Meet Daniel Dupuy | Co-Owner of Ground Up Coffee

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

Hi Daniel, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
We were born and raised here in the area where we opened our coffee shop. When we started Ground Up 8 years ago our city was very much a coffee desert mostly served by Starbucks and corporate chains. Our motivating factor to start our business was to create a space where our community can dream and sip bomb coffee. This has evolved in many ways over the 8 years that we have been open but we have always stayed true to this mission. We have become deeply connected with our community over the years. We’ve cried, laughed, built friendships, and most of all have been authentic while brewing some of the best coffee in LA. This is a space where our community can express themselves and feel seen and accepted. Parallelly, We have been able to express ourselves as a business and receive unwavering support.

We have always made it a point to give back where we can. We work with our old high school, which is a 5 minute walk from our coffee shop, on a regular basis doing business workshops and sponsoring various clubs and departments.

We hire employees locally, most of which attended one of the local high schools in our area. This has helped many people gain experience in specialty coffee, an industry found in mostly affluent/trendy neighborhoods that can otherwise be hard to tap into. We offer well above industry standard wages and support our employees growth as much as we possibly can as a small business.

We roast our own coffee and purchase farm-direct coffee from El Salvador. Since our partnership with Cafe Juayua, a small family farm, we have helped them to stabilize and grow their brand. We pay well above industry standard for our coffee and all profits go directly to the coffee farm rather than third party importers or large coffee brands that tend to take advantage of farmers in many countries. As a majority purchaser, we have helped the farm workers receive pay increases, reinvestment in the land has aided in necessary care and cultivation of soils and terrain, and the farm has become profitable as a business.

But most of all, we open everyday and we have a daily connection with our customers in an authentic way that propels them and us through this thing called life.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We had no idea we would start a coffee shop. Truth is, at certain points in our life, we weren’t even sure we would find our way in this world. Coming from the East Side of LA, there were plenty of distractions and obstacles we faced that could have derailed us. We made mistakes and learned – and to be honest – it feels like we just got lucky.

We enjoyed drinking coffee and talking a lot. Our friendship made us better humans and helped form our understanding of what it would mean to be fathers and good men one day. Since 10th grade we’ve been supporting each other.

It started with some Starbucks and as the years passed we began to want higher quality coffee – we also wanted to feel like more than just a number. We wanted to spend our money in ways that would uplift smaller businesses. So we started finding the mom-and-pop coffee joints. Eventually, we began to dive deeper and enjoy more artisan coffees. Our hobby turned into a passion and then led to a slight obsession.

This is where it started. We wanted this single origin, high-quality, artisan coffee but the only way we could get it is if we drove outside of our “hood” to a trendy city. We did that for a while and then one day it hit us. Fuck this! Why don’t we have a great coffee shop here in our area? We needed a place to dream, to be inspired, to be supported, where the design was intentional and the coffee was high-quality and non-exclusive.

In 2017 we took the leap and started Ground Up Coffee.

We do not come from money so we worked, saved, sold our cars, used our credit cards, borrowed what we could, etc… We call it the Ground Up approach to business. In retrospect, it wasn’t so much a philosophy as it was a necessity lol. But, we did it. It might not be perfect but now our community has a place to dream and sip bomb coffee.

We’ve learned to be patient and that overnight success is not a real thing. We are excited to keep showing up for our community. COVID has shown many of us that nothing can be taken for granted and to still be here is an honor. Just to be able to open our doors everyday means we are successful. We will continue to strengthen our brand in the “slow and steady” fashion that we have for 8 years – making sure we stay true to ourselves and values as we go.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, obviously, we would get coffee from Ground Up Coffee on a daily basis. We love our dogs, kids, and nature so at least some portion of everyday life would be filled with outdoor parks or activities. One of our favorite places to spend time is Legg Lake park in South El Monte – we are here on almost a daily basis. We would also need to eat at some of our favorite restaurants. We love Pho and eat it regularly. For this we would absolutely need to visit Pho Filet 2 in Rosemead or Golden Deli in San Gabriel, make sure you get the crispy egg rolls also. We love these places and feel they represent authentic Vietnamese cuisine and the service is always amazing. We would also need to visit one of our favorite dinner spots Ravellos which is the best Italian restaurant in LA and local to our area in Monterey Park. As the sun sets, if we are feeling festive, we would hit up one of our favorite breweries, Progress Brewery in South El Monte brews some amazing beer and has games and activities.

Depending on the time of year we might catch a Dodger game. World Series Champs!!! A Dodger game is one of the ways someone can truly absorb and feel the energy of what it means to be from LA! Before heading to the game, we would have to make a stop at another one of our favorite restaurants Moos Craft BBQ in Lincoln Heights. Hands down the best BBQ we have ever had. They are locals to our area which makes it even better.

On another day we would also need to visit our favorite pizza and wings spot offering that iconic west coast thick crust pizza. Specifically, we like to go to the one in South El Monte as they have a special wing sauce that mixes classic hot sauce with lemon pepper. Since this is vacation you got to splurge so for dessert we would also need to hit up Don Manuel in Montebello for some Raspados y Paletas, best in town!!!

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?
Our wives. Lorraine Rodriguez and Stephanie Moya. They have cared for and been just as passionate in this business as we have. When times got dark for us, when things weren’t always going as planned, they supported and believed in this coffee shop. The energy and impact of Ground Up Coffee would not be the same without them. We can go as far as saying that we would not have survived the hardest years without their love and support.

Website: https://www.groundupcoffeela.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/groundupcoffeela/

Yelp: https://www.instagram.com/groundupcoffeela/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@groundupcoffeeLA