Chuck Herrera

Orginally working many years as a Creative Director for a high-end liquor company, Chuck decided to switch his palate in a different direction and entered the coffee industry in 2013. This decision was heavily influenced on 15 years of non-profit service. Specifically teaching music to under-privileged communities in the Inland Empire and in several humanitarian projects in Kenya, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Nigeria, El Salvador, Colombia, and Mexico.

Although a corporate designer, his passion came through coffee. It was time to leave the industry and take a job at the local coffee shop to learn more. Mentorship was key, Chuck sought mentors from around the world including one of the greatest minds in Australia. He didnt want to learn about just coffee, this also included the tech side, so sought mentorship with the Italian engineers of Sanremo Coffee Machines. It wasnt long until he was competeing in coffee competitions and speaking at events such as Coffee Con and Coffee Festival. 

In 2017 took over a humble 297 sqft coffee stop in West LA,  from there things blew up. Went to origin and started roasting within a year. 2020 acquired the restaurant next door and released Goodpeople's first brunch menu. A 3,000 sqft patio was born and has been part of the community hub since then. Goodpeople has grown from a stop, to a location organically. The team is an amazing crew of coffee professionals that will make your experience a Specialty one and the food is a true representation of LA.

Committed to Diversity and Inclusion: Chuck Herrera brings valueable perspective to our conference as an Afro-Latinio business owner and coffee professional.