Blue Butterfly is an El Segundo staple that many residents adore (so much that they won Best Coffee Shop in the 2018 Best of eGundo competition and pulled in the most overall votes) – what you might not know is just how much owners Dale & Toni Inghram care about coffee – AND, whether you like it!
This Sunday, March 17, to Saturday, March 23, the Inghram’s are inviting El Segundo residents to celebrate the grand opening of their newest venture & location – Blue Butterfly at Smoky Hollow and Smoky Hollow Roasters located in Smoky Hollow at 118 Sierra St with $0.99 coffee, $2 specialty beverages, roasting demos, and much more! Scroll down for details and to learn more about the Inghram’s and the story of their deep dive into the world of coffee!
Blue Butterfly Coffee has been part of the fabric of the Main St El Segundo community for over 23 years. It’s named after the El Segundo Blue Butterfly, which was the first insect on the national endangered list, while Smoky Hollow Roasters is named after the industrial area just north of The Chevron Refinery.
Smoky Hollow Roasters El Segundo Grand Opening Week Details
● Thursday, March 21 from 4-6 p.m. – Happy Hour with beer, wine, light apps provided by DeLuca, desserts by Smoky Hollow Baking and music.
● Saturday, March 23 from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – Pancake & Bacon Breakfast featuring coffee tasting and roasting demonstrations
● Specials for the entire week of March 17-23 – Smoky Hollow Roasters will offer $0.99 cent coffee and $2 specialty drink specials, including their signature Blue Butterfly Tea Latte made with a combination of Blue Butterfly Pea Tea and Oolong Tea, with Rose and Oat Milk (the drink is truly blue); their housemade Purple Palmer, which is a combination of Blue Tea and Lemonade that makes a Purple version of the traditional Arnold Palmer; and much more.
Smoky Hollow Roasters El Segundo Location
The Next Chapter for Dale & Blue Butterfly
Blue Butterfly at Smoky Hollow and Smoky Hollow Roasters is the next chapter in the story of a local family and their passion for coffee. For the Inghram’s, local is at the heart of everything they do and they’re hoping they can bring more attention to sleepy El Segundo with ambitions to sell coffee roasted at Smoky Hollow Roasters globally.
The Inghram’s live local, brew coffee locally, and now they roast locally with the opening of Smoky Hollow Roasters. Dale shares, “Blue Butterfly is local and brings the community together whereas Smoky Hollow Roasters is Global, stemming from our local roots, and our desire is to bring the local experience of our coffee wherever our bags can travel.”
Dale shares, “One of the best compliments I got from a regular, is that after visiting coffee shops all over Europe, he came back and said that he realized that I hadn’t just created a coffee shop, but rather a place for locals to come together. That plays well into our philosophy that coffee is an experience that is influenced by who you drink it with and the location you drink it.”
The Inghram’s Investment in Blue Butterfly
Before the Inghram’s (Dale & Toni) purchased Blue Butterfly in 2014 they were regulars. Dale loved Blue Butterfly and would frequently discuss his affinity for one day owning Blue Butterfly with family and friends. Dale told us, “One day, I waited on the back patio for the owner to come out and told her that if she was ever interested in selling the shop that my wife Toni and I would be interested in buying it. She told me they had just put it up for sale the week prior. It was like it was meant to be so we took the plunge. One day, we didn’t own a coffee shop, and the next we did.”
The Inghram’s took over Blue Butterfly Coffee on Feb 15, 2014. From that day on, Dale dove deep into the world of coffee reading everything he could, going to every coffee convention, and then topping off his education by becoming a licensed Q grader, the most renowned certification for coffee cuppers instilled by the CQI (Coffee Quality Institute), which is credited for standardizing the grading and cupping protocols around the world.
About Dale Inghram
For over 20 years, Dale has been a voice-over actor, having voiced 32 Super Bowl Commercials and voiced various promos for every Major network. Currently, Dale can be heard as the Voice of the Bravo network.
Originally from the Chicago area, Dale graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Theater Degree and now, other than voice over, considers the coffee world his stage.
