Since November, she and a friend group – a healthy bunch whose club of choice is of the running variety – have longingly scrolled TikTok videos of Los Angeles cafés transforming into daytime dance parties where cocktails are traded out for lattes and DJs spin beats with exhilarating vigor. Within a few months, Bernini brought the vision to Dallas.
“Dallas is really craving these kinds of events and activities,” Bernini says.
Berni Bean in Deep Ellum debuted Berni Beats, Dallas’ first monthly “coffee shop DJ kickback,” on Feb. 1 with a house music set by DJ José, with around 250 people joining in.
“It was insane, like that turnout, I posted a TikTok and it went viral, and there were so many people that came,” Bernini says. The TikTok received 32,000 views, she says. Since then, Dallas coffee shop DJ sets have been in high demand, and DJs are happy to oblige.
“Cafés are a great canvas for throwing events,” DJ Casie Farrell says, who frequents coffee shops daily, typically Houndstooth on Henderson Avenue. Cafes with brick walls, low ceilings and textured exteriors are the perfect setting. Farrel hosted her first event, Coffee Shop Rave, which has long been a dream of hers, in February at Houndstooth on Sylvan Avenue.
“Coffee shop parties have been popular in Europe,” Antonio Vargas, owner of bartending service StyleBender, said in an email. “Now, many major cities in the states are starting to curate their own. We wanted to jump in on the fun in our home in Dallas.”
Vargas and DJ Alexander Chase are launching Breakfast Bender on March 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at La Reunion a breezy cafe and bar in the Bishop Arts District. The goal is to “gain daytime exposure for La Reunion and other Bishop Arts businesses through careful and inclusive curation,” he says. The event will feature a caffeinated cocktail menu and four Afrobeat sets from DJs Dusty, La Taina, Alexander Chase and Solsís.
Alexander Chase played an energetic set at Sunday Sip Club, "a community, music and culture experience featuring coffee," on March 9. According to the DJ’s March 8 Instagram story, the sold-out event had 800+ RSVPs, some crowd-surfing and nonstop dancing.
Like Vargas, Bernini aims to utilize Berni Beats to promote a “community-based lifestyle” that will contribute to Deep Ellum’s business economy.
“I lived in New York before I lived here and Deep Ellum always reminds me of Williamsburg and Brooklyn and … I just hope people can come and see that, and I hope that it also drives more business to everybody else around here because it really is one of the places with the most character in Dallas,” Bernini says.
Deep Ellum has struggled with a reputation as a neighborhood with costly parking and crime, even though the Observer has debunked the parking issues. Bernini hopes the coffee shop DJ sets located in the heart of Deep Ellum (2820 Elm St.) will encourage more Dallasites to discover the neighborhood.
“It does mean a lot to us when people actually show up, and I hope that they'll continue to show up to the small businesses and support that,” she says. “And I hope that they [consumers] understand how much of a positive impact that has on us.”
Bernini's focus includes featuring local vendors, but one thing she won’t do is serve alcohol.
A Healthy Dose of Clubbing
"We're not interested in adding alcohol,” Bernini says. “Our whole thing is we just want to create a community through music and through art and activate, hopefully, the Deep Ellum area and bring in people who are like-minded into one space.”The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Coffee shop day parties cast a wide net, simultaneously tapping those who grew up at the peak of club culture but have outgrown the need for bottle service and a generation at the helm of the sober-curious movement. “This is a very approachable setting for everybody,” Farrell says.
Dallas has a thriving nightlife with plenty of college kids participating, Farrell says, but the shift away from alcohol indulgence is undeniable.
“Dallas is so alcohol driven that it forgets that there are a good percentage of patrons who want alcohol-free alternatives and, most of the time, that option isn’t readily available at these bars and nightclubs,” DJ Stephen Carmona says.
In April, Labor of Love will launch as a monthly residency every first Saturday of the month from 8 p.m. to midnight featuring house disco and some R&B music at Wayward Coffee’s Design District location. The growing trend has increased gig opportunities for DJs. De-centering alcohol is an additional perk, Carmona says.
“It’s a joy to change it up and do the coffee shop thing because we get to play what we really love and are currently passionate about,” Carmona says. “We also don’t really have to worry about requests or people who may be too inebriated. The people who are attending the coffee shop gigs aren’t there to necessarily get messed up, they’re there to dance and have a good time around people they enjoy being around.”
Bernini says that there's ample space in Dallas for these types of events.
“Coffee shops are small. We can’t host that many people. I'm happy to see other people do it and every DJ and every shop brings a different energy. It's all about what you like and and just getting to see and experience different places and different DJs, and then choosing what fits best for you," she says.
Here are other coffee shop DJ sets to catch:
• Hyphen Space, The Boba Plug’s rebrand, launched Matcha Wave, a bi-weekly afternoon Saturday DJ set featuring R&B music.
• Olmo Market and DJ Romántico are hosting The Blends on March 22, a party featuring R&B, glam, French and house music.
• Additional DFW coffee shop party organizers include The Funhaüs, The Louder House Group and First Saturdays in Dallas, a monthly event “bringing good vibes, good music and good energy – without the negatives.”
