La La Land founder Francois Reihani’s mission to transform foster youth futures
BY Spectrum News Giselle Fernandez
PUBLISHED 6:36 PM PT May 31, 2026
Francois Reihani has built the rapidly expanding La La Land cafés around a simple but powerful idea: Kindness matters.
Known for their signature practice of telling customers “I love you,” the cafés reflect Reihani’s belief that small acts of compassion can create meaningful change.
In this episode of “California Stories with Giselle Fernandez,” Reihani shares the personal experiences and entrepreneurial journey that inspired his mission.
As he explains, “Building something like this combines every single passion I’ve ever had into one and makes me really happy to do what I do literally every single day.”
Reihani was inspired to act after learning about the challenges facing foster youth who age out of the system at 18, often without family support, stable housing, or career opportunities. Through La La Land and its foundation, La La Land Cares, he provides paid internships, mentorship, job training, and a supportive community designed to help young adults build independent lives.
Reflecting on the young people he serves, he says, “resiliency is by far the number one thing you can learn from these youths because each one of their stories, if they get to adulthood, is really a miracle.”
The conversation also explores Reihani’s larger vision of creating a culture rooted in connection, compassion, and hope. Through the growth of La La Land and a mission he describes as bringing “more yellow” into the world, he hopes to inspire positive change far beyond the coffee business while encouraging more people to support foster youth through mentoring, fostering, and adoption.
Looking ahead, Reihani says, “Anything that I build with my life is about changing culture and being proud when I’m 80 years old of looking at what I built and how it shifted humanity, right?”