Today we’d like to introduce you to Avy Cohen
Hi Avy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in Venezuela and have always been very keen towards creating and starting things. My Father had always been an amazing extremely smart entrepreneur and my Mother the best disciplined and organized person you can imagine. My parents were immigrants and thanks to them we are French Nationals as well. I studied accounting in Venezuela at the Universidad Católica Andres Bello, and then did a Masters in Bentley University in Boston in 2000.
I started really working on my Father and Uncle’s Hair Combs and Tooth Brush manufacturing business called Cemaplast in Venezuela, while I had done accounting for some time it was not what I liked the most, I liked to create, to start businesses to make them grow. I had a couple of ventures on my own like an Anne Geddes product Kiosk at the Largest Mall in Venezuela Sambil when I was 18 years old, and also had a retail cosmetics and beauty products business in Venezuela called Kosmetic. While working at the factory, I wanted to make it grow and increase sales, help with marketing and others. Since my father was almost retired by then, one of my uncles was in particular my mentor in the manufacturing business. Unfortunately, I wanted to change things too much and there were many uncles to convince, so I decided to leave. My brother in law then offered me the opportunity in 2006 to join him on the Restaurant Industry. He already had a Restaurant called Oceanico in Venezuela (a very elegant Restaurant with a Fish related menu). So I joined him to open a second restaurant called Pacifico Restaurant (also Fish related) in 2006 and became owner operator, learning from him and his partner, I then started to grow and organize the business. I was offered partnership in their existing Oceanico Restaurant, and from there I became Manager and Operator of both, consolidating the operations and administration of both. Not to late, I was joined by Gabriel de Chene as co-partner and we started growing in the Restaurant Industry, opening two more locations called Bocca Cuccina Italiana (an Italian restaurant with pizza and pasta) and Atlantico (a Spain influenced and Themed restaurant). During that time we also opened a smaller fast food grab and go concept called FresCo in Venezuela and later sold it. By 2013, I was happily married with 3 kids, but unfortunately the political situation in Venezuela had gotten worse, doing business was really hard and we did not have personal safety or security in the country, we had been robbed several times, family members kidnapped and others so we decided to migrate.
I had always loved the United States and its values, so we decided to migrate to Miami, inittially only my family and my partner Gabriel de Chene from the Restaurants in Venezuela which we sold. Gabriel has a background as a Chef and operations (he is in charge of part of the operations of our current business but also our menu offerings).
We moved to Miami, and we bought a small coffee shop in Key Biscayne in 2013 and started to make it into the concept that we have today called La Boulangerie Boul’Mich, which is trademarked by us, and grew to 6 locations today (Key Biscayne, Coral Way, Aventura, Pinecrest, Doral and Boca Town Center), one more to open in 2025: the Alfred I dupont Building in Downtown Miami.
Our Concept brings both worlds, the French European side and the Latin American side so we offer Baked Goods and dishes with these influences and more. We are well known for our Croissants which we make the artisanal way, and for our breakfast and lunch dishes. Soon we will be adding to our concept a Bistro style with elaborate dishes that permits us to also have a night day part (dishes influenced from our full service Restaurants in Venezuela)
At the same time, we started to develop our own food manufacturing business to distribute our main products, such as frozen unbaked croissants, soups, sauces, desserts and more to our stores, in order to be able to standardized them. During the Pandemic our business survived because we had that experience from Venezuela where you do whatever you need to do, to keep your business afloat against all odds. Our family of Employees which we rather call our team members have been with us for many years and that was key to surviving the pandemic. During the Pandemic we took advantage of the time we had to start our Franchising Manuals and Legal documents so by 2022 we were almost ready to start Franchising. We had implemented many systems in place and rounded up our concept to make it as easy as possible to manage. In 2023 We signed our first 2 Franchises and in 2024 our third. Our First Franchisee recently opened in September 2024 in DelRay, subsequently our Kendall Franchise is estimated to open by October 2025 and our Sunset Franchisee by November 2025.
