Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra Karamitsios.
Hi Alexandra, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Boston with a Greek Background. Every summer, I traveled to Greece to see my family and always had a love for Greek food and culture. Although I studied education and PR and was a teacher before this, I always had worked at restaurants as side jobs growing up and always had it in the back of my mind to work in hospitality and own some sort of food business. Although I loved working with kids, I finally called teaching quits and came up with the idea of selling loukoumades. I had no idea how to make them so I bought the machine from Greece and put it in my apartment and started cooking them for months and through quarantine. My initial idea was to do a food truck and do different events throughout Florida when the pandemic came.
Miami Design District contacted my around May and I didn’t want to lose the opportunity and everything else fell into place. It was very tough at the beginning, everything, I planned for didn’t go the way I envisioned. It was extremely hot inside the truck with no AC, my machine broke to make the donuts and I had to wait for a new one to come from Greece so a lot of times we were doing them by hand. It was hard. I had to learn a lot on my own. Now I look back and laugh at that. It was definitely a risk to start during the pandemic but I feel I’m very lucky how things have been going. People love loukoumades and now we are starting to offer catering very soon in a smaller cart! We already have a couple of events lined up.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was definitely not a smooth road. I opened it up in June of 2020, right when everything reopened here in Miami. I had no idea what to expect since it was in the middle of the pandemic and summer. It was a completely new product as well that no one is really familiar to here in Miami besides Greeks and people who have been to the greek festival where they normally sell loukoumades. There were times in the summer where it was very quiet but it helped me work out the kinks of my business. I’m constantly learning how to do things better and differently. In the end, though, I’m very grateful for how things are going with my business. People seem to love loukoumades!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a little piece of Greece located in the Miami design district. We make loukoumades a traditional sweet from Greece. They are little balls of dough that are crispy on the outside and airy on the inside. They are fried fresh at the location and served warm! The traditional ones are drenched in greek honey syrup. However, we added a bunch of flavors, from dulce de leech to dark chocolate. We also make Greek iced coffee such as Freddo cappuccino and frappe. We recently added milkshakes like the Nutella baklava, which has been super popular.
I think what sets us apart from other dessert places here in Miami is our hospitality. We try to get to know all our customers when possible and develop a relationship with them. We want them to have a whole experience when they come to Meli, from seeing us make the donuts fresh and putting on the sauces to sitting down and relaxing in the beautiful Miami design district. The idea and logo I am proud of. I came up with it myself. I had the help of graphic designing from a friend in Colombia. She is amazing. I named it Meli because it means HONEY in greek and the traditional ones come with honey. The logo is an ancient bee stamp dating back to 1600 BC. Bees and honey back then were considered divine. even loukoumades have a cool history. They were served to the ancient Olympians as a token if they won! We definitely pay attention to small details at meli. For example, we serve our cold cappuccino with our bee logo in cinnamon on top.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck has definitely played a role. I think I was very lucky in the timing of my business. Of course, I wish the pandemic never happened but having a food truck has helped me because it is outdoors and many people still wish to not dine indoors. I started off the business with my younger brother, who’s in college. It was a big help because I didn’t have anyone else at the beginning and I was a bit scared to hire people I didn’t know because of the virus. Now that I am growing, I have to say I am very lucky with some of the employees that I have. They have really helped me a lot in everything and growing the business. I definitely have to say I’m lucky I met my fiance. He’s the one that brought me down to south Florida. Otherwise, I would still be stuck up In Boston with the cold. Him and his family have definitely helped me and pushed me to open my own business as well, something I never thought I would have done.
Pricing:
- Loukoumades $8
- Freddo Cappuccino $4.5
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: meligreekdonuts.com
- Instagram: @meligreekdonuts
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meligreekdonuts/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/meli-gourmet-greek-donuts-miami-2
Image Credits
Munch Miami
