Ten Years of Yum

Ten years ago, Joyce Abou Chaaya and her husband, Edgar Pashayan,  were cruising along in successful careers in mechanical engineering and property management, until one day, their lifelong dream began to be too big to avoid. The dream had two elements—open a small coffee shop and have it be in Pasadena.

“We always knew we wanted to be in Pasadena,” said Chaaya, amidst a party in a corridor in the Lake Avenue Colonnade Tuesday, celebrating Float Coffee Shop’s tenth anniversary, with family and friends.

“We always knew we wanted to be in Pasadena,” she continued, “because, I mean, we love Pasadena!”

As Chaaya noted, the community’s response a decade ago made their decade-long success that much more meaningful.

And then Pandemica happened.

“I mean, it was hard of course,” Chaaya remembered, “but we made it, right? And this is thanks to the community. They were here supporting us, placing orders to go, placing catering orders.” 

It was during the stress of the COVID pandemic, actually that the pair came up with their Coffee Bar by Float and they began delivering specialty coffee to people, “because they were not able to come to us,” she said. 

And it was no surprise that the couples’ focus on quality helped drive the shop’s success.

“We focus on quality,” said Chaaya. “We keep it simple, but we like to use premium ingredients. I think this is the key, because we just gave all of it  110%”. 

She added, happily, “It’s not like we want to be somewhere else, Right? Like, this was our first baby, and then we had kids . So, Float was our little baby, and my daughter’s big sister at the same time.”

And then,  among their friends, family members, and longtime customers, Edgar and Joyce cut a ceremonial ribbon one more time, with the help of Pasadena Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Little, and Chamber board members, and the next decade at Float began.

Float is located at 380 S. Lake Avenue. For more information visit float-771605.square.site or just call (626) 844-3488.