Urth Caffé
| ISIN | 🆔 |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cafe |
| Founded 📆 | 1989 in Manhattan Beach, California |
| Founder 👔 | Jilla Berkman, Shallom Berkman |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , , |
Area served 🗺️ | Los Angeles County, Orange County, Las Vegas, also Tokyo, Japan and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
Key people | Shallom Berkman (co-founder), Jilla Berkman (co-founder) |
| Products 📟 | Organic coffee, fine teas, |
| Owner | Berkman family |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | Official website |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Urth Caffé is a chain of cafes serving organic, heirloom coffee beans and beverages, as well as organic tea, boba tea, salads, sandwiches, pastries and more in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas in the United States, as well as Tokyo, Japan and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Etymology[edit]
Urth is a Welsh root spelling of Earth and Caffé is an Italian word meaning coffee. According to the company, name represents the organic coffee they sell...[1]
History[edit]
Founding to 1991[edit]
The company was first founded in 1989 as a mail order coffee business, offering heirloom varieties of coffee. The company was founded by Jilla and Shallom Berkman after learning about the pesticides that were used in conventional coffee[2] production which made it one of the foods with the highest levels of pesticides.[3], and meeting a Peruvian coffee farmer who partnered with them to export his organic, heirloom coffee beans. Heirloom coffee trees are not common, and have not been genetically modified. Conventional coffee production has an impact on the environment and forests are sometimes cleared to make way for confidential coffee plants[4]. The Berkmans founded Urth Caffé in 1989, however the first Urth Caffé location wasn’t opened until 1991.[5]
In addition to coffee, they were also importing and fine organic teas together by hand.[6]
1991–2008[edit]
The first Urth Caffé location was 300 square feet and opened in Manhattan Beach, California in 1991[7] The second Urth Caffé location was opened in Beverly Hills, California in 2001, followed by a Melrose Place location in West Hollywood which opened in 2003[8].
2008–present[edit]
In 2008, Urth Caffé launched it’s first location in Downtown Los Angeles, in the Arts District neighborhood,[9] where they also relocated their headquarters and constructed a coffee roasters to service their other locations.[10] In 2013, a location was opened in Pasadena.[11] In 2016, the first location outside of Los Angeles County was opened in Laguna Beach. In 2018 the first location outside of California was opened in Las Vegas at the Wynn Las Vegas resort. In 2019, they opened their second location in Orange County, in Old Town Orange, California.[12]
Locations[edit]
Urth Caffé has cafes in the United States, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Menu[edit]
Beverages[edit]
Urth Caffé is best known for their beverages and offers an assortment of coffee-based beverages using their organic heirloom coffee blends, such as lattes, cappucinos, espresso, and brew coffee, among others. They also offer different tea beverages including black tea, green tea, herbal tea, as well as boba tea, although boba can be added to any beverage on the menu.
Food[edit]
Baked goods and pastries are offered at all locations, most of which are baked at their downtown LA headquarters. Breakfast items such as pancakes and avocado toast are also available, as are salads, sandwiches and pizzas. Vegan and vegetarian options are available at all locations as well.[13].
Reception[edit]
Founder Shallom Berkman has said of Urth Caffé’s celebrity clientele, "Jessica Alba is in all the time for our Spanish Latte, and the same for Katy Perry." The Beverly Hills location in particular has been noted to be frequented by celebrities[14]
Kylie Jenner has been said to be a fan of the chain, as she has frequently featured their green tea boba on her Instagram page[15].
Alleged discrimination lawsuit[edit]
In May 2016, seven women filed a lawsuit against Urth Caffe alleging that they faced discrimination at the chain’s Laguna Beach location, which they were asked to leave. The women identify as Muslim, and six of the women were wearing headscarves when they were asked to leave the premises of the cafe[16]
Notable incidents[edit]
On 28 December 2018, a fire broke out in the kitchen of the flagship downtown LA location, spreading to other areas of the building including the attic. The fire required 100 firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department to extinguish the flames.[17]
It was later discovered that no one was injured in the fire and that the fire started in the coffee bean roasting area of the building. The building was later found to be heavily damaged and was forced to close for several weeks for renovations.[18] The location later reopened after extensive renovations and repairs on 11 January 2019.[19]
In popular culture[edit]
- Urth Caffe featured prominently in Entourage. It has been compared to Central Perk (the Cafe commonly shown in Friends). It is a popular hangout for the main characters of the series, and the opening scene of the second episode of the American television series Entourage, was filmed at the Urth Caffe location on Melrose. This location was featured in many other episodes of Entourage such as Benji[20]. It was also featured in the Entourage film[21].
- Urth Caffé is featured in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V as a coffee shop with a similar appearance and logo called the Little Teapot (names of real-life businesses are always changed in the Grand Theft Auto series[22]
- The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills filmed several scenes at the Urth Caffe location in Beverly Hills.
- Urth Caffe has appeared on Keeping Up With The Kardashians in several episodes.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Our Story". Urth Caffe. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ↑ "Worst Foods for Pesticides". Eluxe Magazine. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Behavior of pesticides in coffee beans during the roasting process" (NIH). Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Organic vs Regular Coffee". Equal Exchange. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "A Brief History of LA's Urth Caffé". Culture Trip. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ↑ "Urth Caffé: the SoCal Organic Coffee Shop Founded on a Labor of Love | Reach Further". YouTube. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ↑ "Urth Caffé Brings 2nd Location to Wynn Plaza". FSR Magazine. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ↑ "Urth Caffé Beverly Hills". The Fussy One. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Urth Caffé Launches in Arts District". LA Downtown News. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Trendsetter Settled Downtown". LA Downtown News. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Urth Caffé Opening Soon in Pasadena". LA Weekly. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Urth Caffe Opens in Old Town Orange". Daily Buff. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Urth Caffe Los Angeles". AFAR.
- ↑ "Where Celebs Eat In LA Slideshow". thedailymeal.com. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "The 7 Best Coffee Shops to Spot Celebrities in LA". Spoon University. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
- ↑ "Seven Muslim women sue Urth Caffe for discrimination after they were ordered to leave". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Fire breaks out at Urth Caffe in downtown L.A." The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Big Fire Damages Urth Caffe in the Arts District [Update]". Vox Media. Eater Los Angeles. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Urth Caffe Reopens After Blaze". LA Downtown News. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ↑ "Where To Eat In LA According To Entourage". First We Feast. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
- ↑ "Entourage Movie Locations in Los Angeles". Discover Los Angeles. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
- ↑ "Little Teapot". GTA Wiki. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
External Links[edit]
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