WE ARE CAFABLANCA
Cafablanca brings craft coffee to Film/TV sets and special media events
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have operated as street vendors,
serving 100% donation-based beverages outdoors to help keep our community safe.
We are inspired by the iconic style and anti-fascist sentiment of the classic American film, Casablanca.
So how did we get here?
A MOBILE COFFEE BUSINESS
BORN OUT OF GENEROSITY
It was the spring of 2018. Cafablanca's founder Cameron was working at a café in Oakland, CA.
One day a customer approached and introduced himself as Henry.
HENRY
That was a great latte you made me.
CAMERON
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
HENRY
This is random, but I'm trying to build this mobile espresso bar thingy. The thing is, I need to film a short video
CAMERON
Interesting. I do film work.
HENRY
You do?
It was an understatement. Cameron was bored behind that coffee counter, daydreaming of spending his days on film sets, wondering if he would ever find out whether or not his great-grandfather made a movie poster for Casablanca.
HENRY
Maybe you can help me out?
CAMERON
Let's roll.
Cameron staged the café, hit the lights, and helped this perfect stranger produce a video for what would become a successful crowd funding campaign.
Henry used donations to transform a little yellow tuk-tuk into the west coast's cutest mobile coffee shop.
It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship
Neither knew then that fate would put the keys in Cameron's hands
Or that Cameron would drive the coffee cart down to Los Angeles...
COFFEE IN A TIME OF CRISIS
Cafablanca arrived in Hollywood and parked at the most turbulent time possible: January of 2020
As Cafablanca was setting up one of its first pop-ups, Kobe Bryant, his daughter and several others were killed in a helicopter crash just a few miles away. Devastated by the news, Cafablanca found a Kobe mural and passed out free coffee to a stream of mourning fans. This impromptu gesture led Cafablanca to land its very first job within its target market: serving craft coffee in a television studio
It was a dream come true, but within weeks of Cafablanca's debut another tragedy forced it to slam on its breaks. COVID-19 changed our world overnight and ravaged our country's economy, healthcare system and global standing...
FINDING A NEW PURPOSE
Cafablanca had a lot of time to sit in the parking lot and think.
During the pandemic, the need for real change and real justice became more evident than ever.
Climate change is the clear and urgent humanitarian issue of our time.
Children belong with their families and we advocate for the abolition of I.C.E.
White supremacist domestic terrorism is a direct threat to American communities and to Democracy itself.
All lives cannot matter until Black lives matter. Working to dismantle systemic racism is the only way forward.
Cafablanca understands that so many of our common struggles stem from capitalist greed.
We question how a new business in today's world can contribute to an equitable future for all...
SOCIAL DISTANCE FRIENDLY
SOCIAL JUSTICE FOCUSED
100% DONATION BASED
@Cafablanca on Venmo
$Cafablanca on CashAPP