This Lead Barista Gives Us the Morning Coffee Rundown
Written By: Ameihia Turingan
Photographed By: Mathew Martinez
Expert: Orion Strongman Vacancy Coffee
Credentials: Lead Barista, Vacancy Coffee
Q: Vacancy proudly serves Toby’s Estate coffee. How has using this product enhanced the quality of the Vacancy drink?
Orion Strongman: Toby’s is a severely outstanding coffee and when combined with the Vacancy team’s knowhow, it’s simply a magical array of drinks. Toby’s itself is so outstandingly well thought out that when combined with our operational practice, it’s turned out to be something that the people really enjoyed. So we’ve gotten a lot of really nice comments and I’ve seen a lot of growth in our company. It’s a marriage made in heaven.
Q: What is the most rewarding aspect of your job? Vacancy Coffee
OS: I say this often, it never gets old seeing someone with a smile from ear to ear when they finally get a coffee that just really hits the spot. I’ve been working in hospitality for a few decades now and to this day, when someone says, ‘This is the best mocha I’ve ever had,’ never gets old.
Q: What makes Vacancy stand apart from the other coffee shops in Newport Beach?
OS: No frills, intensively good coffee like you’ve never had before, an environment that has no pretension and gets to the point of the product and the good feeling that you would have come to expect when you walk into a coffee store or a café to relax, whatever the time. When you walk in the door, no matter how you feel, by the time you walk out of the door, we want you to be super happy and positive.
Q: What is something unique about Vacancy that most visitors don’t know?
OS: That everyone working there is Australian. [Laughs]. No, I’m joking. Not everyone is but the large proportion of us are. A lot of people don’t even know we’re there. They stumble upon us and then are very pleasantly surprised. What’s something unique about us [is that] we bring a new perspective on coffee to Southern California, if not all of California. Our company culture is pretty much imported into California from across the Pacific where incredible well-developed knowhow for the brewing and service of coffee and connected products comes across in an environment that is more true to form to tried and tested hospitality principles of making you, the customer, extremely happy.
Q: What attracted you to work at Vacancy?
OS: The partners who came together to build Vacancy were looking for someone with depth of knowledge to grow Vacancy’s roots in Orange County, and to allow the company to propel into the future. I was drawn to being able to do both of those, and to see how the non product mix I’ve been dealing with for quite some time now would translate here in California. And to get a greater understanding of where Californians stand in perspective of coffee, I needed to [hit] the ground running.
Q: As lead barista, what does a typical day look like for you?
OS: You come in to open the store and you get things warmed up. And usually in the morning, you get the same faces that come in, your regulars. It’s usually an awesome vibe, there’s a lot of laughing and smiling [as] the community comes together. Coffee shops are community meeting places like none other. Nowhere else where people can come together, who don’t know each other, and say “hi” or even interject in each other’s conversations politely. We’ll clean up the store around 3 o’clock and we’re out to enjoy the rest of the day after that.
Ready to Impress: As each customer has their own go-to drink, the Vacancy team strives to create outstanding versions of each drink to satisfy customers. “We assure that we’ll knock your socks off with whatever is your go-to drink,” said Orion.
Girls & Coffee: When Orion was in his late teens, it was a popular, fad job to work in cafés. As a young man, he started working there to be able to meet the cute girls who stopped by the café but then grew to love serving coffee. “In time, things changed and I learned to really love the industry itself and certainly coffee,” said Orion.
Native Knowledge: The majority of the employees at Vacancy are from Australia.
Vacancy Coffee Bar
6480 W Coast Hwy
Newport Beach, CA 92663
