Corey Lenko is the head of the Blue Bottle café at HanaHaus and the guarantor for the deliciousness of our coffee. As the manager, he keeps an eye on everything going on behind Blue Bottle’s counter and in the kitchen. His journey to Silicon Valley started more than 2,800 miles away from here on the East Coast. Read our new “People of HanaHaus”-blog to learn about his great experience in gastronomy and the reason why he moved to California.
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Name: Corey Lenko
Age: 26
Origin: Pennsylvania, Scranton
Working at HanaHaus since: August 2016
Job Title: Cafe Leader of Blue Bottle Coffee Palo Alto & Instagram
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My Job at HanaHaus is about…
“…making sure there are no fires (laughing). I am in charge of a staff of about 29 people. My job is about insuring we open and close every day at the right time, scheduling shifts and meetings of my team. My task it to manage the café based on Blue Bottle’s three values: hospitality, sustainability and deliciousness.”
Got to know HanaHaus…
“…when I was hired by Blue Bottle in August 2016. My onboarding process was in New York over the phone, so I did not know anything about downtown Palo Alto. I knew it was a co-working space, but I’d never heard about the concept of HanaHaus before.”
Before working at HanaHaus…
“…I lived in New York City and was working for Union Square Hospitality Group for almost 4 years. I was hopping around different restaurants like North End Grill or Gramarcy Tavern. I grew up in Pennsylvania and went to school in upstate New York. I did my Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Management at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. The first few years where very strict, you learn how to hold a knife and make something taste good. But I also had business classes. After graduating, I literately started off from the bottom: I was a back server, frontline server, sommelier and finally floor manager.”
My journey to Silicon Valley started…
“…when Blue Bottle hired me in August 2016. I had New York City life for so long and I always wanted to live in California. What finally sealed the deal was a vacation with my girlfriend and her family in Chester in upstate California. I fell in love with the atmosphere and the nature here. Its super easy to get lost in the woods and to go to the beach as well. It’s just a beautiful state. The reason why I live in Silicon Valley is Blue Bottle.”
Like working at HanaHaus…
“…is exciting because you see a lot of interesting people working here. Also, I like the fact that you get almost the same people day by day. Of course, we have a lot of first time visitors but the majority shows up regularly. It’s nice that our team gets to know our guests and talks casually with them.”
HanaHaus is unique because…
“…it’s exciting for a café to work with a co-working space like that. It’s a very beautiful and unique place.”
The favorite spot at HanaHaus…
“…is the Capetown Lounges with its exposed windows and beautiful arches. It is a very creative, relaxing atmosphere over there. Also I like the courtyard with our cocktail corner, it drops a lot of people in our space.”
In 3 words HanaHaus is…
“…young, exciting, different.“
In our new blog series, People of HanaHaus, we present the folks that fill our workspace cafe with life: Start-Uppers, entrepreneurs, artists, founders, innovation managers, students, unicorns, venture capital investors are the people who make HanaHaus unique. We want to learn about their journeys and what brought them to Silicon Valley. We ask them to speak about their current projects and why how they leverage HanaHaus for their business.