Alfred CEO and Founder Josh Zad believes that every day begins with coffee. In fact, it’s the company slogan.
“The first thing we do physically is dial in the espresso,” Zad said. “We put great coffee first across the company.”
With a background in real estate and restaurants, Zad, a Los Angeles native with an MBA from UCLA, said he had always wanted participate in the food and beverage industry. In 2013, he opened up his first Alfred location on Melrose Place. A tea room followed in 2016.
“The allure of designing a space, the menu, the voice of the brand and having people interact with and visit daily was attractive to me,” Zad said.
The Pasadena shop opened in July and Zad said it was the number one most requested location on social media. The design is also more sophisticated than other Alfred locations with references to the local arts and crafts movement, including green tiles, Batchelder style dragonfly tiles, cherry wood, a floral wall design and a stained-glass panel with roses surrounding the “But first, coffee” slogan.
“The beauty of coffee is it’s a hyper local business,” Zad said. “Pasadena was always on the short list.”
The name Alfred was inspired by Bruce Wayne’s butler from the “Batman” comic, movie and television series.
“I wanted the name to be something poignant and memorable,” Zad said. “The name Alfred is a very old world name and in the ‘Batman’ context it’s service, dependability and confidence.”
Also on the logo are antlers above the letter ‘A’, which Zad said is an ode to the Pacific Northwest and Alfred’s relationship with Stumptown Coffee Roasters. The motto is ‘grab life by the antlers.’
“Stumptown is from Portland and the coffee roots are from the Pacific Northwest,” Zad said. “We’ve been using Stumptown’s coffee beans and private roasting from day one.”
In addition to Stumptown Coffee Roasters, the Alfred Blend is comprised of coffees from Central and South America and Ethiopia while the Espresso Blend is comprised of coffees from Indonesia, Latin America and Africa. Alfred has a variety of hot ($4.75 – $36) and iced ($4 – $45), beverages, including their most popular drink, the Iced Vanilla Latte with a double shot of espresso over milk and house made vanilla syrup made with real vanilla bean. Other popular drinks include the Cold Brew on tap and the Iced Matcha Latte with shade grown, single-origin master blended matcha with a choice of milk.
“We have a lot that are die hard coffee fans and Matcha fans,” Zad said. “Our vanilla bean syrup is world famous, and the Cold Brew is super strong and consistent in the flavor year round. We have the best matcha because of the relationship that we have with the farm (in Japan).”
Other ordered drinks include the Chagaccino with Chaga mushroom blended with vanilla, cacao, cinnamon, monk fruit and topped with espresso and milk; Chai Latte with black tea blended with Ayurvedic Indian spices (cinnamon, cardamom and ginger) mixed with a choice of milk and topped with organic powdered cardamom; and Oat Cappuccino with classic espresso and microfoam.
“We always want to offer new drinks that will keep our customers coming back,” Zad said.
Breakfast ($3 – $13) is also served as regular, gluten-free and vegan options, including the popular Breakfast Burrito with eggs, bacon, tater tots, avocado and cheese with sides of molcajete salsa and cilantro crema. There’s also a variety of bagel sandwiches including the Avo, Green, BLT, VLT and Lox. Pastries ($4.25 – $6.50) are also offered as regular, gluten-free and vegan options, including as the Almond Croissant filled and covered with almond cream and sliced almonds, along with Spinach Artichoke and Herb & Toma Cheese Danishes, Morning Glory and Blueberry Muffins, and Classic and Blueberry Coffee Cakes.
“(Both the Breakfast Burrito and Almond Croissant) are delicious and crowd favorites,” Zad said. “Our breakfast burritos are simpler because it’s not wet and has four solid ingredients (with the) secret weapon being the tater tots.”
Alfred also sells merchandise and bagged coffee and tea ($4 – $70), including coffee as whole bean, fine, medium or coarse grind, hats, loose leaf tea, matcha tins, sweatshirts, tumblers and vanilla syrup.
“We are continuing to push ecommerce,” Zad said. “If you live outside of an Alfred, you can recreate the drinks at home. We also launched a set of sweatsuits last year and we are doing another relaunch in October.”
Zad said Alfred is popular due to its customer service, design and personality.
“We want to keep the customers happy,” Zad said. “(The design) is hominess and there is always something new and exciting, from the coffee changing monthly to interesting products and fun drink specials.”
Alfred also collaborates with brands for their coffee sleeves, including Bumble, Disney, Netflix, Nike and SOREL Shoes.
“We work with a lot of great world class brands,” Zad said. “It is a testament to the locations we have and the customer that frequents Alfred.”
Charity is also important for Alfred. Currently, the brand has a 10-year partnership with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. To date, Alfred has raised more than $100,000 for the hospital over the last five to six years.
“Every March we do a lot of fundraising for them and throughout the rest of year,” Zad said. “On a local level, we give merchandise or drink sales to charities or causes.”
In the future, Zad sees Alfred expanding throughout Southern California. So far, 18 shops are located throughout Los Angeles, Austin, Japan (including two tea rooms) and Saudi Arabia. Marina Del Rey and San Francisco locations are set to open this fall.
“Japan is an incredible place with energy and there is a huge emphasize on coffee and social gathering in (the Middle East) region,” Zad said. “The bread and butter though is to continually grow across Los Angeles.”
Alfred Coffee
LOCATION: 55 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena
HOURS: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily
INFO: alfred.la