeves to do the work, they took me seriously and were all in to help me succeed. My contractor has also become like family and is on my speed dial. He is always willing to fix or take care of anything that needs to be done at the shop.
Congratulations on your second baby! What are some adjustments you have had to make as entrepreneurs since becoming a parent?
We got married in 2011 and started Lavender & Honey in 2014. After we got married, we had to make the decision if we would start a family first or start the business. We were fortunate to have the support of our family, so we decided to start our business first. After Lavender and Honey was open, we started trying for a baby and went through two miscarriages. It was so difficult because six hours after suffering a miscarriage, I was back in the store spending hours doing inventory. This is part of being a business owner that people don’t often see.
We must make it look easy from the outside, because I get a lot of emails from people, and often moms, who have this romanticized vision of owning a coffee shop that runs itself so they can have free time for the family. This is far from the truth. My mind is constantly on the business and there is always something that needs my attention - whether it’s a machine breaking down, an employee not showing up for a shift, plumbing issues, hiring & training employees, finding good management, ordering & managing inventory, accounting & payroll - those are all roles that I have to play daily on top of being a parent to my two girls.
After having my second baby, my husband left his corporate job to be at the store full time with me because I needed the support. As an entrepreneur, I’m a go-getter, but I’ve also learned to ask for help when I need it and find my support network. I’ve definitely made my share of mistakes, but I’ve learned how to fight for myself, my family, and my business.
On motherhood & owning a business:
As a new mother and business owner, there really isn’t any time off or maternity leave. A lot of turnover at the store seems to happen when I’m on leave, so it’s always a challenge to find good management and employees to be in place when I’m not at the store.
I moved the administrative office home to spend more time with the kids, but I don’t bring the kids to the coffee shop very much. I like to keep a level of professionalism at the shop and it’s a challenge to bring kids into that environment. There are a lot of safety concerns in a busy kitchen and kids can be very unpredictable! As much as possible, I prefer to keep work and home life separate. However, there are also times I will need to bring my baby to a meeting and people will have to understand.
I feel like a lot changed when I became a mom. There was a little bit of confidence that was lost. “Can I still grow and expand my business?” I had a lot of goals and dreams before becoming a mom and it’s finding that ability within me to still strive for those goals and dreams. It’s telling myself, “Yes, I’m a mom now, but I am still that go-getter and person I’ve always been.”
If you’re not at the shop or at home, where would you be?
In an ideal world, I would be traveling. My two favorite travel destinations would be Amsterdam and London. Realistically though, I would be at the beach. Any time there is a long weekend, we are usually in the South Bay.
As a coffee lover, what is one travel destination (anywhere in the world) I have to go to explore coffee?
Australia, they are years ahead of the trend in coffee. The shops there are so beautifully designed, and they also have really good coffee.
Ok, last question: Do you have any plans to open a second location for L&H?
It’s in the works…TBD! 😉
Thank you Melanie for taking the time to sit down with me and share your story! You are such an inspiration to me and I’m so thankful fort his opportunity. Check out L&H on their IG @lh_espresso and Melanie on her IG @coffee_mel.
Lavender & Honey Espresso Bar
Address: 1383 East Washington Blvd.
Website: http://lavenderandhoneyespresso.com
Phone: (626) 529-5571
Email: info@lavenderandhoneyespresso.com
