Cafe culture and community
A conversation with the owners of Offline Coffee Co.
Celina Mu
Overview
The co-owners of Offline Coffee Co. talk about its development and Chinese identity, their college years at UW, and being a third space.
“When we go to a space, and it feels very personal to the owner, it feels like they are inviting you to stay longer; it’s a nice atmosphere, you feel welcome,” Krystal Graylin said.
Lucy Kong and Krystal Graylin are two UW alumni who, in the past year, left their corporate lives to pursue their passions, culminating in Offline Coffee Co., a Chinese-inspired cafe located within the neighborhood of Capitol Hill. The two owners have documented every step of their creation journey on social media, offering a measure of candidness and vulnerability towards the work, both good and bad, that this new venture includes.
On Instagram, they brought viewers along while detailing their cafe opening journey. So much of the charm of Offline’s social media presence comes from the fact that Kong and Graylin do not shy away from the nitty-gritty and real details that come from running a business, such as the costs and labor involved. This transparency reflects the owners’ personal preferences when it comes to the social media they interact with, as avid cafe frequenters themselves.
“I feel like we really enjoyed watching other cafes that had been more transparent about the process,”Graylin said . “That was really inspiring to me. So since we're figuring it out, we're coming from this humble place. It's like, ‘we're doing this for the first time, so come along if you want to see what's going on.’"
Rather than simply using social media as a vehicle for communication regarding updates or changes to the cafe, Kong and Graylin plan to continue to use it to interact with their viewers and create deeper connections with their customers. This shift away from social media as a pure advertisement tool and using it instead to create a two-way connection with viewers is a growing trend amongst Gen Z business owners, such as fellow local small business Toasted.
The example they posed for the type of space they hoped to become was from their own college experiences.
“I think back to college — it's probably the only time in your life when you're living within walking distance to all of your friends, and you get to see them all so frequently,” Graylin shared with me. “Sometimes when I think back, I miss certain aspects of college. It’s having the spots and the routines, and knowing that I'm going to see my friends no matter what, probably X amount of times per week.”
Kong and Graylin are not only both UW alumni, but also close friends. They met in college through Alpha Kappa Psi, a business fraternity on campus, and their friendship originally started out as coffee chats. The two of them recognize that friendship is not the only basis for a successful working relationship, but as they grew closer, they began to travel together, and the ability to navigate the uncertainties that come from international travel allowed them to understand how that success would translate well into starting a business together.
The discovery of this shared interest in opening a cafe occurred after Graylin hosted a housewarming party where Kong helped her make the drinks. A couple of months later, when Kong got a new cat, she threw a cat cafe-themed event for friends where Graylin returned the favor. At this party, as they were cleaning up, the two began to converse about the prospect of doing something more serious together.
“[I said to Krystal] ‘If you want to do this again or something slightly more serious, let's do it together,’ Kong told me. “Then things just escalated really quickly. A couple of weeks after that, we went on a trip to Spain, and that was an uninterrupted seven days of talking about nothing but the cafe.”
Kong and Graylin described the unspoken encouragement that pushes students towards jobs in the corporate world, and that a common graduation path that many students relentlessly work towards is entrance into prestigious business firms post-graduation. They had experienced this after leaving UW and before pivoting into their present situation as business owners.
With their parents, Kong and Graylin recalled that there was certainly a bit of initial hesitation, but what truly brought them on board were the laid-out plans and clear conviction that the two held, with the ability to show their families that this was not simply a whim, but rather a solid and thought-out business proposal. With their coworkers, the two mentioned that they had received a ton of support, with the general sentiment being that it was something that many of them had also dreamed about, but felt as if they had missed the timeframe to do so.
When it came to their friends, Kong and Graylin had been surrounded by support. While they had initially planned to let their friends know of their plan to open a cafe via a pitch night, by the time the event occurred, the lease for the cafe had already been signed. So rather than simply informing their closest friends about their intention to open a cafe, they were able to break the good news that it was already in the works, to the surprise, but immense delight, of their friends.
From a pragmatic standpoint, Kong and Graylin agreed that despite choosing to leave their corporate careers, they would never regret experiencing that, even if it was not ultimately the path they wanted to take.
“I think if we hadn't worked our corporate jobs to gain a feel for that environment, in comparison, there wouldn't be that bigger push for the cafe,” Kong stated. “The funds were necessary, but if things with the cafe got hard, we might've complained and wondered if we should have just gone corporate. I think that was a necessary part of the journey.”
