Klatch provides caffeine, conversation
Klatch Coffee manager Daniel Teplitz chats with customer Amanda Perry. Photo
As a business, Klatch Coffee brings a lot of major accolades to its newest location in Redondo Beach: World’s Best Espresso, Best Coffeehouse in America and multiple Roaster of the Year awards, to name a just a few.
But the focus of the Rancho Cucamonga-based company’s new westward expansion is filling a gap they’ve found in the community.
“So far, it’s not been grab-and-go [for our customers],” said Heather Perry, Klatch Coffee Vice President and daughter of founder Mike Perry. “Catalina Coffee left a hole, and that’s been the most obvious thing off the bat. But we’re community oriented…we need to turn the place over to [our customers] to give them the freedom to do what they want with it, to an extent.”
The word “klatch” is Germanic, meaning conversation – and Perry wants the new shop to be where the community gathers to talk, whether it’s about coffee or just around coffee.
This Redondo location, 306 S. Pacific Coast Highway, is the company’s fourth, and it’s been in the works since Feb. 2016. Three more new locations will soon follow, including two in San Francisco and another planned for Fontana.
Klatch Coffee manager Daniel Teplitz serves up a cup of coffee. Photo
Redondo wasn’t part of the plan for expansion, originally, but this location was a lucky break, close to both the beach and commuters, Perry said.
Just as she and her sister became involved in the family business that began 25 years ago, Perry’s kids were helping out in the shop as well, sweeping up and enjoying the new space.
As a company, Klatch has been competitive in the coffee world, both in skill competitions and in bidding for the world’s most exclusive beans. Last November, Klatch was the only roasters in the U.S. to win a bid for Esmeralda Geisha 601, the most expensive cup of coffee in the world; a single, eight oz. cup of that brew costs $55.
Redondo’s offerings aren’t quite that exotic; its brews, as of its second week in operations, top out at $12 for a freshly ground cup of coffee, though less-expensive varieties are available. The shop also includes a variety of cold brew coffees on tap (which can also be purchased in larger, take-home “growlers”), as well a variety of food options.
What Klatch is trying to do, Perry said, is to innovate while keeping the conversation at its core.
“For some people, it’s about coming here and meeting with people; for others, it’s about coming and geeking out about coffee,” Perry said. “I think that’s what’s important. You can’t be trendy; you have to be relevant and remain interesting.”