Cara Vana, Inc. Coffee Shop
North Valley BusinessSource Center Guides Local Latin Infused Coffee Shop
Cara Vana, Inc. is a coffee shop operated by Adriana and her sister in law, Kim at 5629 Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood. Adriana was a stay at home mother when her spouse encouraged her to start her own business. Adriana always dreamed of opening up a Latin Infused Coffee shop and with encouragement from her spouse, she began to develop her business plan and has taken courses to help her with the development of her coffee. Adriana’s spouse is the owner of Noho Tires and Wheels, a tire shop located a few doors from her coffee shop.
After one of Adriana’s friends attended the Women Leading the Way: Innovative Business Entrepreneurs event in Studio City she obtained information about the BusinessSource Center and referred Adriana to the North Valley BusinessSource Center. When Adriana visited the North Valley BusinessSource Center, she was in the process of opening her coffee shop but came across some issues with the City of LA’s Department of Building and Safety and the County of LA’s Health Department which was preventing her from getting approved and opening her doors. Cara Vana, Inc. had applied for various permits for her business but was unaware of where they were from. The business coach helped her clarify and explained what license and permits she had obtained and in the process found out that her City of LA Business license was expired. She had apparently applied for it before the business was even conceptualized.
The business coach helped her update her City of LA business license and in the process was not penalized for reporting late. She was provided with information for the Restaurant & Small Business Express program to get assistance with the issues she was having the Department of Building and Safety as well as the LA County Health Department checklist to prepare her for her inspection and links to Food handler courses and certification.
Adriana contacted the North Valley BusinessSource Center in May 2019 and informed them that as a result of their assistance she had passed the Department of Building and Safety & Health Department inspections and was ready to open her doors for business. A soft opening was scheduled for June 5 of 2019. After the soft opening, Adriana was assisted with putting hiring packets together to begin hiring baristas and servers by July 2019. She was provided with an HR overview of laws and procedures as well as templates of applications, employee files, hiring documents, and Employee Handbooks. As a result of the assistance from the North Valley BusinessSource Center, Cara Vana, Inc. was able to hire 1 parttime and 1 full-time barista. Cara Vana is also interested in access to capital and will be meeting with one of our business coaches very soon.
At Cara Vana, everything is made fresh from scratch! Syrups are made in-house and she uses plants from her garden for the coffees (including roses, lavender, mint, etc). All recipes were well thought of and handcrafted. Only the best quality products are used, trying to avoid processed foods and syrups. Vegan options are also available.
Cara Vana is currently working on their website http://caravanacoffeeshop.com
Please visit them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/caraxvana/