The idea of starting your own business has always been clouded with uncertainty in my eyes as a UW Foster Business student like Kong and Graylin, and learning firsthand about the reactions that they received from their decision and their motivators allowed me to gain clarity into the process of creating a business. Just like any other project, you will never be able to predict success, but you can make every effort possible to plan it out. Kong and Graylin’s decision was backed by a multitude of supportive sources behind them, and that was increasingly evident when their cafe had yet to open its doors for the first time.
As the two gave me a tour through the cafe, they pointed out the different seating arrangements present. There is a longer table in the center intended to serve as a place to encourage socialization, bar tables for studious visitors, a couch area near the side of the cafe for book lovers, and circular tables for coffee chats and catch-ups. The consideration that went into the design of the seating layout impressed me, and I wanted to learn more about Kong and Graylin’s personal experiences with cafe culture in Seattle and what elements they were inspired by.
Many of their design choices came from their own experiences with cafes. To them, cafes have always been places to meet up with friends, and the search for new cafes and restaurants to explore is never-ending. Something particularly important to Kong and Graylin in these spaces is the presence of the owner.
“When we go to a space, and it feels very personal to the owner, it feels like they are inviting you to stay longer; it’s a nice atmosphere, you feel welcome,” Graylin said.
A space that welcomes its visitors is crucial, and by opening the space and hosting events to invite people to, Kong and Graylin hope to broach that intimidating first step to welcome in their customers. This opened the conversation to community spaces and how to define and label a space as such. Kong observed that many community spaces are membership-based, and the line between monetary profit and community as a business model can be tricky to navigate.
“We're trying hard not to slap a third space label on ourselves, because I think that is a loaded term, and people have different expectations for what a third space is, and whether or not you should be required to spend money,” Kong said. “So that's not the route that we're going down of labeling ourselves as, but we hopefully want to become part of someone else's community organically.”
The two owners stated that their primary desire is to serve as a neighborhood cafe. They observed how many people located within the neighborhoods of Capitol Hill have friends in close proximity and hope that Offline Coffee Co. will be able to serve as a spot in someone’s everyday routine.
Aside from Offline Coffee’s start-up story and the motivations behind the owners, I wanted to learn more about the cafe itself. Seattle has an abundance of Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese cafes, but it can feel rare to find one dedicated to Chinese flavors and traditions.
Glancing around the cafe, I could see elements that reminded me of my culture through the assortment of mugs and pottery, the vibrant blue tiles, and the paper lanterns present. These subtle elements were a deviation from ‘typical’ Chinese decorations. The space was absent of the red and gold, crane and dragon characters, and tokens of fortune and prosperity that were so often associated with Chinese culture and history. It prompted the question of what makes this cafe ‘Chinese?’
Kong and Graylin explained that part of the design of Offline Coffee stems from their desire to express what a diverse and complex region China is; it cannot simply be summed up through one specific aesthetic. With the abundance of other cultural cafes in Seattle, the two owners stated how the question of what makes a Korean or Vietnamese cafe, Korean or Vietnamese is rarely expressed, so they hope the same energy would be reciprocated for a Chinese cafe.
“We joke that this is a Chinese cafe because we're Chinese and we own it,” Kong explained. “We're drawing inspiration from China through singular ingredients or specific drinks. Some flavors might not be traditionally Chinese, or that ingredient might not originate from China, but it's a craft, a recipe, or something that's been popularized over there. We’ve struggled to find our favorite flavors in Seattle, so we’re bringing it ourselves."
Speaking with Kong and Graylin offered an intimate glimpse into the time and effort that go into fulfilling a dream. Their journey showcases that encouragement does not simply come from close friends but from strangers around the Seattle area who are eager to show support for a new local cafe.
Within the neighborhoods of Capitol Hill, Offline Coffee will have the opportunity to become a valuable addition to somebody’s daily routines and offer a space for community and opportunities to create new connections. Take the opportunity to visit Offline Coffee with a stranger, and perhaps you will also end up with a future business partner or a close new friend.
Come find Offline Coffee:
Instagram: offlinecoffee.co
711 Bellevue Ave E, Ste 100, Seattle, WA 98102
Credits
Words by Celina Mu
Photos by Haein Jung