When you enter the Daily Espresso café at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, you’re immediately taken by the light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the white minimalist architecture and the smell of exclusive Colombian and Brazilian coffee brewing. And when you sit down, you are greeted by the welcoming smile of Paola Laverde.
“Coffee is coffee and food is food, but we want to highlight the quality of the service that we bring to the table,” said the Daily Espresso manager in Spanish. “What we want … is to give an image of what we have in our countries back in Latin America, which is a more personalized and warmer customer service.”
Last April, the Daily Espresso came to life because of a partnership of three Latin American families who wanted to share their immigrant roots with locals and newcomers. Laverde, who came to Fredericton from Colombia when she was 38, took it upon herself to operate the cafe.
“This business is now part of our family,” said Laverde. “It can be a motivation for self-improvement for other newcomers that Latin Americans are there at the front of the cafe.”
Laverde and the families she partners with want to represent Latin America, all of the countries and the quality of their services and imported products.
“Hearing someone trying the products out and saying, ‘Wow, this tastes like home,’ that is very gratifying.”
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As the manager and face of the cafe, Laverde says one of the biggest challenges she had to overcome was trying to understand Canadian culture.
“Even though people here are very kind, it definitely gets to a point where you have to take your time to get to know the client more deeply.”
Her idea of a business is not a cafe packed with people, but rather a cafe where customers are happy and feel comfortable enough to be regulars. Her goal is to bring the sense of familiarity and warmth that she surrounded herself with in her home country to her clients in Fredericton.
Laverde believes she has achieved a goal of her own: influencing locals to feel comfortable being more affectionate and compassionate. When she first got to Canada, friends told her Canadians didn’t like hugs.
“I express myself through hugs, just like any other Latin American,” said Laverde. “Everyone needs love: we need to remove that ice, whether it’s from the winter, the culture, etc. So, if a smile, a coffee, or something sweet is what it takes…” Laverde can’t quite finish the sentence before breaking into another cheek-to-cheek smile.
