Meet Salina Salter | Cafe Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Salina Salter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Salina, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I love to be creative and I am always looking for ways to integrate my creativity into my work, whatever it is I may be doing. For many years I have worked for other people, sharing my skills with my employers meant running the front of house, doing graphic design, photography, social media management as well as interior design and overall store management. I have been fortunate to work for people that have let me use my creativity and run with their vision, but I always knew I wanted to have my own business. When I lost my job because of Covid I finally had the space to really dream, so when I put pen to paper all of my ideas just flowed right out. I started working on my business plan, applying for funding, building out my furniture, designing my menu, creating all my branding and in those few months of isolation iluka espresso was born.

I wanted the menu to be bright, fresh, vibrant and unique. So many of the food and drink items you will find at iluka won’t be found at other places. For example our iced coconut blues drink. It’s a blue spirulina + oat milk drink. It is a summertime hit! We are most known for our smoothie bowls, fancy avo toast, yummy coffee and the delicious iluka bun.

The name itself stems from my love for travel, the ocean and Australia. I do have some family heritage in Australia but 20 years ago I moved to Australia, learned to love the cafe culture and beach culture and wanted to bring some of that essence to my west coast community. iluka is an Australian Aboriginal word, it means by the sea, that is one thing you definitely feel when you step through the doors. It is bright, filled with greenery and summer vibes year round.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I love to create. After studying photography in Australia I taught myself graphic design, volunteered for organizations and had some freelance clients, which gave me the experience to be able to create the branding for iluka. But what I would say I am most proud of is that I built and designed all of my furniture in the cafe and that is pretty unique as most business owners tend to just hire out and buy everything. My mission was to build by hand as many things as possible. I even have a selection of retail goods that I have created to sell in store. This was a challenging experience, but so rewarding! It also provides a point of connection with my customers, they can really see that I poured everything into creating this space for them. As a single woman it has always been challenging to support myself, especially in the creative field, but I worked hard and always left room for creativity, even if I was not woking in the creative field. It is such a great privilege to have been able to create this beautiful space for the community as well as steady employment for myself and my employees. Many have told me that this space is like an oasis and that was my vision. Regardless of the season and what is happening in your life or your day, you can come into iluka and feel like you have stepped away, even for just a few minutes.

I love the process of starting something from scratch, my next dream is expanding to SoCal. I can’t wait to share my creativity with new communities.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are so many great spots in the city, but I am always partial to being by the beach! Here are some of my ideas

-Stroll Abbott Kinney for some shopping, good food and coffee. Included would be intelligentsia for a yummy oat latte and The butchers daughter for food

– Cycle the path between Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach ( I took my best friend once but forgot to mention that it would be a bit of a journey- that sunburn was bad) Have brunch at Bluestone Lane, find your favourite pair of jeans from All You, Candy and her dogs will find you the best pair. Reapply sunscreen and ride back!

– Brunch at Great White Cafe in Venice, stroll through the Venice canals

– Go for a hike at Point Dume or up the Santa Monica Mountains followed by some good food at Malibu Farm Pier Cafe

– Drive the coast to San Diego for the weekend, stay in a small beachside community along the way.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shout out goes to my parents who have had my back every step of the way. From providing feedback on all my ideas, being my sounding board, they also helped be my assistants during the building of each piece of furniture and it didn’t end there. When my business opened it was such a success, so for the first year they would travel 3hours each way every weekend to help in the kitchen whether it be baking, doing dishes or cleaning. Since then they have actually moved here and help me on a daily basis. I couldn’t do it without them.

Website: ilukaespresso.ca

Instagram: @ilukaespresso