Today we’d like to introduce you to Barythaya Lunsford.
Hi Barythaya, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
XO Coffee and Tattoo shop started as a coffee shop at first! At the time I was just a tattoo artist with a dream of having their own coffee spot, so I poured my heart and soul into opening one in 2021. For two years, it was my proudest achievement. As both businesses began to grow however, I noticed I was being pulled away from XO the more my tattoo career needed me, and I have to admit: I didn’t like how it made me feel one bit. It was like a parent neglecting their child. Eventually one day it struck me to put them together under one roof so that I could be more present in the coffee shop, I could still tattoo, and it would be a unique little spot; then boom! XO Coffee Tattoo was born.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Running any food and beverage business is rather difficult no matter how small or large, so I commend anyone who owns and operates one! All in all, there is a lot of inventory to keep up with, aside from keeping up with staff and customers, maintain the ambiance of the shop, staying relevant, etcetera etcetera. I believe our biggest hurdle was getting our menu fully up and running. For a long while, we had not developed our food items and were struggling to figure out operations on that end; but once it was squared away, the trajectory upwards just felt natural. As for the tattoo side of it; ironically, I have been tattooing for many years, so keeping up with the other artists and our supplies list was the easiest change when I merged the two worlds together.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
XO Coffee and Tattoo Shop is one-of-a-kind for its area, as it is Central Florida’s first coffee and tattoo business under one roof! Owned by a tattooer themselves, XO Coffee was first founded as a craft coffee business. It ran solely as the coffee shop for two years before welcoming the tattoo studio located inside in 2023. The coffee shop offers syrups made in-house, as well as coffees from local roasters for both espresso and drip. Additionally, the tattoo shop has a well-rounded team of (currently) four artists, as well as a brow specialist. Each tattoo artist specializes in a specific style such as color realism, black and gray realism, traditional, neo-traditional, anime, and fandom style tattoos. Aside from the unique experience and offerings, we are most proud of our nontraditional staff who are supported in what they love to do. We have merchandise designed and pressed by our baristas, our food and drink ideas are created as a team by our baristas, our tattoo artists design artwork for events– everyone comes together to create here and we really love that about us! When you enter through XO’s doors, you can feel the love and community. The warmth is there.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I do feel that being welcoming and authentic is most important to our success. When we share with our customers, when we communicate with one another and come together to offer clientele the best we can, it is a wonderful experience that I feel is mutual– and that means a lot. In today’s world, we lack a lot of opportunities for human connection; I feel that we make people want to share in that more here, so naturally they want to come back.
Contact Info:
- Website: xocoffeeshop.com
xotattooshop.com
barythaya.com - Instagram: @barythaya @xocoffeeshop @xotattooshop
- Other: @xocoffeeshop @xotattooshop TikTok
Image Credits
IG: @loveismephotography IG: @28thshooter <br>
