Dominic Morgan
Dominic Morgan is the manager at Bean around the World on Dunbar and 40th. He has been a real supporter of the “Creative Artist Series” at the Kerrisdale Community Centre through a generous donation of coffee to all the participants.
By COCO BIKADOROFF Photographs by DEAN MCLEAN
Dominic is a great supporter of the local arts and runs his business with an honest sense of community flair. I sat down with Dominic to interview him at his establishment…
Q. The brunch at your cafe is very successful. What do you love about it?
I love the atmosphere that we create, I feel that we’ve created a place where people can feel like it’s their second home and if they do feel that way then I feel it’s perfect.
Q. What is the secret to your success?
The secret is there is no secret. It’s just having a passion for the work and instilling passion in both the employees and the customers.
Q. Which work do you consider your greatest?
My greatest…not sure how to answer that, 
my greatest work so far is a work in progress, and that’s training up people to do what I do here. To be able to pass on the knowledge that I’ve gained. If that’s successful, which I know it will be, then that will be my biggest accomplishment here.
Q. What’s the hardest part of running a business like this?
Umm, the hardest part ? Nothing is really hard, mainly things are more tedious and that’s anything that’s away from the front counter. Anything that’s not being out here with the people I find less exciting. I like to connect with the customers.
Q. What’s the newest, freshest approach that you bring to your job?
That’s actually a bit of a tough question, mainly creating a comfortable environment for the neighbourhood. It’s partly about finding out what people around here are interested in and also about giving them something new, for instance we just acquired a liquor licence so we’re going to be selling beer and wine, so it’s about offering something new to people just to give it a little something different, a little break from the ordinary.
Q. You must know a lot of the regulars, how long has the cafe been here?
This place has been here about 6 and a half years. Most of the time when this place is full I can look around know everyone that is here. People keep coming back, lots of characters….especially the people that work here (chuckle).
Q. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, and I came here about 12 years ago.
Q. Did you have any ideas when you were growing up regarding running a business like this?
I had no idea this is what I would be doing. My first love was animals and so I initially wanted to go into veterinary medicine but after half a semester at UBC I decided that wasn’t what I was going to do. I ended up getting 
an animal biology degree anyway and ended up working part time. I came to BATW about 2 and a half years ago and it’s the best thing I ever did.
Q. Are you involved with any other community organizations? Charities, etc?
I wish I was, at the store we do support other charities and such, we did some work for the breast cancer run as well as local events , soccer tournaments, local school events, people contact us all the time, we like to support wherever we can.
Q. What are your hobbies?
Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of time but I would love to be outdoors more, hiking and cycling and such.
Q. Who is the person you most admire living or dead?
I’d have to say, not in a ‘kissing up’ way but certainly the owner of this business, Tan Tran, who took me under his wing. I think that he saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself, that I was capable of running this shop and more shops as we expand. He trained me up for management, he found qualities in me that I didn’t know I had, he helped me to find my home and helped me to grow. He took a chance on me and he became kind of a mentor.
Q. You always dress very cool, what is the best compliment you’ve ever received?
Best compliment? Typically ‘nice hat’.
Q. Name one thing about yourself most people don’t know.
Most people don’t know that I consider myself very shy, and I don’t consider myself much of a people person, and maybe that’s just my own perception of how I used to be before working here. Most people wouldn’t realize that that’s how I was because I’m much different now. Working in a social atmosphere beyond ‘hello and goodbye’ has really changed that for me. It’s been very interesting getting to know the regulars in the community.
