NOUN COFFEE IS COACHELLA BOUND

First things first: After that epic five-month negotiation marathon, starting to take ownership over the space feels surreal. Our team has been working through the initial phases of the build-out, mapping out the flow of the space and planning how to bring the Noun aesthetic to life in a way that honors both the existing community and our vision.

But we have some fun news to share while our brick-and-mortar location takes shape: We’re taking Noun to Coachella.

We’ll be serving drinks in the Executive Lounge area for both weekends, keeping the music industry’s most over-caffeinated decision-makers properly fueled. It’s a fun chance to nounspill a whole new crowd. Some amazing people will be there, and now, so will we.

Catch us in the desert, and very soon, back in LA.

⌐◨-◨

TLDR: We’ve signed a lease and acquired the coffee shop in Los Angeles we’ve been chasing since day one. Noun is brewing. Get ready.

How we got here

In January 2024, the plan for Prop 450 was simple: acquire an existing coffee shop in Marina Del Rey that already had a community, Nounify it, and boom — we're open.

(Narrator voice: It was not, in fact, simple.)

The owners were on board. We had a handshake deal. We had a vision. What we didn’t have was the full picture.

Real estate deals are tricky. You need money to make a deal, but you need a deal to raise money, and you can’t really know if a deal makes sense until you dig into the details. So we brought in an Ops Manager, a walking encyclopedia of the LA coffee, food, beverage scene, who probably knows the exact water temperature of every espresso machine in the city. Their job? To tell us if we were about to do something dumb.

And, well, the findings started rolling in.

Finding #1: The Combi Oven of Doom

A Combi oven is basically if your home oven went to grad school, got three PhDs, and learned how to bake the perfect croissant. The stack costs about $30,000 and is the backbone of any serious baking operation.

The one at the coffee shop was broken.

Not just “needs a tune-up” broken. “Had seen things and will never recover” broken. And for a coffee shop that depends on baking? This was… not great. But hey, we could fix it, right? Just a bump in the road?

Finding #2: Disappearing Staff

We had been told there was a fully-staffed, energized team in place. What we found was a skeleton crew. A very tired skeleton crew.

Also, someone was maybe drinking on the job, and definitely taking stuff home. That seemed bad!

Finding #3: The 2020 Energy Was Strong

You know how everyone picked up weird habits in lockdown? Keeping a sourdough starter in a sock drawer? Cutting their own hair (badly)? Well, this coffee shop had the business equivalent of that. Their supply chain was like if you designed a logistics system using only things you could find in an escape room.

Sustainable? No. Fixable? Maybe. A red flag? Yep.

FINDING #4: The Rent. Oh Boy.

COMMERCIAL RENT INTERMISSION

A quick reality check on LA rent in 2024: it’s insane. Want a 1,900 sq ft space in Silverlake? That'll be $18,000+ per month, please and thank you. These aren't exaggerations, these are actual numbers. Beloved brunch spot All Day Baby closed their doors because they reached the end of their lease. Button Mash, a high-end 'barcade' with an award-winning restaurant inside, closed because the landlord increased the rent to $27,000 a month. In 2024, things seemed particularly brutal for small businesses.

END INTERMISSION

So when we finally got a look at the coffee shop’s lease and saw numbers that were… let’s say “significantly higher” than what we had been told. We knew we had to start negotiating.

Then came the plot twist nobody saw coming: As we continued to share our findings with the business owners, one of them felt betrayed and out-of-the-loop. The owners entered into legal arbitration against each other. Suddenly, there was no path forward for buying the business or taking over the lease until that whole situation got sorted out.

So in March 2024, we walked away. The coffee shop closed. The building sat empty.

The Great Space Hunt of 2024

We started looking elsewhere. Over the next year, we checked out 30+ locations and got serious about a few. Here’s the highlight reel:

1. Sunset Row (Silverlake): A shiny new retail spot with a flagship space. Catch? It was tiny. Plus, Silverlake’s already drowning in coffee shops. Did we really want to be the 17th on the block? Pass.

