Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Larson.
Hi Hannah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Living Room Coffee & Kitchen opened almost 11 years ago and was initially opened by my brother. After a little less than a year into opening he asked me to come on board to shore up the business side of the operation. Given that we were new, our volume was quite low in the first couple of years so with extra time between bookkeeping tasks I would try my hand at baking. I had always been a novice home baker so I had a passing interest but working in a commercial kitchen ignited a new passion for baking. I fell in love with baking and also with creating a safe and accepting work environment for our employees and for the community. Living Room has grown and expanded at the same time that the world has become less safe for the LGBTQ+ community. We have chosen to embrace our community even more openly and intently than ever before.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our biggest struggle initially was the size of our space. When we first opened we had 20 seats and those 20 seats were a tight squeeze. Everyday we would watch guests approach the front door and leave when they saw that we were full. We had hit our ceiling in our tiny little space. We were exploring options for expanding our physical space when the pandemic hit. This has by far been our biggest struggle to date. Just as we were about to head down the road of expansion, we shut our doors and laid off our employees. We were barely making enough each day in sales to sustain the business and we felt like this would be the end for us. We wracked our brains and came up with a few ideas for how to pivot our service model to meet the times. We set up an online store for the first time ever and moved our register outside so that we could operate as a drive thru. Because we have a large parking lot, customers were able to pull up to our register to either order or to pick up their online order and they never had to leave their cars. Shortly after this, outdoor dining was deemed safe and with the help of Maplewood, outdoor dining tents were set up in our parking lot so that guests could order and sit outside to eat. We expanded our patio seating to accommodate this and soon we found that we had more seats outside than we had ever had inside before the pandemic. An opportunity emerged to take over the space directly next door to us and we saw this as our opportunity to expand! We knocked the wall down between the two spaces and created space for 70 seats inside and a 70 seat patio. While the pandemic was our greatest challenge, it also pushed us to think outside the box and to tap into our creativity.
As you know, we’re big fans of Living Room Coffee & Kitchen. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Living Room Coffee & Kitchen is a proudly family & queer owned neighborhood cafe. We roast our own coffee in house, make all of our pastries from scratch in house and our breakfast and lunch menu is largely made from scratch. We serve breakfast and lunch 7 days a week. We are most proud of the community that we have built here at Living Room, both among our employees and our guests. We have gotten clear about our values and we have chosen to operate our business in line with those values, creating a space where all are welcome.
What are your plans for the future?
We hope to expand our catering operation, wholesale bakery and wholesale coffee, and we are developing after hours events. We are hoping to offer more ways for people to experience Living Room.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.livingroomstl.com
- Instagram: livingroomstl
- Facebook: Living Room
