Colados Coffee & Crepes’s third location is a little piece of Paris right in the heart of Phoenix.
The coffee and crepe restaurant on 7th Street and Oak Street opened its doors just under a year ago. The local shop is owned and managed by Berni and Yesica Reina, a couple who migrated from Mexico and spent years working corporate jobs until they began their second career as entrepreneurs when they founded their restaurant.
“After working at a company as a manager for almost 20 years, we lost our jobs,” said Berni Reina. “That is where Colados started.”
While Colados has touches of heritage representation in their menu, it is not the typical Mexican restaurant one would expect from first-generation Mexicans.
After taking a trip to Paris, the family fell in love with crepes. Wanting to bring a little piece of Europe with them, the family opened their first Colados location in 2014 on 107th Avenue and Indian School Road in the city of Avondale. They then expanded the company and opened a second location at McDowell Road and Pebble Creek Parkway in the city of Goodyear. Each location has around 15 to 20 employees.
Berni Reina explained that the name Colados represents their Mexican heritage and originated from a style of coffee brewed in their home town, Sonora, Mexico.
“It all happened because we lost our jobs and went to Paris,” said Berni Reina. “We were introduced to crepes so then we thought of mixing coffee with crepes.”
However, their success was not instant, according to their daughter Jocelyn Reina. She said the restaurant took some time to take off and gain loyal customers. The shop first started off in their home garage and has slowly built up to what it is today.
“At the beginning it was really hard. We were eating there and sleeping there 24/7 but that was the best we could do at the time,” said Jocelyn Reina.
While this location may be new to the Phoenix metro area, the family has successfully run two other shops. They say their key to success is staying familial in their leadership.
Their son, Aaron Reina, manages all the business’ social media and marketing aspects, while Jocelyn Reina oversees all three locations. Having their children in the business allows the Reinas to bring in a new and younger generation of customers.
“Majority of the people come in from social media, Instagram and a little from TikTok,” said Aaron Reina. “The most marketing we have ever had was word of mouth. Our guests are the ones who are really like ‘hey come try this new place out’.”
The Reinas said they don’t pay much attention to what other local businesses do, but they do pay attention to how big corporations might affect them.
“We try not to compete with local businesses, they are also trying so we want to support them,” said Jocelyn Reina. “We try to unite, since it’s kind of hard to compete with corporate business.”
During the pandemic, the restaurant hit a rough patch along with many other businesses in the state. Jocelyn Reina said the pandemic was rough for them, and they just barely managed to make it through.
“It’s kind of hard to be a small business and keep up with the wages, where we saw the biggest jumps was when we tried to compete with the wages of other companies, especially during COVID,” said Jocelyn Reina.
While customers were staying home for safety during the pandemic, employees were leaving Colados for higher paying jobs. However, after months of struggling, they say their business is back on track and Colados has lines out the door on a regular basis.
“This is a business that gives you good stability but you have to stay focused, always and be passionate about everything you do,” said Berni Reina.
The family stated that their goal is to open more restaurants in the years to come.
Contact the reporter at mbeltr20@asu.edu.
