On early Saturday mornings, herds of students and Santa Barbara locals alike rush out of their homes and onto the buses, headed straight for a little bakeshop on Turnpike Road. Arriving before the shop’s opening, a line that wraps around the building forms, but the customers are not discouraged; a reward awaits.
Kin, an Asian-owned bakeshop formally established in July 2023, is a unique and inspiring cafe that holds the support of its local community. From their food’s taste to their presentation, Kin is a one in a million cafe. Tommy and Will, Kin’s founders, were coworkers at a tech business before starting their own bakeshop as a passion project.
According to Stephen Kim, a third-year UCSB student and barista at Kin, “Over Covid, Tommy picked up baking as a hobby, and it became a little bigger than that. Will, who was formally his boss, became his business partner.”
Around 2021, Kin was a pop-up until the official store opened in the summer of 2023. With Tommy growing up in Goleta and Santa Barbara, it was “Tommy and Will’s way of giving back to the community.”
With a multitude of cafes, bakeries, and coffee shops in Santa Barbara, Kin and its products are stand-out special. Stephen explains, “There’s definitely the hospitality aspect. Amongst the staff, we call it the ‘Kin Aspect,’ which is really just a different way of saying how we can care for our community… how we can provide every customer with an experience that’s authentic to us, not just as a product, but as an experience… It’s a way for us to share our love with Santa Barbara.”
Along with their hospitality, Kin is also known for introducing new flavors weekly to their drinks, brioche donuts, and mochi donuts. When asked about the process of developing and executing these changes, Stephen shares that “we do a lot of research for sure. A lot of the baking and barista staff are pretty experimental. We try to pull from our cultural roots and see what experiences people have had that are relatable to our menu. A lot of the time, we try to make desserts that we have good memories of.”
There’s hard work, passion, and dedication that the staff put into their creations. There’s also lots of inspiration that can be drawn from the staff’s cultural makeup. This past Lunar New Year, Kin “had a lot of flavors that called back to Asian heritage and traditional flavors.”
Are you new to Kin and don’t know what to try? The barista recommends “the black sesame cream top with espresso. On days when I don’t have caffeine, I recommend people sook and whatever the brioche or mochi flavor is that week.” My personal favorite drink is the matcha einspanner (I’ll never forget my first sip of the matcha einspanner’s cream top), or whatever strawberry concoction they have out that week!
However, Stephen also states, “When people ask me what to try in the shop, I always say, Just try anything. Anything goes; it’s all good. If you were to try to have that killer first-time Kin experience: a brioche donut and a drink, it doesn’t matter which drink; it doesn’t matter which donut, because you’re not going to find anything like that anywhere else.” When he says you’re not going to find anything like Kin, he states the truth. Some unique donut flavors that Stephen recalls are the Vietnamese coffee glaze with a condensed milk drizzle and a white peach lychee with mascarpone filling.
Among consistent customers of Kin, the question of whether Kin was created with the intent to emphasize Asian culture in its creation floats around. Though not its original purpose, Kin aims to be truly authentic and representative of its people, and as a fact, the owners and a majority of their workers are of Asian descent. Stephen adds, “If our goal is authenticity, that’s just who we are.”
Kin is successful not only in its physical presence in the community but also in its digital aspect. Currently, Kin boasts a following of around 9,700 on their Instagram account. Stephen believes that Kin’s success is derived from “caring about the experience in the shop, which translates to how people can share their experiences, whether that be through word of mouth or online. Our drinks and donuts taste good, but presentation definitely matters.” Kin believes in the importance of impressions, which is why they “don’t serve donuts or drinks that aren’t presentable.”
Their food always looks delicious and well-thought-out, and their interior is just the same. The shop is inspired by trips to other cities, Korea, and Pinterest. Their minimalistic design can be seen posted across countless customer stories and posts.
Because of their genuine care, hospitality, flavors, and overall branding of the store, Kin stands out among other cafes in the Santa Barbara area. Whether you’re a first-time customer or a returning one, the experience at Kin is always pleasant.
Ending with his final thoughts, Stephen emphasizes, “I work at Kin, and a lot of our staff agree that we continue to do the things that we do at the level that we do them, not just because we want to make good business, but because we are genuinely community-oriented. All of our mission and vision statements have been about the people, not just the business. If it’s your first time at Kin, we’d love to take care of you. If it’s your 55th time at Kin, we’ll still be taking care of you!”