clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Pasadena’s Next Hip Coffee Destination Is Actually a Non-Profit Helping Homeless Youth

Rosebud Coffee is taking a non-profit angle

Rose City Coffee
Courtesy Rose City

A new Pasadena coffee shop is taking a decidedly different tack when it comes to its business model: The place doesn’t plan to actually make any profit. Instead, Rosebud Coffee will look to divert funds towards efforts that will empower and help employ homeless youth in and around Pasadena proper.

Rosebud is an offshoot of Rose City Coffee on Del Mar Boulevard, which has been up and running for almost half a decade. Rose City Coffee was founded by Dan Davidson, who began the coffee-serving project in partnership with Rose City Church as a way to give training and jobs to a group of local homeless youth who would routinely spend time near the church. After all, there is a long history of coffee and Christianity combining seamlessly around Los Angeles.

So now Davidson and his team will go full-time with a shop over on Colorado Boulevard. The place is currently being renovated but has been doing some small pop-up hours for a little while now, with plans to use that cash to finalize build-out in time for an October opening.

Renovations have begun!

A post shared by Rosebud Coffee (@rosebudcoffee) on

Rosebud Coffee is also running a GoFundMe page to hep secure a final $15,000 to bring the shop to life, and along the way they’re partnering with companies like Wild Goose Coffee Roasters — a Redlands outfit that donates food for every bag of beans sold — to keep the do-good nature of the place intact. Feel like supporting? Interested parties can donate now, or just wait for October’s official reveal.

Rosebud Coffee
2302 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Eater Los Angeles newsletter

The freshest news from the local food world