2. West Edge (Santa Monica): A mixed-use development with a big parking lot and a grocery anchor. Promising, but it screamed “suburban mall” more than “LA soul.” We wanted more neighborhood charm, not fluorescent vibes, spent some time, kept it moving.

3. West Adams (The One That Got Away): This would have been really great. A quirky lot with multiple buildings, a Michelin Bib Gourmand taqueria, and a giant retro coffee cup looming over the parking lot like a Nounish beacon. We dreamed big—outdoor events, balmy LA nights, the works. We signed two LOIs, upped the scope to please the landlord, and did our own rounds of due diligence after having noted things like termite damage on the property. Sadly, three months into negotiations, the landlord pulled the plug. He decided he wanted to sell the parcel, not rent it.

So we were left at square one. Again.

By October 2024—one year after Prop 450 had passed—we were frustrated. Everyone involved wanted this to happen yesterday.

Then, we got a phone call.

Plot Twist: The OG Comes Back From the Dead

The landlord of the coffee shop we had started this entire process with asked if we wanted to talk. The space had been sitting empty for the year. Were we still interested?

We were, and we entered into one of the most epic negotiation marathons of our lives. From October to now, we’ve endured five months of back-and-forth to get us to a position we see as extremely favorable. We were able to significantly reduce the acquisition cost of the fixtures, equipment, and licenses, and also reduce down the monthly rent by more than 50% of the initial ask.

We’re excited to announce that, as of today, the deal is done.

We have the lease. We have the keys.

Noun is happening.

After a year of twists and turns worthy of a Netflix miniseries, we’re finally where we wanted to be all along.

Noun. It's a place. The people are what make it great. Fun coffee. Natural wine. Good food, See you soon ⌐◨-◨

Now, the real fun begins.

It’s been a little while since our last update, and we’ve been quite busy ⌐◨-◨.

After making the tough decision to step away from the Marina Del Rey deal, we’ve been on a continuous search for a new location, while also finding ways to stay active in the interim—and active we’ve been.

In May, we popped up at FarCon, serving coffee to both the Farcaster community and members of the Nouns community, including Seneca, Sasquatch, Ben Bodhi, Prof, and many more.

We made another appearance at FWB FEST in Idyllwild, bringing Nounish energy to two campus locations—the Uniswap Lounge and the Fridays at the Park activation. We showcased our branding, served coffee, and distributed plenty of Nounish memorabilia, including noggles, stickers, pins, and more.

Then, we activated again at Bar Lubitsch in West Hollywood, participating in Coinbase’s Onchain Summer Coffee Days, serving $1 iced lattes throughout the month.

Most recently, we traveled to Copenhagen to strengthen ties with the Noun Esports teams, bringing our bottled espresso for tastings and sharing it with teammates. We also brought mugs, filmed videos, and forged new partnerships to take into 2025 with the goal of creating more exciting activations and collaborations to highlight Noun Coffee.

Across all these activations, we’ve served over 5,000 people, we’ve shared the story of Nouns, emphasized the importance of onchain payments for small businesses, captured countless photos of people wearing noggles, and, most importantly, served exceptional coffee.

Securing a physical space remains our top priority. We’re actively exploring new options and have entered into three Letters of Intent (including one currently pending). In each case, we are conducting thorough due diligence to ensure we choose a space that will stand the test of time.

We’ve chosen to retain the funds during this interim period rather than return them to the DAO and reapply later, because having money on hand is essential for negotiating with landlords. Without it, our offers are not taken seriously, which puts us at a significant disadvantage when pursuing commercial real estate in Los Angeles. The funds from our proposal are secure and being strategically used to ensure we have the negotiation power needed to secure the right location.

We’ll keep you updated as we get closer to securing a permanent space and will continue to pop up whenever we can around Los Angeles and the world to share Nounish energy ⌐◨-◨

So, we have some good news and we have some bad news!

