Coral Tree Café continues to expand its territory throughout Los Angeles. First established in November 2002 by its founders, Robert Niksefat, Kevin Khalili and Steven Yari, the neighborhood cafés keep strong bonds with the communities they serve and continue to attract more enthusiastic customers.
Though they have backgrounds in law and real estate, these three Brentwood residents wanted to create a restaurant concept that offered a new style, leaving diners feeling good about what they ate.
The founders wanted to defy the norm of general eateries in the area, and create guilt-free meals with a menu compiled of healthy, organic foods and a selection of homemade breads.
Beginning with the San Vicente Boulevard location in Brentwood, Coral Tree Café offers a casual communal setting in which customers frequent the patio and crowd around the outdoor fire pit, while sipping wines, available by the glass or by the bottle at retail prices.
This “honest, good-quality food,†as Niksefat describes it, was in mind when the entrepreneurs expanded their reach to add a Coral Tree Café in Encino and Coral Tree Express locations in the Westfield Malls in Century City and Topanga Canyon.
“Why stop here?†the partners asked themselves.
Based on the success of the Coral Tree Café chain, the owners are now introducing an all-natural frozen yogurt company called Purenaked Yogurt. Purenaked shows itself to be “pure†via its display of transparent cups, to the non-powder ingredients it is composed of. It is quite delicious, according to fans.
In addition to this list of undertakings, the partners have created Chop Shop Food, a salad and sandwich bar located in the Topanga Canyon Westfield Mall. There, guests may request different ingredients for their salads/sandwiches and have them prepared in full view.
Coral Tree Café’s success led the partners to briefly flirt with the idea of franchising, however; as Niksefat explained, he and his colleagues did not want to “compromise the quality of the food.†At the heart of all this is the feeling of community.
