Coffee Importers celebrates 40 years Dana Point Harbor

With just hours left before Claire Van Eenenaam had to board a plane for Milwaukee, she and two sisters headed to Dana Point’s harbor for one last breakfast at Coffee Importers.

“I just had to get one more Dana bagel,” Van Eenenaam, 21, of Monarch Beach, said Wednesday, June 12, of the $5.95 bagel topped with cream cheese, slices of avocado and sprinkled with lemon pepper.

“We’ve come down here since we were little,” Eenenaam said, sitting at an outdoor patio table overlooking the nearby boat dock. “On weekends and holidays, it a place where we can be together as a family.”

Coffee Importers – a go-to for unique deli items, coffee specialty drinks and world-famous ice cream – celebrates its 40th anniversary on Friday, June 14.

The eatery is among the most popular in Dana Point Harbor and draws hundreds daily. Some go just for the coffee, others to meet friends. Some are refueling after a morning jaunt around the harbor. On the third Friday of every month, Coffee Importers is known for its famed Coffee Chat, a forum featuring community-interest topics.

The restaurant serves 3 million people annually, its owner said.

“Since 1979, people come here and get coffee every day,” said Jim Miller, who took over operations in 1984. His parents purchased the shop from Adolf and Helen Steltzer. “We’re more popular than we’ve ever been.”

On Friday, Miller will throw an anniversary bash. The cake spelling out “Coffee Importers 40 Years” will be made by his daughter, Meredith, who most recently was an executive pastry chef for the St. Regis in Atlanta.

Miller will also sell anniversary mugs – refillable for 60 cents – from which he plans to donate $4,000 to the STEPS program at Dana Hills High School, which helps teach students with disabilities life skills and careers.

“I have always wanted to create a family legacy,” Miller said. “My parents ran the store, then I took over and now in the near future with the harbor revitalization, my daughter will take over operations. I’m hoping for 50- and 60-year anniversaries.”

The secret is quality and consistency. Do that in a setting that naturally draws people – even better. Then, top that off with ingenuity and you have a recipe for success, he said.

When his parents, Bob and Bea Miller, first found Coffee Importers in the harbor in the late 1970s it matched the vibe they liked.

“My parents really wanted a European coffee house,” Miller said. “Mom wanted cappuccinos and pastries, and she wanted an outdoor cafe. We started that with a wooden table and chairs right in front of the small store. After that, it just took off.”

In 1982, the Millers expanded south along the harbor walkway and purchased another storefront. In it, they opened up the famed Scoop Deck Ice Cream Shop. When sales jumped from $3,000 a month to $15,000, the couple asked Jim to leave his corporate restaurant job in San Francisco and help out.

In Dana Point, Miller saw opportunities. He added another patio in front of the ice cream store and opened an espresso bar inside. Then he added one more patio – expanding the outdoor seating to 2,000 square feet.

“In the late 1980s, no one was doing this,” he said. “It didn’t become popular until the late 1990s when they passed the no-smoking ordinances in restaurants.”

Another opportunity came when Miller decided to expand the original shop to a quick-serve deli and juice bar. He went about creating a unique breakfast and lunch menu.

“My concept of quick-serve, no one did that in 1994, and people didn’t understand it,” he said. “It took me eight years for the deli to be popular. Now we’re lines out the door every day.”

Some of Miller’s most popular dishes include a power pancake crunch and a California bagel with avocado, red onion cream cheese and tomato.

“It’s so funny when the avocado toast became a thing,” he said. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I’ve done that for years.’ Now, we just convert the bagel to toast.”

As he hits the 40-year mark, Miller is looking at what’s next for the restaurant. With a harbor renovation underway, Miller said his restaurant will move locations. In the new spot, he plans to add a full bakery.

“I’m not going to be that guy that does what everyone else does,” he said. “You have to create a niche that people like what you do.”

Chuck Seely, who in 2012 retired as assistant fire chief in Downey, is one of Miller’s fans.

“This is like the best place to kick back,” the San Clemente resident said. “The coffee is second-to-none.”

On Wednesday, Seely met up with Mike Dodd, a retired fire chief from Los Angeles County Fire, and Danny DeAngelis, a retired fire captain from South Pasadena Fire.

“It’s a great atmosphere here,” he said. “I meet up with guys I used to work with and we lie to each other about how good we were.”