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: Unfortunately as we’ve continued forward in our due-diligence period to acquire the coffee shop in Marina Del Rey, we hit several roadblocks that have halted the sale. We’re incredibly bummed by this, as the location would have been a unique spot for us to begin our vision of creating a specialty coffee hub in LA to share the power of Nouns. However, we are committed to creating a thriving coffee shop that lasts, and (as anyone who’s been in brick-and-mortar business knows) having the proper setup from the start is key to ensuring our long-term success. We are proud stewards of the Nouns brand, and we want to make sure that what we create reflects back on the DAO well.

That being said, we’re not deterred! Our mission with Prop 450 remains the same: To establish and operate a Nouns-branded coffee shop in Los Angeles and create a global coffee brand — and we’ve been working hard to ensure that we can still deliver on that promise.

Now, the good news: We’re on the hunt for a new space, and are in talks with a best-in-class property manager to look over new options. This relationship led us to talk with a developer who’s created a new retail space in the heart of Silver Lake about utilizing their flagship storefront, and while nothing is sealed just yet, we’re confident that we’ll find a location soon. Beyond that, we’ve also been working with Base to make sure we have a presence at FarCon, and we’ll be running Base Cafe on location throughout the duration of the event. This will be the first popup run by us, so if you’re coming into town this week, you’ll be served some of the first drinks we share with the world.

Finally, we’ve been working with an excellent creative director named Emmett Shine to help us build an identity. Emmett is behind brand identities such as Jaja Tequila, Fallen Grape Wine, and more, and he’s helped us create something that fits within the culture of LA coffee. Now it’s time to unveil the v1.

Introducing n ◨ u n

It’s a place. It brings people together. The thing? Great coffee (and even natural wines, soon). We’re excited to continue developing this brand and ensuring that it’s a Nounish identity that feels at home in LA. We can’t wait to hear people saying “I’ll meet you at Noun” around town.

Mint an open-edition of our mark here.

We'll keep updating everyone on the progress of our space, and for those coming to FarCon, we'll see you very soon ⌐◨-◨

It’s time for the first update of 2024! Happy New Year!

We sent a Letter of Intent to the current owners and are entering into final negotiations to take over the shop. We anticipate signing to take place shortly and are scheduling inspections as we enter this final stage of due diligence.

While that’s happening, we’re also creating moodboards to map out the shop's aesthetic. It’s an interesting challenge to pull inspiration from the playfulness of Nouns' art while retaining both the coziness and minimal design of the current space. We're narrowing in on the answers, and have met with two designers whose portfolios might be the perfect match.

We’re continuing to think through how to make the shop a landmark location to learn about Nouns, sparking curiosity in everyone that comes through the doors while also aligning operations with a CC0 ethos. There’s so much fun ahead as we get ready to embark on a rebrand that will make this community proud.

PROP 450 Updates

It's been nearly two weeks since Prop 450 got the green light, and we hit the ground running.

Our team is in ongoing talks with the current owners of the coffee shop (one of which has been keeping tabs on the proposal through nouns.camp and delving into the votes-with-reason), and now we're diving into the nitty-gritty – focusing on gathering all the information necessary to seamlessly transition ownership. This includes thorough evaluations of the lease, assets, existing liabilities, and the transfer of licenses.

We've had interviews with a couple of potential general managers. Both candidates are brimming with expertise and passion, not just for coffee but for the wider onchain community too. Speaking of, we’re committed to having am onchain payment options at the shop and are currently talking with a vendor to make this a reality.

Creatively, we're brainstorming the shop's layout and an overarching brand that will resonate with the city of LA. Talks are underway with a possible partner who could handle both design and a website. Plus, we've already started playing around with some branding explorations.

Just last night, we had dinner at the shop with one of the owners. It was a great chance to really picture what the place could become, and we tossed around ideas for how to weave the Nouns ethos into the shop's design, adding art and interactive features that spark the curiosity of everyone who walks in.

We’re also exploring how to align our operations with the CC0 model, setting a replicable standard for other coffee shops. Our goal is not to create just a coffee shop, but a model for how to nounspill people with coffee around the globe.

Looking ahead, we're gearing up to make the ownership transition official in the new year, setting up all the legal and financial frameworks necessary. We're thrilled about where this journey is taking us and will keep you in the loop as we continue to make strides.