I grew up in Mexico city, surrounded by incredible food and art. After finishing high school I came to New York to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA).
After working in a range of fine-dining kitchens around the world including 3 Michelin starred Akelare in Spain and Eleven Madison Park in New York and taking a year to travel around Mexico to write my first cookbook My Sweet Mexico, I returned to New York with the idea of sharing the amazing flavors I had re-discovered in her travels.
In 2010 decided to open a small ice pop (paleta) cart at Hester St Fair. The idea was to start with these delicious Mexican Ice pops because they represent the frozen treat in Mexico. Every little town has at least one paletería (paleta shops) and to Mexicans, paletas are like gelatos to Italians, a delicious and integral part of the culture.
That same year I also opened Dough (named best doughnut in New York 2011 and 2012) I have written 2 Books, My Sweet Mexico (nominated for a James beard award 2010 for best baking and pastry cookbook) and Paletas, and I’m finishing up my third book about ice cream that will come out Fall of 2017.
La Newyorkina is a Mexican style frozen treat and sweets company that started in 2010.
After spending a year traveling through out Mexico doing research for my first cookbook My Sweet Mexico, I returned to New York with the idea of sharing the amazing flavors she had re-discovered in my travels.
Without an exact idea of the kind of shop I wanted to have I decided to start small and see what happened.
One morning, I woke up and knew what it was going to be; it would be an ice cream shop! (With the help of my dear friend Hannah who helped out for the summer) I began her journey making paletas and selling them at the Hester street fair, which also opened the summer 2010.
Getting started wasn’t as easy as I thought and getting basic things like the molds proved to be quite a challenge but all the hard work has been worth it.
La Newyorkina has expanded from one cart to several ones and our paletas are also found in many more places. With the incredible help of a hard working and amazing team, I have been fortunate enough to keep on creating and be able to share these treats with many more people.
Now the next phase begins, this summer we’ll open our first brick and mortar store. A dream of mine since I was a little girl, I can’t believe my ice cream shop will soon be a reality!
We will be able to purchase ingredients to get us ready for our 2016 season. By being ready early we’ll ensure a successful season and with the extra profits we’ll be able to grow our production creating more jobs and a more successful year.
This year will be our first year-round production and we need to be prepared.
With more people hired I’ll be able to finish working on my third book.
Cost Breakdown:
$1000 for packaging
$5500 for inventory
$2000 for operations
$1500 for marketing