The Climb
Francois Reihani is someone I think needs more light shead on his amazing companies. Francois is a child of imigrant parents from France and they moved around many times from, Mexico, to LA, to finally Dallas. Francois has been working for most of his life, his dad had a heart attack which meant he and his sister had to step up to help with providing for the home. He started as a car salesman and become the highest seller on the west coast that year at just eighteen years old. Francois went to college and had many dreams about becoming an entrepreneur. This turned into opening a restaurant, which was named Pok, a poke bowl restaurant, with the help of partners. He sold his shares and set his mind on opening The Brightside Project which is apart of the La La Land Kind café.
What it is
The café is designed to help teens that have aged out of the foster system learn valuable life skills and internship opportunities. It may look like a simple coffee barista job from the outside but they are actually learning the in’s and out’s of customer service training, mentorship opportunities and much more. The internship lasts 8 weeks and at the end of it, the participants are helped with job placement, housing, schooling, and therapy.
Name Origin
La La Land Kind Café instantly caught my attention due to its name. Francois mentioned he was looking at his life in his young twenties and he said he hated the person he has become. This is when he decided to change his life completely and start the La La Land Kind Café. Although it sounds like it is associated with the musical romantic comedy La La Land, it technically has nothing to do with it. The meaning behind the name is that it is a place where you can go and feel a true sense of joy for life. I think he took inspiration from the plot of La La Land as that movie is very whimsical and shows real dreams in action. I think this calls back to Francois’ life very well as he was so sucessful almost as if he was dreaming up how his career would go but in reality he made it come true. He continues to make dreams come true every single day.
I think that this concept is awesome. Just about everybody loves coffee, so it’s a great product to build community around. I really like the “La La Land” movie, so that alone would be enough to get me in the door!
I think that this is a very interesting 1-n concept. He’s taking a coffee shop, which is in no way unique, and putting his own twist on it. I love how his main focus is actually on the employees and helping them build their professional skills and resumes.