Brewing dreams at age 20: Meet the young coffee shop owner.
At just 20 years old, Dinuba business owner David Romo is already two years into running Arcadia Coffee Company, a shop he built entirely on his own from the ground up.
Named after a Lana Del Rey song, the café reflects both his personality and the passion he discovered while working at Starbucks.
Although he’s built his way to this point, the idea began as a joke.
“I mean so in eighth grade I planned like to start a cafe with my friends. It was a super unserious thing at least I thought so at the time,” Romo said.
His passion for coffee deepened while working at Starbucks. During his time there, he pursued every opportunity to learn, including the Coffee Master program that was later discontinued.
“They taught me a lot,” Romo said. “They really taught me everything I knew because they offered courses there through Arizona State University and I took everything. I took all the knowledge I could get for coffee. I could keep learning more and more and more about coffee, and it never ends.”
For Romo, it was not just a job. It was preparation.
On opening day, 2 years ago, his original partner fell through. Instead of postponing, he opened the doors alone. With only one week of announcing the grand opening, he made $200 that first day.
It was not a massive launch. It was not a polished production. It was one teenager choosing to follow through.
Now 20, Romo still sees people on Facebook referring to him as “a kid.” He says he notices the comments, but they do not discourage him.
If anything, he prefers it that way.
Romo wishes to stay underestimated. He believes the lower the expectation, the more room for growth.
He’s already thinking beyond daily sales and morning rushes. Part of his long term vision includes hand selecting a team that’ll propel him forward.
One of his employees, Fernando Murillo, is close in age and runs his own clothing brand. Murillo thrifts clothing pieces and transforms them, painting and airbrushing original designs over each item.
“During his interview, he was like, I would love to make merch for Arcadia if you guys are down for that,” Romo said. “And I was 100% for that. And so, yeah, he came up with that.”
He encourages employees to bring their own creativity into the space. More importantly, he wants to create opportunities for others to chase their dreams the same way he is chasing his.
Every morning before sunrise, he unlocks the doors, still underestimated by some, but already thinking far beyond the present.