The Founder's Path to Launching 2 Cafes as a Wellness Cafe Concept

I am not someone who woke up as a kid and said, "I want to own a cafe when I'm older." I never had that dream. And yet here I am, opening two cafes in Montreal, and it is one of the most incredible things I have ever done. It has been so rewarding, and it has connected so many dots about why my career has gone the way it has.

This is the tell-all: what it's like to decide to open a cafe, what it's like to become a cafe operator, and what it's like to stick with that decision day in and day out, even on the days you wonder why.

Listen to the episode on The Voice of Ralia

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How the cafe found us

I am the kind of person who puts one foot in front of the other and follows where I'm inspired. When something stops inspiring me and starts creating resistance in my life, I look around for where I'm supposed to go next, even when it's scary. That's how hockey, which I took all the way to university, turned into a career in sports nutrition. Around the pandemic, it's also how I found myself already running two short-term rentals and imagining a third path: being a strategic investor in commercial real estate, and doing something different with the places we spend time in outside our homes.

I couldn't specialize in everything, so I chose retail and hospitality. When you merge those two, you end up with something a lot like a hotel. It took me two years to find our first building. My family office invested in a decrepit building on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, with holes in the floors, caving walls and an old bar. We gutted much of it and kept as much as we could to be as sustainable as possible. We built through 2023, and halfway through 2024, Ralia came to life as the company that would run it. That building is now La Maison Ralia, our hotel, with Connections, our event space, on the ground floor. If you want the full story of the building, it's in How It All Started.

At the time, a cafe space in our building was leased to another business. I had also inherited the running of another building nearby with a cafe on its ground floor. Then, around the same time, for different reasons, both cafe spaces were about to become empty.

So we went deep as a team. I tossed around the idea of running the cafes ourselves, and that's when I finally owned something I hadn't owned for a while: we were building a hotel brand, one Montreal could be proud of and one the world could be proud of. A cafe would complete that dream by bringing food and beverage to our guests and our community.

Wiser, but still a little nervous

I have made some bad decisions. The HVAC units in our hotel, in both the commercial and residential spaces, are one of them. If I could go back in time, I would choose a different supplier, ask the right questions and take my time. Everything felt so rushed, I didn't get good advice, and that will always be a bit of a sore spot.

So when the cafes came along, I was wiser, but still a little nervous. There were things I knew I could execute at another level, like the customer experience, and there's something our baristas now do for you at Cafe Ralia that I think might be unique in the world. I'll get to that.

The scariest part of this investment wasn't the money. It was the food. That's a little ironic, and I'll come back to it too.

Building the dream team

We decided to open not one but two cafes here in Montreal. There were renovations to do, but I knew the team had to come first. Our team at the time was focused on hospitality, events and property management. We needed real cafe expertise, so we went looking for the dream team, and we found it.

We put out the call for head positions, and we were specific. We wanted baristas with lots of customer service experience who had actually run cafes. We didn't plan to hire two people, but when you take on a big project, you know the skills you need without knowing what human form they'll come in. We stayed open, and that's how we ended up with two.

Melissa Walsh is one of our heads of cafe operations. She is highly skilled in customer service and in creating the vibe of a space, with years of experience in cafes and food-centred businesses. She built our first menu, and because of her work, we're starting from such an excellent place. She also has a background in somatics and sound healing, and she's the reason you'll be sinking into the cosy chairs in the cosy corner at our Rosemont location.

Joshua Bouchard is our coffee expert. He has spent years studying the whole chain: from farm to roaster, shelf life, grind size, water temperature and extraction. He looks at every step before your cup reaches you. If you ask Josh to describe a pour over, you are in for a treat. Every one of our baristas goes through Josh's training program. This year, we plan to open that program to anyone in Montreal, whether you want to learn as a hobby or work in the industry, so great barista training becomes more accessible. You can hear Melissa and Josh in their own words in our first cafe conversation.

The feedback we're getting tells us this investment in people was the right choice. Guests tell us they can taste that we didn't burn the bean.

Summer was a rush of contractors, equipment orders, installations and measuring everything twice. We opened our first location in October, and now the coffee is pouring.

Borrowed from Paris

This summer, my family and I went to Paris, and I noticed something most Parisian cafes do really well: small tables. I saw how connecting that was, even for my own family. We sat closer together, we were more intimate with each other, and more people fit in the room. It was a hoot.

So I brought it home. Our little tables are about 18 inches across, barely big enough for a laptop. Don't worry, workers: each cafe also has bigger spots for you. But if you're coming in for a moment of connection, we want you at that little table with your friends or family, feeling like you're in a Parisian cafe. We were so delighted when one of our first guests wrote:

"Great new cafe where the staff really know how to make a great coffee! I enjoyed sitting down at the place which has a nice Parisian cafe feel to it." Shannon S., Google review

The Paris trip inspired our mugs too. I saw beautiful mugs made by a local potter there, so I reached out to a potter here at home. Our mugs are made by Michelle Ma of Atelier Ma in Montreal.

Bien-être: the good of being

What makes Cafe Ralia different is our focus on well-being. In French, we say bien-être: the good of being. Être is your whole being.

That starts the moment you walk in. The colours, the music, the smell and the feel of the space are all chosen to help your nervous system settle, so you already feel better before you order.

