Have you ever wondered what goes into starting a café in a city with one of the most vibrant and competitive coffee scenes in Canada? Ehsan Hirji and Sinaan Samnani—both 23 years of age—are opening Tiny Twins Café, and documenting every step of their journey on Instagram.
Hoping to open its doors in August, Tiny Twins is located at 2985 Granville St. in Vancouver. The menu will offer playful matcha beverages, including a caramelized banana flavour, in addition to various baked goods and lunch options like croissants and a spicy chicken caesar sandwich.
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The beginning of the brand
Despite their young age, Hirji and Samnani are already established entrepreneurs. The “twins” (who are actually extended cousins) weren’t particularly close growing up, but developed a bond during their studies at Western University in London, Ontario (Hirji studied kinesiology and Samnani studied business intelligence). Shortly after, the two launched their first business venture—Twins Café—in the same city, to much success.
Seeking to expand their booming brand across the country, Hirji and Samnani made the trek to Vancouver, where they had always been “looking for a reason” to move.
“The coffee culture and community here is huge,” said Samnani.
The Tiny Twins strategy
Of course, arriving in an already saturated market meant the cousins had to figure out a competitive edge.
“To differentiate ourselves, we’ve got pretty creative with our branding and the way we package our products. Also, our social media presence is a key factor,” said Samnani. “We try to become very personable with everyone and put a face to the brand.”
By no means does that mean their personability is restricted to online. In fact, community-driven initiatives like their “community wall”—a space for neighbouring local businesses to advertise for free—are the backbone of their model. They’ve also already done pop-ups with Lululemon, Lagree West, B Ninety-Eight Pilates, among other B.C. businesses and social clubs.
Though they have playfully dubbed Tiny Twins the “most hated café in all of Vancouver,” the business has already received an outpouring of support from the community.
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“When we first opened up in Ontario, we had absolutely no clue what to do or what was going on,” said Samnani. “We experienced a lot of challenges over there with what we thought the initial numbers would be versus what it actually ended up being.”
But this time around, with experience successfully running a business, they were able to take a more sure-footed approach to setting up Tiny Twins.
“We’ve learned to just roll with the punches,” said Samnani.
Breaking down the numbers
So far, the cousins have invested $205,650 in Tiny Twins, which can be broken down into five main categories/phases: the deposit on the lease, construction fees, the kitchen, the espresso machine (yes, it gets its own category) and finishing touches.
Naturally, the cousins’ first phase was securing a space, which set them back $37,500.
Next, getting the café space up to snuff was no easy feat, with construction being the second most expensive category. Expenditures totalled $51,500, which included costs associated with demolition, framing, plumbing and electrical.
Of course, every café needs a functional kitchen with all the necessary appliances: fridges, an ice machine and stainless steel countertops. After all was said and done, the kitchen fees for Tiny Twins came in at $40,800.
It seems the $20,500 espresso machine from Sanremo Coffee Machines caused more trouble than one would assume possible. Per the Tiny Twins Instagram account, the machine necessary for making the business’ core product played a role in delaying the café’s opening (which was initially set to be June 1, 2026). It didn’t arrive until mid-July, and even then, the plug-in turned out to be too large for the size of the hole in the counter. But hey—it’s worth it for quality coffee.
Finally, the cousins’ last step was decking out the space with a fresh coat of paint, new furniture and other décor. The walls and floors are a neutral grey colour with plenty of vibrant blue accents to pop and fill the space, including custom, locally made cushions from Nardone Upholstery. The end result is a modern yet inviting environment, and it’s only fair that the prettiest parts of the project were also the most expensive, totalling $55,350.
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Now, Tiny Twins is just waiting on certain approvals from the city before it can open its doors to the public. Once it does, the cousins are hoping “to be cash flow positive from the jump” and to pay back their debt within a year of operations.
“We can’t wait to show Vancouver what we have in store for them,” said Samnani.
