Couple spent ‘all of our money' to open a New York cafe—their business brought in nearly $50 million last yearElisa Marshall and Benjamin Sormonte didn't want to be overly ambitious when launching a business in New York in 2014.
"You're coming here for the ambiance for the vibe, for the beauty of the space," she says, adding:"Good food and coffee is easy to find in a lot of places. So you need that little something more."When the couple met in Montreal in 2011, Sormonte was a corporate M&A lawyer at a global law firm. Marshall had a full-time job in marketing and side gigs doing event planning and interior design. Their business inexperience showed early on.
When the cafe opened in 2014, the couple focused entirely on running and operating the business. Their long days started at 6 a.m., baking pastries and other items for the day, and ended at 8 p.m. preparing dough for the next morning. Despite the sacrifice, Sormonte looks back on those early days fondly."When you start, you want to be here every single hour of the day," he says."It made it special by doing it together.