The Cuesta College cafeteria, a once bustling spot on the SLO campus, became a ghost town after the decision to not reopen food services after COVID-19. For the last five years, students and faculty have relied on food trucks, coffee carts and vending machines to fill the food and beverage gaps that exist on campus. 

This drastically changed Oct. 15 when local mobile coffee business Tiny Café opened in the cafeteria. 

Tiny Café was hired to help fill the gaps in the coffee services at Cuesta after the opening of the much-anticipated cafe, Drip Coffee, was delayed due to the removal of a completion date for the new student services building that it will be housed in. 

Drip Coffee will now be taking over the cafe space in the cafeteria in the interim while the building project is completed.

When asked why Tiny Café is unable to stay at Cuesta, Cuesta’s Vice President of Administrative Services, Todd Hampton, said via email, “We are contracted with [Drip Coffee] for the Campus Center project, but it includes non-compete language. [Drip Coffee] was unable to open in the cafeteria space initially, but will now be able to do so in January in advance of the opening of their space in the Campus Center,” Hampton said. 

“They anticipate having their Health Department requirements met in January and are hoping to be operational before the beginning of the Spring semester,” Hampton said.

“Colin [Brown], Emily [Quady], and the Tiny Café staff have been wonderful to work with. They’ve exceeded our expectations in simply bringing coffee service to Cuesta by delivering delicious food and drink, as well as creating a lively space for our students, faculty and staff,” Hampton said.

Second-year film major Andrew Serrato credits Tiny Café as the sole reason he now spends his time between classes in the cafeteria. “It’s just a really good spot to be now. I like their coffee and music,” he said. “They’ve created an alternative for students who don’t always want to go to the library.” 

Cuesta history Professor Lisa DeFraga echoed a similar testament. “I’ve been at Cuesta for 20 years and when the cafeteria was open back then, it was just an active, bustling area, where students, faculty, and staff could gather to eat and socialize,” she said. “I feel like having the Tiny Cafe in that space helped re-create that sense of community.”

Tiny Café is a five-person team, including co-owners Quady and Brown, who started their business together three years ago after realizing their passions for creating coffee-centered spaces for the community to slow down and connect were incredibly cohesive. 

“I love customer service and being in the kitchen and baking. And Colin is very much into designing the customer’s experience and finding high-quality equipment and products,” Quady said. “He’s the one making things beautiful and intentional and is really good at creating the vibe you see.” 

The co-owners had three days of preparation before opening their doors at Cuesta, after accepting the contract to come to campus mid-semester. “This was a spontaneous thing that just kind of happened, but it aligned with our goals to be a mobile, high-quality coffee service that serves the different little communities of SLO, so we came,” Quady said.

Quady and Brown both agreed that entering new communities has a learning curve. 

“We’ve become very good at adapting to the space and working with what we got,” Brown said. “We don’t want to change the communities we enter, but we hold onto our very strong set of established values, including authenticity and sustainability wherever we go. They’re kind of our guiding star.” 

“Ninety percent of our kitchen is organic – all of our drinks are fully organic. But here at Cuesta, we wanted to create an approachable menu with lower-cost items included as well,” Quady said. “We wanted something that was $4 for students who maybe don’t want to pay $15 for lunch.” 

“The question became, how do we hold onto our values but also make it so that students can afford to come here too?” she said. “Because we are here for the students.”

While both Quady and Brown were disappointed to learn that they couldn’t stay at Cuesta, their gratitude for the Cuesta community remains abundant. 

“Everyone has been so supportive. We were introduced at kind of the middle of the semester when people already have their habits, but a lot of people did warm up to us, which was great,” Brown said. “We’re thankful to have been here and we’re glad to have shared our craft with those at Cuesta.” 

“We were excited about maybe continuing to share Tiny Café with Cuesta, but it’s also okay that it’s coming to an end,” Quady said. 

Tiny Café is open at Lincoln Market and Deli on Saturdays and Sundays, serving drinks from its mobile coffee cart. It is also at SLO’s Farmer’s Market serving matcha and hojicha every other Thursday, and it often does events and collaborations with other local businesses that it highlights on its Instagram.