During this time in Miami and since our early beginning my brother Ariel Cohen joined us in the business taking care of all the administration. A bit later Benigno Armas (who was co-partner with us in Venezuela in one Restaurant and had other restaurant concepts and nightclub himself) also migrated to Miami and joined us along in La Boulangerie Boul’Mich who has since been in charge of the image, marketing and part of the operations of the business.
I believe I am here today, very happy with what we have accomplished thus far, because of God first, my parents, my partners and my family. We all work very hard in the business and complement each other. My sister, my partner’s sister and mother also work with us in the different locations and that has been key to implement a family style ambiance to our business without loosing sight of our growth and becoming a bigger business.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No it has not been a smooth road, we have had many struggles, not only migrating with a family that brings a ton of struggles per se, but also in starting again a new business in a new country.
We have also had other struggles such as a car Crashing inside our Coral Way location at 2 am in there morning a couple of years back destroying it completely and having us to rebuild our major location out of 3 by that time in 2018. By the end of 2018 we had opened our Ft. Lauderdale location which is the only one we had to close during the pandemic.
A month prior to the pandemic we were opening our 5th location at Boca Town Center, our biggest location yet and after a month of great sales growth, we had to close because the mall closed for the pandemic during a month, we then reopened and were fortunate enough to make it work into one of our best locations today.
A personal and hardest struggle for me in particular, was loosing my father in 2021, someone I really looked up to, and learned from, my mentor, my advisor and my role model.
What has kept us going is I believe doing the right things, being positive, active, innovative and remaining close as 4 partners. The key to a great business for me is having great partners that you can trust and rely on and hiring the best people you can. We have an incredible team with us this day of more than 100. All of us, without exception work really hard and care for each other.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We started the business in 2014 with one location, we specialize in European and Latin-American pastries and dishes, and also include North American influences. We are freshly baked and made at the moment but fast, not fast food, GOOD FOOD MADE FAST FOR YOU. our Croissants and pastries are baked daily, our desserts come in glass jars with no preservatives, gelatins or fillings. Our soups are made with pure vegetables.
We currently own and operate corporate-wise 6 locations with one more to come in 2025. We had our first Franchisee open in September 2024 and hopefully our second and third as well by the end of the year.
Our business concept is Vintage Industrial with a relaxed atmosphere, the experience when you walk in our locations is amazing, you have beautiful vintage items on decor in a setting with earthly colors, and positive messages and vibes. We try to contribute with society every way we can, we have a special program to hire people with special needs that has been one of the most fulfilling experiences we have had. We care, really care for the environment, not only by using as much of recycled products as we can, but also reusing, and above all by avoiding waste; that is why you can also see the antique decor and the wood elements and how they come into play into our store’s design. I say really care about the environment, because not only in the business but at a personal level we do it, we believe in solar energy, electric cars, I personally love plants and working the land, I have a garden full of flowers along with fruits & herbs I eat.
I am currently the CEO of the company, but in all honestly it is simply a fancy title, I try to do everything I can to help our business grow, from planing, implementing, forecasting, looking for new locations, new projects within our concept to grow, I am involved in the softwares we use, the integrations we have made, the franchising and above all taking care of our manufacturing side of the business.
I am known for, I believe, having a strong character, being organized, very disciplined and demanding; some times too much because I feel like there is no time to waste in life. I can say it is good but also sometimes my downfall, I get frustrated some times and do not know how to express it well to others.
Any big plans?
We plan to grow our business across the United States, starting by the east coast, not only Franchising but also with corporate location.
We are moving our manufacturing business to a bigger location to also sale wholesale to other restaurants and hopefully introduce our brand in supermarkets.
We are adding a Bistro concept to our existing locations with a very strong menu that will be available at lunch and dinner, with amazing first class cuisines fishes from our vast experience in high end restaurant in Venezuela.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.laboulangerieusa.com
- Instagram: @laboulangerie_boulmich
- Facebook: La Boulangerie Boul-Mich
- Yelp: La Boulangerie Boul’Mich
- Other: TikTok : laboulangerie_boulmich
