Member Highlight: Sunrise Coffee

Juanny Romeo opened her first coffee shop during the Great Recession and over the years added several Las Vegas-based Sunrise Coffee cafes to the flagship—along with a deepening passion for both the product she sold and the customers who came in to try it. “The community we have is so important to me,” Juanny says, “These aren’t just my customers and my coworkers—they’re my friends.”

So, when the COVID-19 pandemic came to Las Vegas, it was worrying for Juanny on multiple levels. “I’d survived one recession already, but this was just a different beast altogether,” she recalls. Thankfully, the digital side of the business had already been established and Juanny was able to continue doing business digitally. She formulated a new digital advertising and social strategy that drove customers to her site to purchase online and she added a web function that allowed visitors to donate coffee to first responders and healthcare workers too—staying true to her company’s values and community.

Sunrise Coffee has since become “the coffee shop of Las Vegas,” turning a profit during the pandemic while turning heads in the media for its efforts with essential workers. “I feel like I discovered a superpower when I found these digital tools,” Juanny says.