Meet Andy Chu And Johnny Li | Co-founders of Lazy Suzy Cafe

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andy Chu And Johnny Li and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andy Chu and Johnny Li, what is the most important factor behind your success?
We started Lazy Suzy Cafe to serve the Brooklyn community. And in order to provide amazing quality products and customer service, it all begins internally with the Lazy Suzy Cafe team. We believe the most important factor behind our success is to treat our team well.

We enjoy having fun with our team and pride ourselves in creating the best workplace. We have quarterly team bonding events such as axe-throwing, ceramics workshops, arcades, lunches, dinners, and more. Our big end of the year celebration during the holidays is also a big deal as we put a lot of thought into the employee gifts. We have a tradition of creating meaningful gifts such as Lazy Suzy sneakers and vintage t-shirts of their favorite music artists with a thoughtful twist. We believe that in order to produce top-tier service to customers and the community, we must establish a culture that our team loves.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
“Lazy Suzy” is a nickname we created for the Lazy Susan, referring to the wheel we use to share food at a dining table. Since we are both Chinese Americans, the Lazy Susan was something we had childhood memories of as we shared meals, time, and memories with our families growing up. With this sentiment, we use the cafe as a place where we can share our history, culture, and experiences with the community through our food, drinks, and events.

Many people tell us their dream is to either open a coffee shop or work with their best friends. We’re lucky that we are able to do both. We’re childhood friends, born and raised in Brooklyn, who came together to build a community cafe in the Bushwick neighborhood. We opened in April 2019 and are very proud to have survived the pandemic years. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary in April this year and are excited to continue serving the community through our coffee, tea, and events.

Aside from the delicious coffee and tea offerings on our menu, what really sets us apart are the community centered events we’ve hosted over the years. In the past, we’ve held marketplace events for local creative makers, fun pop-ups for small business owners, and even dog adoptions in our backyard! We’ve held nearly 100 events and have built relationships with many local small businesses and brands.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There’s so much to see and do in NYC! We have 5 amazing boroughs so 1 week is not nearly enough time. Since we’re born and raised in Brooklyn, we’ll keep this recommendation list Brooklyn-centric:

1) Shoutout our friends at The Brooklyn Tree and The Monkey King if you’re looking for great food options in Bushwick near Lazy Suzy Café!
2) J&V Pizzeria in Bensonhurst for delicious pizza
3) “865” for the best halal food in NYC (it’s listed as “Middle Eastern Halal Cart” on Google Maps but locals refer to it as “865” since it’s located on 86th st and 5th Ave, right outside a Citibank)
4) Our favorite park in all of NYC is Prospect Park! Great restaurants on the west and east side of the park. Best currant rolls in the city are from Allan’s Bakery (east side of the park) and our favorite ramen spot in Brooklyn is Ramen Danbo (west side of the park).
5) In Brooklyn’s Chinatown, Chuan Tian Xia for best Szechuan food and Thanh Da for the best bánh mì

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our parents deserve all the credit for providing a life of opportunities for us! They’re Chinese immigrants and since English is not their first language, they will probably never read this, but we are eternally grateful for their sacrifices. They worked extremely hard so that we have the privilege to pursue our dreams such as opening up Lazy Suzy Café. It is all thanks to them.

Website: https://www.lazysuzycafe.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lazysuzycafe/?hl=en

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/lazy-suzy-cafe-and-shop-brooklyn-4

Image Credits
Jay Jimenez took the personal photo for us