Havana Roasters Coffee Cuban Bakery & Sandwich Bar is now serving cafecito, colada, cortadito, pastelitos and made-to-order Cuban sandwiches at 5931 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood. The Florida-based brand’s first Los Angeles storefront began service Tuesday in a phased soft opening, with a limited menu and controlled customer volume.
Havana Roasters Coffee Companies Inc., the brand’s exclusive license holder and commercialization arm, announced the opening in a statement carried by TheNewswire. The company, which trades on the OTC market under the ticker THRC, said staff are using the soft-opening period to refine operations and training. A grand opening celebration has not been announced.
Two Years in the Making
Getting the doors open took considerably longer than a typical coffee shop build-out. The company said it spent more than two years on lease acquisition, design, permitting, and construction before the Hollywood location could welcome customers, per the same announcement. HRC Hospitality Corp., the licensee operating the store, acquired the Hollywood lease back in 2024, according to a report from TradingView.
CEO Gabriel Martinez said the store was opened carefully after two years of construction, the announcement noted. The cafe includes a walk-up window designed to extend service into evening and late-night hours, giving Franklin Avenue foot traffic another option after the coffee counter's daytime hours wind down.
A First Los Angeles Store With Expansion Plans
The Hollywood cafe is Havana Roasters’ first licensed retail location outside its Florida base. The company says it plans to use the store to test its operations and develop a format that could support future franchise growth. A Building Texas Show report, also based on company information, described the location as a potential setting for product testing, staff training and greater brand visibility.
Havana Roasters earns licensing fees through its license to HRC Hospitality Corp. and holds an equity stake in that company, the announcement stated. Back in February, the company said its broader growth strategy includes wholesale distribution, consumer packaged goods, e-commerce, hospitality services, and future franchise opportunities, according to the TradingView report. That same report described the flagship as intended to function as a live testing and training environment for product development, customer engagement, staff training, and operational refinement.
Landing in a Crowded Cuban Food Scene
The opening adds a new Cuban coffee-and-bakery concept to a Los Angeles dining scene that includes established Cuban restaurants. The Infatuation’s Los Angeles guide to Cuban restaurants identifies El Floridita in Hollywood as a longtime cultural hub for the Cuban community, in part because of its salsa nights.
An Earlier Cuban Restaurant Expansion
A September 2, 1990, review reported that Versailles, then based in Culver City, had opened its first offshoot a couple of months earlier on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times. Versailles was a separate restaurant business, and that earlier expansion does not establish a broader market trend. Its history differs from Havana Roasters’ current move: Versailles expanded from a Culver City restaurant, while Havana Roasters is introducing a coffee, bakery and sandwich-bar concept in Hollywood.
Havana Roasters Coffee is based in Florida, and the Franklin Avenue cafe marks the brand’s expansion into Los Angeles. The company says its business spans artisan-roasted coffee, consumer packaged goods, food and beverage, retail, franchising and hospitality services.
For now, the Franklin Avenue cafe is operating with a limited menu and hours. Havana Roasters said it plans to add the full menu and extend hours later, while noting that those plans depend on factors including the store’s performance, staffing, supply chains, permitting, regulation, customer acceptance and financing for further expansion.
