A Colombian café founded by Edwin Lurduy after he moved to the United States as a child has grown from a single outlet into a nine-location business serving communities across Central Florida.
Mecatos Bakery & Café offers Colombian coffee, empanadas, pan de bono, pastries and desserts, with Lurduy saying the business was created to share the food and culture of his childhood home.
“I came from Colombia when I was nine,” he said. “I got to live a good part of my early childhood there and the food has always stuck with me.”
Lurduy opened the first Mecatos café in 2016. Since then, the company has expanded across the Orlando area, with further growth planned.
He said the business had benefited from the dedication of its staff and the loyalty of customers who returned regularly and recommended the cafés to friends and relatives.
From Mecatos customer to franchise owner
Nelson Lerma was among those early customers. He first visited Mecatos looking for familiar Colombian flavours and was struck by the range of coffee, pastries and other food on offer.
“Just the food that they brought from Colombia, the taste, the coffee and other variety of pastries that they had, I was just wow,” Lerma said. “This is pretty cool to have a little bit of Colombia here in Central Florida.”
Lerma has since become a franchise owner, running the Mecatos outlet in Edgewood and preparing to open a second location in Kissimmee.
For him, the appeal extends beyond the business itself. He said the café had helped him build close relationships with regular customers.
“It feels like a family. The customers come in, they greet you, they know who you are,” he said.
Lurduy said it was especially rewarding to see customers become franchisees and make the company part of their own lives.
“It makes me feel proud, happy about the fact that someone who one day walked into the store, enjoyed a cup of coffee or bread were customers, enjoyed the product, liked it so much, decided to change their lives,” he said.
The menu is aimed at both Colombian customers seeking a taste of home and the wider Central Florida community. Alongside coffee and baked goods, the cafés serve dishes including empanadas and other Colombian favourites.
For Lurduy, the growth of Mecatos is evidence of what can be achieved when a personal connection to food is matched by sustained effort.
“I think it’s proof that if you work hard on something that you’re passionate about and then you give it your all, the results speak for themselves,” he said.
What began as an attempt to bring a piece of Colombia to Central Florida has developed into a network of cafés, employees, franchise owners and returning customers.
