We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hannah Groen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hannah below.

Alright, Hannah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

The idea of Inicio Coffee began for the purpose to fill the gap between a trafficked victim to their flourishing life of freedom. The original co-founders had a dreamt of opening a business with the purpose to take a stand for a cause, but also create a space where victims can feel safe, learn basic life skills that they may not know as well as transition into a life of freedom on their own 2 feet. They decided to start with coffee as the first business to show this model. Although, missionaries at the time, they didn’t have money, but they began creating a team, which I became a part of. I had a similar dream, but a bakery. As they began working on getting donations to build out a space, we teamed up together to make it happen. Their dream was 7 years in the making before I came into the picture, but 3 years together, we opened the doors of our very first coffee shop. With a ton of faith when it seemed impossible, we have begun to bring awareness of the issue of trafficking and providing finances to an anti-trafficking organization that is focusing on helping women from being trafficked to a flourishing life.

It has taken time, but 3.5 years later with a lot of transitions, hills and valleys, we run a little coffee shop with the dream to expand and be sustainable to help the anti-trafficking organization with more resources and fill more of their needs. It has taken a lot of time and prayer to get to where we are today. Without a community that believes surrounding us, I don’t think it would have ever happen, but we are so blessed that it has.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Hannah Groen. I am an owner of Inicio Coffee Company in San Fernando Valley that exists to make quality coffee, but also takes a stand against anti-trafficking. We have created a space to welcome all people, and make them feel comfortable even with if their beliefs are different. We served specialty coffee and teas as well as pastries to go with it. What sets us apart from other coffee shops is that we take a stand for a great purpose. We aren’t a business to make money, but a business to make a difference in this broken world. We want to inspire others to do the same.

I am most proud of my employees and community that come together and create a home at our coffee shop. I am proud to be a place where customers feel safe to be themselves. I want my customers to know that we see them and love them. We stand against trafficking financially and with resources, but care about them just as much because as a company, we understand that anyone may be or become a victim to trafficking.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

We opened the coffee shop with the bare minimum, trying to organically grow and pay the bills without investors in an area that a coffee shop like ours never existed before. We opened and survived the lock down of COVID, and soon after we mustered through that, we got hit by all the strikes in the entertainment industry as most of our customers had been coming from the nearby stages & studios. I, as the owner, dedictated at least 6 days a week 10 hours a day to stay open. I pressed on with great customer service the best I could even with the exhaustion that crept in, but now our small team does an incredible job to recreate the dream of incredible love to each customer.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing our clientele is one in the same with the core of who we are. We care about people. We love people whether we have the same or different beliefs. We grew because our customers felt like they were coming home. They felt seen and care about with the great addition to great quality product to give us the reviews we needed to grow as well as the customers just telling others about us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://iniciocoffee.com
• Instagram: iniciocoffeecompany
• Facebook: Inicio Coffee Company
• Yelp: Inicio Coffee Company