From School Dropout to Café Owner
By Kathy Wu and Melody Yeung
“When you feel that you’re contented with your life, try to focus more on what you are not satisfied with, and then your time will not be wasted anymore, that a brighter future will not be far away.”Bruno Koo
Koo did not abandon his dream of launching his own cafe.
Dressed in a navy blue suit with a black tie, Bruce Koo speaks eloquently. It is hard to believe that he is only 22.
Koo’s current success belies the hard times that he has weathered. As the youngest in a well-to-do family, he says he felt a lot of pressure from his parents who compared him his siblings’ successes.
“I didn’t talk much when I was young and I wanted to distance myself from people,” says Koo, who withdrew and lost interest in studying when he entered his teens. When he was 14 he dropped out of school and moved out.
“I thought that the world outside was more exciting and fun than being at school,” Koo says. “I thought that there would be more opportunity.”
But without a formal education, he was limited to lower-end jobs. He found a job as a barista in a café in Mong Kok. Meanwhile, he fell in with a rough crowd and started taking drugs. Koo realized that his new friends were taking advantage of him when they pressured him to let them hang out and take drugs at his workplace.“Then, you realize the society is totally different from what you’ve perceived. It’s tough out there and people can be very two-faced,” Koo says.
Then one day he had a conversation with a customer at the café that changed his life.“He mocked me that I wouldn’t be able to have a luxurious life like he did because I looked so terrible,” he recalls. “He said if I want to have a good life in future, then I needed to study hard.”
The customer’s words awakened him from his funk.“I didn’t want my future to be miserable and hopeless anymore,” Koo says. What was more, he started to dream big. “I didn’t just want to make coffee but also own a café,” he says. At that time, a senior staff member at the café specialized in latte art, which at the time was unpopular in Hong Kong.
But both Koo and his fellow colleague were visionaries, and saw the potential in latte art.
Koo learned latte skills from his colleague, and produced more than ten thousands cups of coffee (latte art included) in two years.
After years of practice, Koo finally earned his reward: A first runner up of Coffee Fest Latte Art Championship in San Diego in 2011.
Since then, Koo’s life has turned around. The recognition led to job offers from cafés. At the age of 21 he snagged a job as a business manager at Café Habitu.
Yet, Koo did not abandon his dream of launching his own cafe. After gaining experience at Café Habitu, he and his friends finally opened a café “Artista Perfetto” in Tai Wan in 2012. When asked what his life philosophy is Koo simply says “I love walking the path that no one has walked before.”
