By Jecca Berta

When The Venetian reached out to us in 2019 with the idea of opening a Dandelion Chocolate in their hotel on the Strip, it wasn’t something we’d previously considered. As we talked, we saw an opportunity to reach more people, and to introduce craft chocolate to the city’s locals and many visitors. Adrian, our Venetian General Manager since day one, joins us to discuss Dandelion’s Las Vegas residency:

Tell us, Adrian. What’s especially popular at Dandelion’s Las Vegas café? 

It’s all about the drinks! People come for the drinks — they want coffee. Everybody says it’s the best. We’ve had guests who’ve walked all the way from Mandalay Bay, which is probably three miles. They’ll say, “No place has coffee like you guys.” 

Our top three products since opening are: lattes, cappuccinos, and house mochas. The good thing is, people come for coffee, and then they’ll try chocolate or buy gifts for friends and family. It’s a little more challenging to sell gift sets just because they’re larger and people are traveling. Breakfast items are also popular. We always sell out of our Banana Bread and Chocolate Breakfast Granola. 

We’ve heard from others, including the food critic from the Los Angeles Times, that Dandelion serves the best coffee in Vegas.

Every single month when I get our business profile from Google, I see the top search terms for how people find us. One: Coffee. Two: Coffee near me. Three: Coffee shop. 

Are the beans the same as those we use in San Francisco?

Yes. Ritual coffee beans. We do have people that come in who recognize the Ritual brand as well. People that don’t know the brand — they’ll buy a bag of coffee to bring home. 

Do people tend to recognize Dandelion as a San Francisco brand, even while it’s in a Las Vegas hotel?

Some people who come in have heard about Dandelion before or tried our products. They’ll say “You’re the ones from the Bay Area, right”? That’s maybe ten percent of the time. Most of our customers come in once or twice. We don’t really have regulars aside from the casino employees. We don’t have a lot of returning customers. 

That’s the nature of the Strip. How did you come to be the General Manager of our Las Vegas location? 

It was a long journey for me to get this job, and I’m still here almost six years later. People say to me, “You must really love this job, or you must really love chocolate.” Yeah, both. 

Before this, I managed food and beverage operations at Miami International Airport; I was a Regional Manager for Starbucks; and a GM for quick service at the Cosmopolitan. All very interesting, demanding jobs, but very, very corporate. That was probably the number-one reason why I wanted a change. For so many years, I felt like I was just a number. I felt a little not necessarily underappreciated, but it was a lot. I put in so much time and effort, and I realized that there had to be something else out there — a company that appreciates their employees more, that cares about their product. 

I interviewed with Dandelion for about three months, with a bunch of different people. Then Annie asked if I’d be interested in coming to San Francisco and meeting more people. I was terrified. I knew nothing about chocolate except that I liked to eat it. I didn’t sleep the night before my flight. I spent the entire evening going through refresher courses. But it went well. I got the job offer. 

You have an amazing retention rate with your team. Describe the people who work with you. 

Everybody on our café team has been there since we opened in 2019. When my team members first got hired, part of onboarding was sending everybody to San Francisco at the 16^th Street factory for three days. They got to see the chocolate-making process, and take some classes. Most people that were hired during that time had worked in casinos before. They felt similar to how I did with those jobs — that they were just a number to make money for the company. So everybody was super excited about Dandelion. The company and chocolate are amazing. They were excited to share the product. 

When someone walks in the store even today, our employees love talking about how Dandelion started, and what the products are. Everything from the farmers to the cocoa beans — they’re super enthusiastic and they love Dandelion as a company. 

What have the biggest challenges been over the years?

Compared to San Francisco, the biggest challenge is that we are in a hotel with a casino and have to abide by casino rules. The full team can never take off on holidays, we can never close early on Christmas, and we aren’t allowed to open late or close early. That is a bit of a challenge, but everyone at the café also is used to it. They don’t mind. 

Another thing is the distance between us and San Francisco. Right now we have some good systems in place, but before it was a bit of a challenge with communications, keeping the team engaged, and getting product to Las Vegas when it’s 120 degrees in the summer. But now we have a pretty good system down, including a refrigerated van. 

What’s the most “Las Vegas” thing that’s happened at the Las Vegas café?

We did have somebody propose at our café. What stood out is when the guy proposed, he brought Elvis with him. And as soon as the woman said “Yes,” Elvis started singing. Then they headed to the Chapel. 

Quintessential Vegas! Let’s talk about the kitchen. What does the Las Vegas Pastry team make? 

We started construction on the kitchen when we first opened the café, but then had to pause because of COVID. Since we didn’t have a kitchen, we were doing retail only and making drinks by melting chocolate on a double boiler in the back. Eventually, we finished the kitchen and hired a team. Ever since we started doing seasonal fulfillment for shippable pastries — Valentine’s Day macarons, Cookies for Santa, Cookies for Dunking, S’mores Kits — I’ve been spending a lot more time in the kitchen. We ship hundreds of items per day from here. We do a lot of online production as well. Granola, Melissa Coppel Candy Bars … I’m part of the team that coordinates all that. 

How big is the team? 

Year round, we have six full-time employees in the kitchen. We hire seasonal employees, I would say, starting in July. During Q3 and Q4, the team goes from six to probably about twelve. The café has five employees. Fulfillment is just one, which is also our long-distance driver who takes product from here to San Francisco. On very busy days, I pull people from the café to help in the kitchen. I try to help out anywhere I can.

How has Las Vegas changed since Dandelion first opened there? 

A lot has changed. We opened in 2019 three months before COVID, then the entire Strip shut down. It was a ghost town. When we reopened, we opened with retail only and didn’t have a kitchen. We were melting the chocolate for our drink bases. The city itself — I feel like it’s back to normal, but locals don’t necessarily spend much time on the Strip, unless they’re working there. A lot of locals prefer the Arts District. 

Vegas has a reputation for great food. Chocolate aside, where do you like to eat and drink? 

I’ve been to a few restaurants on the Strip, but it’s not my go-to. I like to eat in Chinatown. A lot of neighborhoods have their own downtown area with local, amazing restaurants. My favorite is Esther’s Kitchen — it’s downtown in the Arts District, and was featured as one of the best restaurants in the country. They serve Italian food and change their menu seasonally — it’s really, really nice. Others I like are Japaneiro (Asian fusion), La Mojarra Loca (Mexican), Partage (French), and Firefly (tapas). For drinks, I like Velveteen Rabbit, Liquid Diet, The Sand Dollar, and The Golden Tiki. For coffee, I like PublicUs.

Thank you, Adrian. Viva Las Vegas.