A California coffee shop is reaping the rewards of honoring Charlie Kirk in the face of backlash.
The owner of Invita Café in Rancho Santa Fe told Fox News Digital she “didn’t think twice” about expressing support for the slain Turing Point USA co-founder, who was assassinated last month while speaking in Utah. But the round white stickers being placed on cups declaring “Thank you, Charlie Kirk” and “We Love You” ignited controversy as haters attacked the coffee shop.
However, De Luca explained that sales soon exploded, increasing over 300 percent, as the shop was “flooded with righteous people.”
“When Israel went to war, we put on Israel stickers and started to support some of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]. I would say that was when I was like, ‘Let’s be courageous,'” De Luca told Fox News Digital.
“But with Charlie, we had hosted him. We had met him. We’ve met Erika,” she added, speaking of Kirk’s wife.
The cafe owner didn’t think it “could be controversial” to show support in the wake of Kirk’s murder.
“Maybe it’s my ignorance,” she said. “It didn’t even cross my mind that somebody could have some sort of issue with somebody being murdered.”
“We’ve supported him for many, many years,” she said, recounting how the business’s phone lines were inundated with callers saying “horrible and horrific things.”
“We ended up having to shut down our Google page and Yelp page because we were getting an insane amount of one-star reviews,” De Luca explained.
But soon, the San Diego community and her church “showed up” in support.
Invita Café in San Diego County is putting “Thank you Charlie Kirk, We Love You” stickers on their drinks—
And now they’re being attacked for it.
If you’re in San Diego County, skip Starbucks and support Invita Café. pic.twitter.com/gYqV6gpUYB
— Isabella Maria DeLuca (@IsabellaMDeLuca) September 18, 2025
For anyone in the San Diego area there is a coffee shop called Invita that is putting “thank you Charlie” stickers on all of their coffees despite backlash. They have a location in Carlsbad and Rancho Santa Fe if you want to support!!! pic.twitter.com/S6WQVaqlqD
— Alex Clark (@yoalexrapz) September 18, 2025
Radical leftists are leaving 1 ⭐️ reviews for a San Diego coffee shop because their cups say “We love you” & “Thank you Charlie Kirk.” I’ve been to both Carlsbad & Rancho Santa Fe locations. Great owners, great coffee, in real mugs.
Please support Invita Café. pic.twitter.com/TxVfbJd2qZ— Amy Reichert (@amyforsandiego) September 19, 2025
“I was actually tearing [up] because I was like, ‘Where did these people come from?’ We went 312% up in sales,” De Luca said. “We were flooded with righteous people just showing up, supporting us, defending us. They were defending Charlie. Obviously, we all were.”
“We didn’t have any haters show up,” she said. “It was only the righteous showing up – just God-fearing people who are like, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing. Charlie would be proud.'”
Beautiful!
Tonz of people turned out to support Invita Cafe in San Diego after leftists tried canceling them for supporting Charlie.
Patriots!
Video by @LukeSlywaker https://t.co/WWDZWpR19b https://t.co/e5EykDOxGW
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 21, 2025
Invita Café ran out of Charlie Kirk stickers so the sweet barista wrote a message for Charlie on it instead. Let’s support the businesses doing good. pic.twitter.com/qiip7KqKeU
— Kala F (@chantdownbbylon) September 19, 2025
She went on to note the extraordinary generosity of her community and those who did not even live in the state.
“We had somebody from Georgia call and say, ‘Can I just give you $500 and buy the next 100 drinks?’ Somebody walked in and left $300 and just walked out.”
“God is so behind all of this,” she stated. “This is insane. But I think Charlie would have been proud.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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