We had the good fortune of connecting with Arlene Yuan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Arlene, what is the most important factor behind your success?
TEAM! Every good brand requires a good team. Teapop hires Valley locals in order to align with our commitment to building and supporting our North Hollywood community. Each employee typically has a side hustle or creative goals aside from working at Teapop, and I support that 100% because I value having multi-faceted, interesting, and empowered individuals on my team. It’s all about being relational in this line of work, and you need to have trust and consistency in relationships. We have fun, laugh, and make drinks.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Teapop is a tea bar in Los Angeles, and we celebrated our 5 year anniversary this year.  Pre-Covid, we served tea and coffee in store, featured monthly artists on our gallery walls, and hosted free community events like Game Nights, Summer Movie Nights, and more.  I am very proud to be a small business owner during this year of up’s and down’s because I have the ability to make changes and pivot quickly to respond to the reality around us. For example, I filmed video tutorials for our at-home boba and tea kits, installed a makeshift takeout door to minimize health risks right after shutdown orders happened in March, and created more streamlined ways for customers to order Teapop goods online. It takes alot of grit and patience to navigate through so much uncertainty, fears, and a rollercoaster of financial strain…but I’m rising to every challenge, my staff are healthy, and our rad customers continue to show up. I am taking it one day at a time. There really is no guarantee what may happen in the next month or so. However, I’m committed to my team’s health and pay, two things that I have made priorities over profits throughout these past months. It’s challenging like but it’s important right now for my staff to be able to grow, pay bills, and stay healthy. Community is the heart of why I started Teapop and how it continues to exist. I’m excited to see Teapop and the team on the other side of this, thriving and expanding. I’m already planning for the future.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In a perfect world where the city of LA was open and thriving, I would absolutely take my bestie to all of these spots:
-my secret beach spot in Malibu
-Huntington Botanical Gardens for nature walk
-Pine & Crane for Taiwanese food
-Din Tai Fung in East LA for dumplings
-late night mulitas from a taco stand in North Hollywood
-a good ol’ movie with snacks at Tiki Mission Drive-in movies

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shoutout to our loyal and wonderful customers, who have been with us since Day 1 through the pandemic present. While we have been closed on and off, our customers continue to make purchases, send personal messages, and post in support of our small business. There is so much love! During a time where every business is struggling, it helps keep me and my staff going to know that we have a strong relationship with our customers…for now, it is through a plexiglass barrier. Ya’ll are the best!!!

Website: teapopla.com
Instagram: @teapop
Facebook: facebook.com/teapoplosangeles
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/teapop-north-hollywood
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPR-itTy7C0negZ9nDYsxxA
Other: To order from our tea bar for pickup: https://www.clover.com/online-ordering/teapop-north-hollywood To order from online shop for shipping: https://teapopla.com/collections/ Our business hours are currently 10am-6pm daily

Image Credits
Individual photo (with smiley faces) by Mason Summers @Anchor.pictures

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