Ever wonder where our name “Klatch” comes from?
Like everything at Klatch Coffee, our name is a family story. Our co-founder, Cindy Perry, is from the Netherlands, where klatch means, “a social gathering, especially for coffee and conversation.” Cindy remembers her grandma getting together with her friends for a “coffee klatch.”
Our journey into the world of coffee started like many journeys do, at a career crossroads. Before Klatch was founded in 1993, Mike had established himself in the construction world.
Mike Perry had a solid career, but decided to go back to school to study biochemical engineering, in part to set an example for his daughters, Heather and Holly. Having just sold a successful construction company, ever the innovator, Mike was looking towards what was next.
With two young kids at home, Mike and Cindy didn’t have the time or energy to go to bars or nightclubs, so they had started having date nights at coffee shops. While sipping their coffees, they had an idea: “You know what? We could open up a coffee house...We love everything about it, and we think we could do a better job on the coffee.”
And so it began.
The first Klatch coffee house opened in Rancho Cucamonga at the site of a former winery. Four years later, in 1997, shortly after Mike graduated with his engineering degree, Klatch opened up a second shop in San Dimas.
Around this time, a friend called: “Hey Mike, you’re into coffee, right?” He had just bought a coffee roaster but wasn’t sure how to use it—and thought Mike might be able to figure it out. Recalling this moment, Mike says, “I don’t know if you know anything about engineers, but the problem with engineers is we can do anything.”
Mike learned the ins and outs of the coffee roaster by going to the roaster’s manufacturer, in Idaho, but Mike recalls, “It’s kind of like teaching a chef how to use an oven...they don’t teach you how to roast. They just teach you how to use a machine.” So he taught himself, and Klatch became one of the first coffee houses to take the flavor of coffee to another level through the preciseness of the scientific method.
With a founder like that, it’s no wonder that we source, roast, and brew our coffee ourselves. We call it our “peak of flavor” method, and it’s earned us a spot on the world coffee stage for almost three decades.
Coffee is never finished
But Klatch isn’t just a husband and wife team: Klatch is a family business. Understanding “Klatch” means meeting the rest of our family.
Heather
Our current CEO, Heather’s journey began as a barista, quickly building on her skills to compete and win awards in barista competitions. Heather is a 4X Regional Champion, a 2X US Champion, and won 2nd place in the World Barista Championships. An industry leader, she consults for major companies and has been featured in magazines such as LA Times, The New York Times, and CNN. Heather talks about her coffee journey here, saying, “Coffee is what I know, love, and what challenges me.”
Holly
Holly - our Director of Retail - oversees all of the cafes, and the training of all of our new staff, is hands-on in crafting recipes, and when she’s not delegating, comes upstairs to the quality control lab to cup our latest coffees. Like Holly’s work, coffee is never finished. She exudes hospitality in every way, keeping our cafes filled to the brim with warmth and sincerity.
Coffee is, essentially, the fifth member of our family. It’s what we talk about, argue over, and build our life around. It’s what we love.
Some families bond over Scrabble. We bond over roast levels. We compete as a family, and we play to win, but for us, the pursuit of great coffee is the greatest reward.
Welcome to Klatch Coffee—where coffee is the conversation.
