An Irvine seller of Vietnamese-style coffee has changed its name and plans three additional locations in the next 12 months.
The former BLK Coffee, on Jamboree in the same plaza as Google and the restaurant Twenty Eight, is now BLKdot Coffee. The three locations are planned for
• Laguna Beach’s Boat Canyon center in October
• Irvine Marketplace mall in the spring
• Irvine Spectrum mall next summer
Sisters Mai and Stacie Tran co-own BLKdot Coffee; their family has run OC restaurants for years, including Twenty Eight in Irvine; Furiwa, a restaurant and caterer, particularly to hotels, in Garden Grove; and Lifetime Wedding & Events, a 4,000-square-foot meetings center in Westminster.
BLKdot Coffee doesn’t yet franchise.
Mai Tran said the coffeehouse changed its name in August to end the confusion it had seen with customers before it began to expand.
OC food operations with “BLK” in the name include
• BLK Brewing Co. in Fullerton (retail cold-brew coffee)
• BLK Earth Sea Spirits in Huntington Beach (steak and seafood)
• BLK Burgrz in Mission Viejo (Burgers, sliders, steak, chicken)
BLKdot Coffee sells slow-drip coffee and related drinks, specialty items such as Sea Salt Coffee and Thai Tea Latte, food items that include a chicken Bánh mì and a tuna- bacon- and sprouts-stuffed avocado, and pastries.
