Cafe Dulce

If you’ve ever been to the bustling courtyard of USC Village with its many shops and restaurants, you’ve probably noticed a long line at one particular spot: Dulce. And for good reason! Dulce at USC Village, one of five locations of Café Dulce in the eastern half of Los Angeles, has top notch coffee drinks, food (I personally love the breakfast sandwich with avocado), and a beautifully diverse display of pastries (everything from fancy donuts to roti to vegan croissants to brick toast and more). 

I’ve been coming regularly to Dulce since I moved to the USC area in 2019, since there’s free parking (with validation) and a huge outdoor seating area to sip your coffee while you read or get some work done on the wifi. And I can attest to what owner, James Choi, says below about how they strive for an environment of hospitality. Even during busy times of day, the folks at Dulce are friendly and welcoming.

Though James and I sat down for a chat at the USC Village location, we ended up talking mostly about the very first Café Dulce location - in Little Tokyo. (Which I also then visited - right in the Japanese Village Plaza Mall, with lots of other little shops and restaurants! It’s a great spot.) I loved hearing more about James’ story, what he loves about his neighborhood, and - since he’s a Christian - how he understands what it means to run a business as a person of faith.

How did Café Dulce begin?

My mom immigrated to the U.S. from Korea, and after some frustrating workplace experiences, realized she wanted to start her own business. During this time I was trying to pursue golf professionally. I ended up coming to USC and had the privilege of getting an education here and studying accounting.

As she was trying to open up businesses, I would come alongside to help her open them. She tried out a few types of stores, and we ended up opening up a chocolate boutique in Palo Alto. This was a really profitable business, but she was unhappy there because we had no family or community. So we ended up selling that business, moving back down to Los Angeles, and then we found out she had cancer. During that time, I left my accounting job to help her sell the chocolate boutique and take care of her for the year. I'm an only child, and she's a single mother. So during that time we got her through surgery, chemo and all the treatments, and she was in remission. 

I went back to work, and she found a business partner. They were going to open a cafe/bakery in Little Tokyo, and that's what Café Dulce was. So they designed the store, and she spent all of her money from the sale of the previous business. Later I found out she maxed out all of her credit cards and took out hard money loans and got money from aunties and uncles and all sorts of places. But about a month before they were going to open the store, they got into a huge argument, and her business partner bounced. And so then I quit my job again. <Laughs> We officially opened our doors in Little Tokyo in 2011.

What are the other locations, and when did they open?

Our second Café Dulce location started as a popup downtown, near 11th and Hope, and finally became a full store in 2013 at The Row in DTLA. Then we opened Dulce in USC Village in 2017, that was number three - and this is by far our biggest and busiest location. Exactly a year after that one opened, we opened one in Vernon, and about a year and a half ago we opened our fifth location downtown at Los Angeles and Olympic.

Since the Little Tokyo Café Dulce was the first one, I’d love to hear some of your thoughts on that part of the city. 

We’re very involved in our Little Tokyo community, and I'm thankful my mom chose Little Tokyo as the first location. It’s full of nonprofits, and is one of only three remaining Japantowns in all of the U.S. And it's one of about a dozen California Cultural Districts. I wrote a letter as a testimony toward getting that designation, because the community asked me to do it. 

It's fundamentally changed the way I think a cafe should be in a community. Fast forward 12 years, I serve on two non-profit boards there: the Little Tokyo Business Association and the Little Tokyo Community Council. 

In terms of the history of Little Tokyo, they band together very tightly despite infighting and other things that always happen on councils. Because during World War II, when all the Japanese-Americans got rounded up, that caused Japanese-Americans to really have a lot of pride and hold precious to their neighborhoods and areas that they felt safe.

 Little Tokyo happened because they weren't welcome in other communities. Because of that, I think people are very big on protecting the neighborhood. Our Little Tokyo Community Council talks to the city about development, making sure things don't get developed in Little Tokyo that shouldn't be there. We have a historic overlay zone, making sure things that come in are thoughtful to the community, not just any large corporation that can really cause harm to the small and legacy businesses. This has shown me how important it is to be involved with the communities where your cafes reside. 

I love that no matter what day you go out in Little Tokyo, you're gonna see some other community member that works, lives, or volunteers in the community every day who you personally know.

What does it mean to you to be a Christian business owner? How does your faith inform how you run your business?

I actually asked my pastor, Phil, “Is my faith something I have to be exemplifying through my business?” And he said something that took this huge burden off me. He said, “James, just because you're a Christian doesn't mean that your business has to scream ‘I'm Christian.’ There's something to be said to be as excellent as you can be in doing what you're doing. And God will show your faith through that in his own way.” 

It also plays out in the language I use in managing our staff. We have three particular pillars that are very important for our management and leadership to know. One is ownership: owning your mistakes and also owning your victories. 

The second one is hospitality. We truly believe in providing hospitality. That was something I learned from Pastor Alex, who was the head pastor of Sovereign Grace when he married me and Cindy, my wife. He said, “James, you guys are in the hospitality industry and it's truly creating a home for somebody else.” 

And the last word we always talk about is servanthood. When I talk about servanthood, it's kind of icky to a lot of people today. But we take the time to really talk about what that means. It's about being in service to something bigger. Not only our customers that are coming in, but also those that you work alongside behind the counter; taking care of one another. Because if you don't take care of one another, taking care of somebody that walks through your door is even further removed. But if you can focus on taking care of one another, then taking care of the people that walk through our doors on a daily basis becomes much easier and it happens naturally. So I think that plays out in the way that customers hopefully experience our store.

We try to make it a point to say hi to everybody that comes in, ask how they’re doing. Even though you have a 30 second interaction with somebody, that's a moment to make somebody's day a little bit better. 

What is your favorite drink Café Dulce serves?

If I'm looking for something sweet, the Dulce Latte is really good. An iced one is like drinking melted Häagen Dazs coffee ice cream. And generally, I just love a really great batch brew or a cappuccino.

What about your favorite food items?

I love our hazelnut crumble because it's nostalgic. It was the first pastry I remember my mom buying me. When I was about five, I remember being in Koreatown Plaza and she bought me a gombo-ppang (곰보빵). It has a crumbly top, is peanut buttery, and has a nice fluffy dough. And she loved it because it reminded her of her childhood, too. So at Café Dulce we slice it and put a hazelnut buttercream in there, which is delicious. My favorite sandwich is our spicy Korean cheesesteak. The spicy sauce that goes on there is like a spicy Korean chicken wing sauce.

What’s next for Cafe Dulce and for you?

I don't foresee myself opening up any more Café Dulces, so if these five remain and we're around for 30 years and become an LA institution, that would be amazing. I would consider that a huge success. More than anything we opened to create space and opportunity for the staff that have been with us. It was a huge risk for us to open the USC location, but I had a couple of house managers that just needed to grow. They were graduating from college and they wanted this to be their career path. And so we realized we could step in and play a role in their lives. And my backhouse head of kitchen who started with us in 2011, he's still with us today. I’m also in the process of opening a boba shop, starting up a chain of ramen shops, and some other exciting opportunities. 

Check out one of the five Café Dulce locations to experience their delicious hospitality for yourself! Located in: Little Tokyo, Row DTLA, USC Village, Vernon, Santee District. Also find them on Instagram @cafedulcela