We recently connected with Camila Ruiz and have shared our conversation below.
Camila, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Me and my brother Octavio, were raised in a family where being brave and taking risks was associated with freedom. And, we believe is a goal every human wants to reach. We were born in France and our parents (mother from Uruguay, father from Argentina) decided to raise us in Uruguay, a very small country of 3 million people. Octavio always knew he wanted to be an actor and I was good at chem so I decided to study biochemistry and biological sciences, two very challenging careers in terms of the socioeconomic reality of Uruguay. Therefore, Octavio decides to apply for a scholarship in NYC to study a BFA in acting while I was finishing my two careers and decided to move forward to pursue my PhD in Biochem. So a year after he got accepted I applied to be in the same city as him. For us, moving to NYC meant having to adapt to enormous changes, not only culturally, but also rhythmically. After graduating, Octavio realized that the acting world had places for very few people and I wasn’t happy in a lab anymore, we decided to open a coffee shop in the city. This was in 2022 and that was the biggest risk we ever took, not having a clue of where we would get the money and not having any experience at all, something inside us, probably from our upbringing, triggered the idea of having something on our own. Something where we would be our own bosses, pursuing that freedom we are in constant search. After a year of finding solutions to everyday first business owners problems, we cant be happier and proud of what we achieved: we opened MCM coffee on Fulton st, in the financial district of Manhattan. A small coffee and ceramics shop that we craft, that focuses on giving our customers artisanal and home made products made by us!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
We got the idea of having a coffee shop because we see everyday new Yorkers drinking coffee at any time. Therefore, we thought it would be a key product to sell. WE also wanted to bring Uruguayan culture to one of the busiest streets in NYC and Dulce de Leche (similar to caramel but thicker and with a slightly different taste) had to be added to our menu. We decided to bake our own alfajores, which are traditional pastries made of cookies filled with Dulce de leche and covered with chocolate, lemon glaze or coconut flakes, and we now sell a variety of 6 different types. We also included a savory classice which are the Uruguayan homemade baked empanadas. We believe that bringing multicultural diversity to the lower district of Manhattan reigned by a multitude of chains/corporations, we are able offer a unique home-made style to the table.
We are extremely proud of this project since we built it ourselves from start to end, we bake our own products, we roast our coffee beans, and we make our own hand crafted ceramics to sell to the public.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I have to say we are pretty new, we opened in December 2022, with a scaffolding covering our front windows. We were hidden from the public and we know that the slowest months are January and February. So at first, we had a hard time getting customers but little by little people started showing up until we got our amazing regular clients. We believe that our reputation was built due to quality of our products but mostly because we listen to them. We listen to their advice, to their life stories and to their everyday problems. We care for them, and we learn a lot!
How’d you meet your business partner?
My business partner is my brother. I always knew I wanted to work with him. We live, travel, teach ceramics and nbow own a coffee shop together. I don’t believe this business would have worked if it wasn’t shared with him. We connect really well and the weak point of one are the strong ones of the other. We complement perfectly and we communicate everything. We obviously discuss things, and sometimes we don’t agree. In fact, many times we don’t agree. But we can always, no matter what, solve what needs to be solved and most important, if we have to expand this project, we would still choose each other as partners!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.themcmcoffee.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themcmcoffee/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mcm-coffee-new-york
- Other: https://goo.gl/maps/qARGQQaFPCPaqSb39
Image Credits
Octavio Yattah (brother) Adrian (Handyman)