Would you like an Intro?
Would you like an Intro?
On today’s edition of Would you like an Intro? we talk to Maya Reyes, a cafe and bakery consultant who helps independent coffee shop and bakery owners build profitable, people-first businesses — based in Austin, working everywhere.
Maya Reyes opened her first cafe in Portland at 23. By the time she sold it a decade later, she had two locations, a wholesale pastry program, a full brunch menu, and a commissary kitchen that was keeping other small food businesses alive around her. She did every job in those buildings — the payroll, the hiring, the 5:30am opens, the margin decisions made on gut instinct because no one was there to show her the math.
“I help cafe owners the way I wish someone had helped me.”
That line isn’t a tagline. It’s a statement of what was missing when she needed it most — and what she’s built her practice around now.
After relocating to Austin in 2022 and stepping into an advisory role for two regional roaster groups, Maya turned her full focus to consulting. She works with independent cafe and bakery owners across the country on the things that determine whether a business lasts: menu pricing, training systems, operational strategy, team structure, and the financial picture most owners don’t look at closely enough until something breaks.
Her full cafe business audit is a deep dive — operations, financials, systems, menu, all of it — built for owners who are either scaling fast or barely staying afloat and need a real plan, not a pep talk. She also runs strategy sessions for owners who just need someone in their corner who knows the numbers, and leads workshops and the Mesa Cafe Accelerator for owners who want structured support and a community that gets it.
Her work isn’t prescriptive. It’s built around the real-life experiences of owners who are doing everything themselves — and it meets them there.
Independent cafes and bakeries are some of the most locally powerful businesses on any block. They’re where people start their mornings, meet their neighbors, and decide whether a neighborhood feels like somewhere worth staying. When they thrive, the whole street changes. When they close, that block gets quieter.
Maya helps owners build businesses that are worth keeping. The ones that pay people fairly, make real money, and are still standing five years from now. That’s the kind of business that shapes a neighborhood — and the kind worth knowing.
If you’re a cafe or bakery owner who’s been running on instinct and could use a real outside perspective, she’s worth a conversation.
Drop her a line — we’ll be copied so we can make a proper introduction.
Say hello to MayaWould you like an Intro? is a NuMarket series spotlighting the advisors, operators, and specialists worth knowing — people in your corner as a local business owner.