Disneyland is celebrating its 70th Anniversary with a litany of new culinary choices for its visitors that pay homage to the milestone. Also featured in the world of Disney, on the West Side, is Sip & Sonder, a Black women-owned coffee shop that has an outpost in Disneyland in Anaheim.
Cassius got the opportunity to preview that 70th anniversary of the “happiest place on earth.” The California parks (Disneyland, Disney California Adventure Park) have been stocked with special food dishes merchandise and more to celebrate the event. In the Downtown Disney District of Disneyland is Sip & Sonder, a “cozy café” which offers hot and frozen drinks and small bites.
Sip & Sonder was founded Amanda-Jane Thomas and Shanita Nicholas, both attorneys, and its original outpost was celebrated as one of the City of Angels’ “best cafés” by the Los Angeles Times. Disney’s version—it’s part of the Parkside Market food hall —features the Sweet Rhapsody latte which includes lavender and mocha and the Hummingbird, which is a Jamaican sorrel slushie, as well as light bites inspired by the Caribbean.
Landing a spot at Disney’s doorstep wasn’t on the vision board of Thomas and Nicholas, per se. But the years of hard work they put into building their brand from the ground up has afforded them the ability to decide who they work with and on what terms.
“The vision of Sip & Sonder being in spaces that were very visible to the world and maintaining who we are and being founded as a Black woman-owned company that celebrates coffee, community, culture, and the Black diasporic experience from crop to cup, being to the world was,” says Nicholas when asked if linking with Disney was ever in the plans.
She adds, “So kind of a yes, but not specifically. But this was that opportunity that came along, and that alignment of being able to…there are so many people that come to Disney from all over, and being able to continue our story and growth here, was just aligned with so much that we we did set out to do.”
Reading between the lines it’s clear, Thomas and Nicholas ain’t taking any shorts. It’s a directly result of putting in grassroots time building their brand. “We’ve worked to be where we are in a way that was really intentional and specific,” says Thomas. “We bootstrapped up ‘til now and continue to do so with knowing that we wanted to have a foundation that was connected and true to our goals, our mission, our morality, our community, and our cultural backgrounds.”
That bootstrapping she humbly refers to is building out their flagship location in Inglewood, CA in 2017. The kudos and overwhelming support received at their OG spot lead to an opportunity to open a Sip & Sonder at The Music Center location in Downtown Los Angeles (Thomas says a mention by Kwini Reed, co-founder of Poppy and Seed in Anaheim, “in the right room” sparked the opportunity) in late 2021.
“From that space, we, you know, with that, like, identification, we then got approached about this opportunity and going along the journey with the other concepts here,” says Thomas.
Sip & Sonder in the Downtown Disney District opened (earlier this year) in time to be part of Disneyland’s 70th anniversary. The location is ideal, the space is charming and the vittles, we had the tasty The Monarch, a butterfly pea flower coconut vanilla slushie. The soulful vibes are a welcome addition to Disney, years in the making. And they kept their integrity intact.
“We’ve had opportunities that come up where there’s excitement around and we’re like, okay, this is the aligned and then at whatever point along the process [if] the alignment shifts or it becomes misaligned, we walk away,” says Nicholas. “It’s leaning into that feeling of just like, ‘Does your spirit really, is this really aligned? Would you be able to defend this? Can you sleep at night?’ Like, we’re in this. Working hard, persevering, troubling, like [Amanda] just said, we’ve bootstrapped. We made the decision to walk away from law careers to do something that we love and that we’re passionate about. We’re in it.”
Despite anti-DEI efforts (spoiler: they won’t work) from a certain administraiton, Disney continuing to partner with brands like Sip & Sonder on a genuine basis only means goodwill towards the house that Mickey Mouse built. Find out more about Sip & Sonder right here.