Sunrise Coffee thriving thanks to quality java, welcoming atmosphere

Sunrise Coffee, 3130 E. Sunset Road, opened four years ago and has survived more than its fair share of challenges.

It opened during a serious economic slump, and it was a first business for owners Juanny Romero and Joshua Walter. They admit the location is kind of in the middle of nowhere or at least not at the center of any established hot spot.

Despite that, the shop is not only surviving but thriving and has become a neighborhood center and a destination for residents from across the valley, international travelers and even first lady Michelle Obama, who stopped in for coffee during one of her many campaign stops in Nevada last fall.

"Really, it was the only place we found that would take us with our being first-time business owners without much credit," Romero said. "But people found us and kept coming back. We've grown slowly, and that seems to be working out best."

The store is in front of a shopping complex near McCarran International Airport surrounded by light industrial warehouses and strip malls. Across the street is Sunset Park, which has been partially closed while undergoing major renovations most of the time the coffee shop has been open. Wayne Newton's Casa de Shenandoah ranch takes up an entire block of frontage nearby. The couple, who are both business and life partners, have disproved the old chestnut that the three things that matter in property are location, location, location.

The owners attribute their success to hard work and fair practices that result in happy employees and quality coffee.

Romero and Walter were both working for casinos six years ago when they started looking around for a business of their own. They enjoyed travel and visiting quality coffee shops but didn't feel high-quality coffee was anyone's priority in Las Vegas. They were dissatisfied with the coffee that was available.

"I'm kind of a geek-type person," Walter said. "We discovered that there was so much about coffee, it's comparable to wine or craft beer. Once I found there was so much to learn, it became an obsession for a while."

The couple sought companies and cooperatives to supply their coffee with a focus on quality, single source and fair trade.

"What we pay for our coffee isn't based on a commodities market," Romero said. "It's based on what we can give that the coffee growers can support themselves on."

Romero said all of their coffee has a history. Their Ethiopian coffee is made by a single tribe, which is the only producer of that particular type. Their Guatemalan coffee is produced by a woman's co-op made up primarily of single woman supporting her family.

"Our Sumatran coffee is from a co-op of civil war veterans," Romero said. "It supports people who were in the war and helps bring the economy back in the area that was devastated."

Their sustainable philosophies extend beyond the coffee.

Walter said their first choice is to use natural and post-consumer products. The cups they use look like plastic but are made of corn. Their paper cups are compostable. Even the paint they used on their walls was chosen because it was zero VOC, meaning it doesn't vent volatile organic compounds.

"In the beginning we tried to only do that, and it was impossible," Walter said. "Companies would disappear overnight, and we'd be left without a vendor for a long time. Now if it's possible, if it's within our means, we do it."

The strategy worked. People found them, liked what they found and kept returning. There was never any marketing for the store . B usiness grew by word of mouth.

"People tell their friends," Walter said. "They tell the people they want to see here, so our customers are very interesting and dedicated."

Walter said that the store became a place where people congregated, which was something he hadn't experienced in the valley before.

From the beginning, Romero and Walter had planned to roast and distribute their own coffee, and in the fall they started doing just that, selling packages of Mothership Roastworks Coffee at the counter and distributing it to selected coffee shops. They don't want just anyone brewing and selling the coffee they make. They want it to be someone who will take the same time and devote the same attention to making good coffee that they do. To that end, Walter has been going to the companies they distribute to and teaching them his techniques.

They used a different name so other places could sell it without having to have the name of another local coffee shop on it.

Sunrise Coffee's name was chosen in part to be familiar and simple, but it was also inspired by the store's Sunset Road location combined with many early mornings watching the sunrise through their windows.

"We're very lucky," Romero said. "We have great people who work here for us. Even though we can't pay them a lot, we've invested a lot in making our employees happy. We want this to be a chill place. We all love what we do."

Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 702-380-4532.