Business Profile: The Alley Café Creperie, Carmel
Oscar Bello can remember trying his mother’s cooking of crepes for the first time and thinking it was “bland tasting.” But after more practice and more servings, Oscar started tasting a difference in her cooking and thinking; “Now we’ve got a gem.”
“She got really good at it,” Oscar said her mother, Yolanda Naved. “It started as a hobby for her and after years of doing it, she decided to go all the way and we followed her.”
So instead of just pleasing her son and husband’s taste buds, the entire family decided it was time to bring Yolanda’s cooking talents to the Carmel community. The result is a new eatery in the Shoprite Plaza called The Alley Café Creperie, serving breakfast all day, while providing other food choices for lunch and dinner. In tune with its name, crepes are the main driver for the small business.
The Alley Café has been open for the last month and word is quickly spreading about the kinds of delicious food and quality service it’s providing. Oscar, his mother, and his father Arturi Bello are the three minds and the busy hands behind the hole in the wall location.
Each brings a different experience and expertise that has allowed the café to thrive so far.
Oscar manages the café after getting plenty of experience managing to gourmet delis in New York City, getting them up and running. Now, with Oscar’s assistance, both delis are well known entities.
Yolanda directs and produces the cooking in the kitchen and Arturi, who has a business administration degree, takes care of the ins and outs of the business side.
“It all comes together so it helps us all out,” he said. “We use each of our skills individually to make us succeed.”
Yolanda and Arturi were both also former architect drafters before starting this business, which was especially valuable considering the tight space they pursued. Oscar said they were able to maximize the space with a clever design that includes an outdoor seating area, which will eventually have heat lamps to extend the fall season.
Besides crepes, The Alley Café serves omelets, breakfast sandwiches, gourmet sandwiches, soups, make-your-own salads, fruit smoothies, and “good, quality,” coffee.
Personally for Oscar, working in Putnam is a stark difference from the Big Apple, but one he’s enjoying. In the city, Oscar never really got to know his bustling customers besides their order, but in Carmel, he feels more part of the community and has built more of a relationship with many customers.
“These people, you see them a lot so you treat them how they’re supposed to be treated. Good,” Oscar said. “We have a good standard of keeping everything clean and giving people good food.”
