Sooyo cafe
Vancouver, Mainland/Southwest
Sooyo cafe
Vancouver, Mainland/Southwest
Sooyo cafe runs by an international couple whose dream is to make a place that can fulfill people’s little enjoyment. The owner’s previously lived in Melbourne, Australia, for a few years, and fell in love with the OZ brunch and coffee culture. Sooyo was founded in 2022, we are a cozy neighborhood café nestled in a residential area with plenty of free street parking. As the fourth business at this location, we proudly continue the tradition of using the beloved coffee beans favored by our locals. At Sooyo, we offer a regular food and drink menu alongside special weekend treats and serve brunch all day. Enjoy free filtered water, complimentary WIFI, air conditioning, and delectable shortbreads with your hot coffee. Our loyalty programs are designed to keep you coming back for more. Our mission is simple: to serve you the best quality food and drinks that fit within your budget, ensuring you enjoy every bite and sip without breaking the bank. With warm smiles and a welcoming atmosphere, we strive to make you feel at home each time you visit Sooyo.
Nominations
Read below to find out why they deserve your vote in each category.
Business Impact Award
Tell Us Your Story. What motivated you to start your business? Why are you passionate about what you do?
What’s the motivation? Well, it’s the free coffee of course! I love coffee, I drink 2 or more coffee per day, and then I thought that if I open a coffee shop then I can drink as many cups of coffee as I want! And of course, we have a passion for food and drinks, we are trying to bring our past experiences to people through this business. We think that this industry has lots of fun, but it would not be as fun if you are working for somebody else. There are too many restrictions working under a business, the one way you can jump out the box is by creating your own business. So what we do is usually not limited, but is something that’s interesting. We love to see how people react to what we do, we are blessed to be in a very kind and friendly neighborhood, we have received lots of passive feedback and support. And because of that, we want to make the community better and eventually make this little corner shop a place for the locals to chill on their lazy days. So we have been working on improving our vibes, making it a cozy and homey spot. The sign was a hand drawing since day one, we thought that we will replace it soon. However, we are keeping it because some people have told us that the sign is actually making people feel cozy and homey and it’s not very usual.
Describe and demonstrate, including metrics, your community support. How do you support and uplift your community, and how do they show that support in return? Minimum 25 words, maximum 2500 characters.
We have some events and promotions throughout the year, we also do “trick or treats” for the kids from the nearby families on each Halloween. We have a chat with our regular customers every time we meet, and share some interesting things whenever they feel like a chat. The community has given us plants, sandwich boards, arts, their homemade food and much more. It has been amazing years to be at this business.
Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?
We want to be the one spot in the area that everyone wants to meetup for a cup of tea and coffee, have some snacks and hangout for a nice afternoon. The local customers have said that they are so lucky to have us there, and some customers from other communities also said that they wish they have a cafe like this in their community. People love our vibe, love our food and drinks, we are proud to hear about that, and we understand we are doing things right and on the right direction.
Tell Us About Your Culture. How are you creating a sustainable and healthy workplace where everyone feels welcome? Provide examples of leadership you show in interactions with clients, vendors, contractors, staff and others.
We came to Vancouver only 3 years ago, but the Vancouver food industry doesn’t seem to feed the employees as well as we thought it would be. We think that staff meal is very important, and it is definitely a benefit of working in a restaurant or in the food industry. So we always provide a free staff meal and our employees could decide what they want to eat or drink. We always work together with our employees, and explain what is the goal and how to make it happen. We also encourage them to ask questions whenever they aren’t confident about anything. We don’t have many suppliers, the coffee cups and Togo box supplier has been always our goto supplier because they have won our trust and we want to help each others grow the business. We have been very pleased doing business with them. To our customers, we always try to remember their order preferences. That makes them happy, and as they are happy they tend to come more often, we noticed some of our regulars have moved to other city or community. It is really surprising that they come back one day to visit us and it’s like seeing an old friend, that’s warm.
People's Choice
Why do you think you should win the Premier’s People’s Choice Award?
We are often called a hidden gem cafe, that means two things: 1, Our name is still not been heard by many yet, it would help to spread the word about our business if we won’t this award. 2, We are worth people’s time and money to visit!