Meet Armando Cervantes | CEO

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

Hi Armando, what makes you happy? Why?
We believe this can be a loaded question. The coffee business is definitely saturated with many companies today, but when we first thought about starting Liv Coffee, the vision was simple. We wanted it to be a place where our community could come together. Our idea was for neighbors to stop by on a weekend morning, enjoy a good cup of coffee, and continue on their walk or whatever their weekend plans were.
We give glory to God that the business has grown into something even more meaningful than we originally imagined. What brings us the most happiness is seeing the community that has formed around Liv Coffee. People come back regularly, and it has become a place where relationships and connections are built.
As two people who truly love a good cup of coffee, we wanted to bring that experience to our community. But over time we realized it’s about much more than the coffee itself. It’s about the conversations we get to have with people when they come back. It’s about being part of both the small moments and the big moments in people’s lives. Those interactions are what make this more than just a coffee shop for many people.
One of the things that makes us happiest is when someone tells us how much they enjoy coming here. Hearing that reminds us why we started.
Coffee has actually been a big part of our lives for a long time. Early in our relationship, coffee was always something we shared together. In fact, we both worked at Starbucks during our time in college, which helped shape our appreciation for coffee and the culture that comes with it.
At the end of the day, Liv Coffee is really about people. Coffee brought us together, but the community is what keeps it going. We started in Jurupa Valley, and now our shop is in Chino, but what means the most to us is seeing both communities continue to show up and support us. Watching neighbors connect, friendships form, and people make us part of their daily or weekend routine means everything to us. It reminds us why we started and motivates us to keep creating a welcoming space for everyone who stops by.

What should our readers know about your business?
We are most excited about the tremendous growth we’ve experienced in such a short amount of time. We’re proud that our social media has gotten attention we honestly did not anticipate, and we’re excited to see what this part of the business will continue to bring. We’ve already received multiple inquiries about collaborations and even paid advertisements, which still feels a little crazy to us.
As we mentioned before, our family has supported us through everything. Because of that support, we were even able to step away for some time from our two-month-old to really focus on what the business needed in the beginning. Our goal was to start simple by creating four to five signature drinks and truly mastering them before adding anything new. We wanted to make sure the quality was there first.
Once we felt confident in those drinks, we slowly started introducing other items. One example is our Cookie Butter Cloud, which is now our number one top seller. It definitely took some trial and error to get there, but keeping quality at the center of everything made the rest fall into place.
One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned through this process is patience making sure we ask questions, take the right steps, and build things the right way so we can avoid problems down the road.
At the end of the day, our business started with love the love we have for each other, our love for coffee, and our love for our community. Everything we’ve built has come from that foundation. When people come back for coffee, when someone says they told their cousin about us, or when someone tells us they can’t wait for next weekend to stop by again, that’s what really shows us the love. And we hope that one day you’ll come try something we love too, and maybe let our coffee help you LIV your best life.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If our best friend was visiting from out of town, we would of course start the day at Liv Coffee. We’d grab a Cookie Butter Cloud and a delicious pastry to start the morning. After that, we’d head over to Chino Hills and go for a hike on the Eucalyptus Trail it’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors and take in the views.
Then we’d make our way over to downtown Chino, and with our luck there would probably be a farmers market going on. We love supporting local small businesses and amazing vendors, so we’d definitely spend some time walking around and checking everything out.
To finish off the day, we’d go to dinner at Sake 2 Me Sushi. It’s one of our favorite spots and the perfect way to end a great day.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
They say it takes a village to raise a baby. Liv coffee is like our baby, actually, it is named after our daughter, Samantha Liv, and without her, we wouldn’t have the inspiration or courage to start our own business. But in reality, we had the support of all of our family, and so truly they are our village. We couldn’t have done it without them.

Instagram: livcoffee_

Yelp: Liv Coffee