It’s almost been 10 years since Dogtown Coffee first opened its doors as a Santa Monica Breakfast spot in July 2012. Since the beginning, our mission was always to share our delicious coffee and breakfast burritos with our community, but most importantly, to keep the spirit of Dogtown alive. As we reflect on these past 10 years, we think we’ve done a pretty good job of staying true to our core values as we’ve grown, but we also know none of it would’ve been possible without the support of the wonderful Santa Monica community.
As we approach this giant milestone, we’ve been doing a lot of reflecting over the past 10 years and we keep going back to the immense amount of encouragement and loyalty our customers have shown to Dogtown Coffee. Whether you were looking for a quality coffee shop in Santa Monica or wanting to feel the energy of the iconic Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions space, Santa Monicans always knew they could count on Dogtown Coffee to deliver the magic.
Of course, when you’ve been in business as long as we have, you’re bound to run into some issues that even the highest of ambition can’t overcome on its own. In our case, it was COVID-19. For all of us, this pandemic has flipped life as we knew it on it’s head. Adapting to the new normal has been difficult, but it’s been especially challenging for independent brick-and-mortar businesses.
But lucky for us, Santa Monica isn’t an ordinary place. Dogtown Coffee’s first and foremost priority during this time has always been the safety and health of our team and the community overall. Regardless, when we made the very tough decision to temporarily close our doors to stay true to this objective during the initial surge of COVID cases, we were uncertain over what the future would hold for us, but the second we reopened our doors, we knew our concerns were faceless. Our loyal customers rallied to support us during this difficult time, consistently placing orders for pick up or delivery whenever they needed a taste of some of the best coffee Santa Monica has to offer. We are so proud to share that our business continued to grow so much that we were able to revamp our parking lot and open up The Shack, an outdoor patio that was intended to be temporary during the pandemic to accommodate more guests. In the end, as tough as the pandemic was to navigate, it truly showed us how special Santa Monica is. From our team who worked diligently to come in, keep the cafe clean, and serve our customers, to our supporters who ordered from Dogtown, our business is blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people.
We owe a lot to everyone who helped us pull through not just the pandemic, but the past 10 years of business overall. Dogtown Coffee is so grateful to our support system, both employees and customers alike. Without you, we never would have been able to do what we love and share the Dogtown mission with the world. To say thank you, we’ve decided to go big for our 10th birthday celebration. We don’t want to spoil the surprise and reveal too much just yet, but let’s just say you can expect to enjoy even more delicious foods and drinks in a space that’ll wow. There’s so much more to come as we welcome in our 10th year of business so be sure to check back in often to see what other celebratory plans we have in store. In the meantime, thank you again for visiting Dogtown Coffee for your Santa Monica breakfast and caffeine needs. It’s truly been an honor to experience these 10 years of adventure alongside all of you.