At the counter, we want you to feel loved for being there. We want to be a mirror for what's possible inside you: self-love, love for what you're putting in your body, and a conscious connection to what you're consuming and who you're being. We didn't have to train our baristas to be great welcomers and lovers of people. We hired people who already were.

And then there's the connection I promised. I'm saving it for when you come in. If your barista doesn't offer it because it's a busy moment, ask for it. They'll know what you mean. There's a special card involved, and that's all I'll say.

We also want you to feel connected to what you're consuming. We share where our coffee comes from and that it's roasted here in Montreal by Porte Bleu, and we're working toward naming the exact farm. We tell you who made your food, whether it's us or one of the local bakers and suppliers we work with. Our croissants are warmed and baked on site. If you have an allergy or follow a plant-based diet, we want you to feel held. We're not fully there yet, but that is our direction.

The food fear

So, the food fear. Many of us want to be seen. Then a part of us says, "Do I really? What about my privacy? What about people's opinions?" I live in that push and pull, and it shows up in the food.

I went so deep into the nutritional sciences that the science started to look like philosophy. Take creatine. For some people it works tremendously well, and for others it doesn't work at all. With high performers, we stopped treating people like statistics and started seeing that the individual is the magic. Athletes were really breaking records, and science couldn't fully explain why. To me, that's where nutrition meets the nervous system, mindset and well-being, and that's what I want the cafe to stand for.

I have never labelled food as good or bad, and most nutritionists don't. There's a place for every kind of food in a kaleidoscope of human beings. I love a crispy, hot, fresh croissant. My eyes want the huge one, and part of me feels ripped off by a mini. But my body, and my children's bodies, do better with the mini. So we went mini on our pastry options, and we call it the mini bar.

Here's what's coming as the menu grows this year, built with our team and our community:

• The language I used for years with my athletes and families through Eat This for Performance and Super Kids Kitchen. Instead of talking about macronutrients, we'll tell you each food's superpower, like an energizer or a muscle builder. Families and coaches told me they stopped talking about food the same way at their kitchen tables, and it felt more empowering.
• Lunchbox kits for parents. I'm a parent, and I know getting cut-up veggies and fresh fruit into a lunchbox in a fun way isn't always easy.
• New breads to come, and maybe a baker of our own, for a more connected experience with the grains we eat.

I'm going slowly and asking a lot of questions, because I want what we create to truly help our community. Sharing this with you is part of how I let go of the fear.

A cafe made for families

I'm a mom of two, and I remember going out in Montreal with a baby and finding nowhere to change a diaper and no cafe that felt like it was for children. I knew that if I ever had a space, it would be family friendly.

Our bathroom vanities are designed big enough to hold a change pad, because I don't believe we need a separate fixture. Every public washroom should have enough counter space, and anyone who needs a spot for their bag will appreciate it too. Every one of our cafes has a kids' corner. Our kids club, which ran for months before we opened the cafes, will be back very soon, possibly as a monthly facilitated activity, an open play time, or both. We are mom friendly, dad friendly and child friendly.

What we're really measuring

I didn't give you all the hard hauls, like the trips to IKEA. There were stressful, get-this-done moments, but I never felt that this wasn't going to happen.

I also won't pretend everyone can do this. Opening one cafe is a big investment, let alone two, and you need to be able to carry the first six months too. My partner in our family office and I made this decision together, for a future we believe will give back to the community.

Yes, we're a business, and we want our investment to come back to us. But I'm also measuring the return to the community: how many people we feed, what our reviews say, how many people are enjoying the space, and how many businesses we lift up along the way, from our suppliers to our roaster.

Maybe that's why I took on two locations at once. This isn't just a cafe in a space. It's a concept, and one that could grow. I'm not getting ahead of myself, but I can feel it.

Come find us

4281 Saint-Laurent Boulevard, on the Main, inside La Maison Ralia. Open now. Weekdays 8 AM to 4 PM, and weekends 8 AM to 5 PM. Most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, our event space becomes an extension of the cafe for co-working, with curated light and sound. $15 gets you a seat and a coffee.

525 Rosemont, right across from the Rosemont metro and in front of a beautiful library. Opening November 30, 2026.

The two cafes are about a 20-minute walk or a 10-minute drive apart. Follow along on Instagram at @ralia.cafe.

Join us for the launch party on Sunday, November 29, from 9 AM to 1 PM at 4281 St-Laurent. There'll be a live DJ, coffee, bites and good vibes, and it's family friendly. RSVP here.

Not in Montreal? Stay with us upstairs at La Maison Ralia and save 20% this winter with the code COSYMONTREAL. Book your stay.

If you want another behind-the-scenes episode, send me your questions. I'd love to see you at the table.

Mya
Founder, Ralia

The Cafe Ralia story so far

This post is part of our cafe series. You can read each post on its own or follow the story in order:

• Part 1: Here's how we're building our wellness cafe brand one delicious mini-muffin at a time!
• Part 2: Why We're Opening Cafe Ralia (And Why You Should Care About Holiday Parties)
• Part 3: Small on Purpose: The Mini Bar at Café Ralia
• Part 4: The Founder's Path to Launching 2 Cafes as a Wellness Cafe Concept