The Crema Cafe is a restaurant and bakery located on Main Street in Seal Beach, CA. Within walking distance to the beach, customers love the cafe for its breezy and European-inspired ambiance. In addition to being known as one of Orange County’s most pet-friendly restaurants, Crema Cafe carries a huge following for its crepes and croissants – also known as the “best croissant in Southern California”.
From the moment one enters the restaurant, it is clear that the Crema Cafe takes great pride in the quality it delivers to its customers. However, to become the quality house it is known as today, The Crema Cafe had to find quality vendors, including a coffee partner that could serve fresh, high-quality beans.
Finding the “Lexus” of Quality Coffee
The idea of Crema Cafe first came to Tanjit Tanjasiri while enjoying an afternoon in Seal Beach. In 2006, this idea came to fruition when he took the first steps to open Crema Cafe with two other employees. Today, the cafe employs over 36 individuals and has become a staple in the Seal Beach community.
Throughout the cafe’s growth, quality has played an important role in every dish Tanjasiri served his customers. He only sourced the finest and freshest ingredients for his recipes, including wholesome grains, farm fresh eggs, and real butter. So, when it came to searching for a coffee partner, he applied the same principle: to have a coffee roaster partner that had the passion for roasting quality coffee. “At the time, I was looking for a coffee roaster that was smaller and that could deeply customize its coffee for me,” Tanjasiri explained. He was looking for the “Lexus” of coffee, which he found in the form of Gaviña Coffee.
Restarting a Relationship with Gaviña
Tanjasiri immediately partnered with Gaviña Coffee, but after building a following within the community, Crema Cafe decided to move on from this partnership. Despite this, Gaviña continued to cultivate its relationship with the Crema Cafe. “The relationship I’ve had with Gaviña, and my sales representative Fernando, has always been really good. Even when I left, he kept in touch with me and let me know that if anything happened, he would be there to come in and help out,” said Tanjasiri. “So, when I could no longer work with the smaller coffee company, I simply called Fernando and, in two days, I was working with Gaviña again.”
To better understand Tanjasiri’s business needs and how Gaviña could better meet them, fourth-generation Gaviña, Lisette Gaviña Lopez, promptly reached out to him. Tanjasiri shared, “It was a great meeting. We spent a few hours talking about what I needed, which was higher grade, green coffee beans that I could feature in our blends. And thankfully, we were able to find the best solution. She was open to a level of customization where I could use Gaviña roasted coffee beans to create my own Crema Cafe signature blends.”
For Crema Cafe’s espressos, Gaviña leveraged its years of coffee expertise to deliver the perfect flavor profile desired. Tanjasiri explained, “They were attentive to my needs and asked for a lot of my input. When I gave them an outline of what I was looking for, they came back with an espresso that was a close fit to what I needed.” To help him achieve the best espresso, the Gaviña team provided Crema Cafe with hands-on equipment training and maintenance for its new high-quality espresso machines.
Today, Gaviña Coffee has continued its partnership with the Crema Cafe by fostering a close relationship with Tarit Tanjasiri. “I really appreciate the attention and effort, but mostly, the relationship we’ve built. If you have a relationship with the company, it’s just with the company. But when you create relationships with the people, it transcends the company,” he said. “Even though I get approached by different companies often, I know that I have a great relationship with Gaviña, which is way more important to me.”
A Long-Term Future with Gaviña Coffee
As with all restaurants and cafes, great coffee plays an important role in the overall customer experience. By serving Gaviña Coffee, Tarit Tanjasiri has received positive feedback from his customers. “People love to eat breakfast, and they love good coffee. Thankfully, our customers seem to enjoy both our food and coffee,” said Tanjasiri. “We often get compliments on our coffee; even folks who don’t care much about coffee are pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoy the coffee we make.”
During this time, the Crema Cafe is excited to continue serving delicious, quality coffee made with Gaviña Coffee beans to its customers.
