Southern California roasting company Goodboybob doubled its retail footprint in July, opening two cafes weeks apart on opposite sides of the United States.

In early July, Goodboybob opened its first East Coast cafe in Hudson, New York. About two weeks later, it opened a full-service cafe inside the Deus Ex Machina gallery, workshop and apparel store in Los Angeles’ Venice neighborhood, taking over a coffee operation previously run by the Australian lifestyle brand.

Goodboybob Venice

Goodboybob Founder Erich Joiner, who also founded production company Tool of North America and races cars professionally, told Daily Coffee News that the company made few changes to the Deus cafe beyond adding signs and replacing some artwork. Goodboybob added high-top tables and umbrellas to the patio while retaining the concrete bar and floors, white wall tile and repurposed wood surfaces. The cafe remains open to the surrounding store, whose focus on motorcycles, surfing, design and handmade goods complements Goodboybob’s aesthetic.

“Goodboybob and Deus both celebrate crafted, hand-done stuff,” Joiner told DCN. “I did not want to come in there and blow it out and make a statement. I wanted to honor the Deus brand and our Deus relationship.”

The new cafes join Goodboybob’s original Santa Monica shop, which opened in 2017, and its Manhattan Beach location, which followed in 2021. Deus Ex Machina does operate cafe, retail and workshop concepts in numerous international markets, but Joiner said the logistics of expanding Goodboybob into more of those locations would be challenging.

Goodboybob Hudson

Meanwhile, about 2,500 miles northeast of Venice in the Hudson Valley, Goodboybob has taken over another former cafe. The Hudson shop occupies a vintage building with exposed wooden rafters, concrete floors and a garage door remaining from its origins as an automotive workshop.

The previous tenant, Wylde Hudson, had cultivated a similarly vintage-inspired space centered on local art and community events.

Joiner, who frequently visits New York City and recently bought a farmhouse near Hudson, said he was drawn to the region’s classic-car community, scenic roads, farms and farm-to-table dining.

“Most of it is organic crops or highly curated crops of apples, peaches, lettuce, kale, things like that,” Joiner said. “The produce is very highly curated, and that’s the way we look at our coffee. Once we get it, the way we roast it, the way we package it, there’s different artwork on every coffee bag. We really try to treat it like art.”

Goodboybob Everywhere

Goodboybob’s coffee bars use La Marzocco Strada and Linea espresso machines paired with Victoria Arduino Mythos grinders. Curtis batch brewers produce drip coffee, while limited coffees are brewed individually with Kalita Wave drippers in Poursteady systems or, in smaller spaces, with Fellow kettles and scales. A co-packing partner produces flash-brewed house blend for cold coffee drinks.

Goodboybob supplies its four cafes, wholesale accounts and online customers with coffee roasted at two Southern California facilities. Goodboybob Roastery Manager Raul Velasco oversees production on a Loring S15 Falcon in Torrance, while larger batches are roasted on a Loring S35 Kestrel at the Pulley Collective Los Angeles. Velasco works with Goodboybob Executive Vice President of Coffee Marcus Young on sourcing, cupping and roasting the company’s three blends and rotating single-origin coffees.

Young has more than 20 years of coffee-industry experience, including more than a decade in green coffee sourcing and trading. He said he works with longtime importer and producer contacts to secure approachable single-origin coffees and blend components. That emphasis on lasting supplier relationships and loyalty mirrors the brand, named after Joiner’s family dog.

“I want Goodboybob to have coffees that come back year after year. I want to build meaningful relationships with our suppliers and to source those coffees over and over again, year after year,” Young told DCN. “I want our suppliers to trust that they can grow with us as our business grows, and that we’re committed to working with them during times when they’re thriving and also if they experience challenges.”

Moving forward, Joiner said Goodboybob hopes to complete a full remodel of the Hudson cafe by summer 2027 — including a bar equipped with Modbar brew, steam and pourover modules — as well as open a second dedicated roastery. 

Goodboybob is located inside the Deus Ex Machina building at 1001 Venice Blvd. in Venice Beach, and at 35 S 3rd St. in Hudson, New York.

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