Meet Rachel Ye, a third year business student who owns her own business!
Born in Beijing, China, Rachel moved to Canada all by herself six years ago. She started at UVic in pre-admit before being accepted into the business program. She was never planning on starting her own business, but instead of doing a regular co-op for the summer of her second year, she decided she wanted to open library café. She found Miss Fruits H.K. Desserts, a Chinese inspired dessert shop owned by two UVic alumni who offered to sell her the place. It wasn’t exactly what she was picturing, but she quickly learned that not everything was going to work out perfectly.
It was a long process making the decision to take over the store, but eventually Rachel did it, even keeping a lot of the same menu items. When the sign changed to ‘Rachel’s Café’ without her knowing, she had to speed up the process of opening the store. Customers came in asking for coffee before she even had coffee beans in the store. With no previous barista experience, she took a three-day coffee training course and sped up the shipment of the machines. Finally, in July, Rachel’s Café officially opened.
As a full time student, Rachel’s had to fit the hours of the store around her busy schedule. She has only a few volunteers to help her keep the operations going, including her roommate and a few international students who are given the chance to receive their work experience. Rachel’s co-op coordinator was instrumental in helping her build the company, and supportive of her throughout the process. She isn’t making any profit yet, but has a five-year plan to get the startup capitals back. Long term, her goal is to expand to a number of stores. Right now her biggest struggles are the practical issues, like paying rent and getting more customers.
Rachel’s original goal for the shop was to encourage teenagers to read, and have a place for friends to hang out and have some quiet time. She also originally wanted to make it a non-profit, but those practical issues got in the way. “There’s a struggle between how I want to do it and how I have to do it,” she says. Luckily, she has overcome a lot of these struggles and learned a lot from the experience.
With cakes like the matcha macau, and drinks like the espresso cola, there are plenty of unique things to try, many of which Rachel came up with herself. Her favorite thing to eat is the potted plant cake, a sweet treat that actually looks like a bowl of dirt. She tries to make her desserts as healthy as possible. I tried the Macau cake, which for something with no added sugar was absolutely delicious.
You can try it for yourself at 4071 Shelbourne Street, and check out her Facebook page here.