Maman founder, Elisa Marshall

I’m often asked how I knew that what I’m doing right now was the right path for me. The more women I speak to though, the more I realize that none of us truly know, or rather that we’ve sussed out that it’s not a question worth dwelling on too much. Often, even if it didn’t feel particularly ‘right’ at the time, hindsight has a way of showing you that you are, and have always been, exactly where you need to be at exactly the right time.

When I caught up with Maman founder Elisa Marshall last week, she was the first to admit that that’s something she’s grappled with in the past and it’s only now that many of her professional moves makes sense. She started her career in fashion, working on branding, PR and events – and she loved it. She enjoyed working on more intimate side projects too, like event productions for weddings and birthdays, celebrating people as opposed to things. Baking was her other passion – her mom was a big baker and she grew up attached to her hip in the kitchen. She loved the ability to tap into so many things she enjoyed, but equally felt overwhelmed, exhausted and questioned what the bigger picture was.

That all changed when she met her partner, Ben Sormonte. Then a corporate lawyer, he told her he wanted to trade it all in to open a café of his own on their very first date. Two years later, after a stint running a restaurant in Ibiza, the pair returned to New York and did just that. After stumbling across an old poster shop in SoHo, they signed the lease and Maman was born. The rest, as they say is history. For Elisa, it provided the opportunity to combine all of the things she loved into something of her own. Now, all of her past roles made sense. She’d come full circle.

If you’ve visited any of the five Maman outposts – they’ve just opened up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and St Barts – you’ll know that there truly isn’t any place like it. “Many coffee shops and cafés at the time were very trendy and hipster but didn’t have a warm, home-like atmosphere – something people love, know and can relate to,” she says. “I wanted to create a home away from home, especially in a city where most people do not feel at home. For a quick meal or an intimate event, you’re surrounded by beautiful but also familiar things that make you want to stay awhile and come back often.” Elisa’s warm, welcoming nature is felt throughout Maman. It’s difficult to pass by the windows and not walk in. Once inside, you’ll instantly recognize the vintage décor and the Candace Kaye-designed cups from Instagram.

Here she talks about getting Maman off the ground, why she’s learnt to let go of the small stuff and the struggle of scaling a business without losing the magic.


Maman founder, Elisa Marshall
Maman founder, Elisa Marshall


WHAT SHE LEARNED FROM HER START IN FASHION & EVENTS: I started off studying fashion, starting in design, and then moving towards more of the business side of things; everything from marketing and branding to merchandising and store design. I was then drawn into fashion PR and events, which I loved. After hosting and working on many branding events and really enjoying it, I tried out personal events, which quickly became a passion of mine. From weddings to birthdays, I loved planning more intimate occasions and celebrating people as opposed to ‘things’. Always baking was a personal passion. There were so many opportunities – people were always asking me if I knew anyone great for cakes or sweets and that’s why I started book projects. My best friend Sabrina also had the same passion & quickly we co-founded a baking catering company specializing in sweet tables and confectionary while juggling my 9-to-5 fashion job and planning weddings on evenings and weekends. I’m very thankful for my early professional experiences, particularly the PR and branding side. As a business owner, branding and developing a clear identity of who and what you are is one of the most important things. If you don’t have that foundation, you can’t tell your story.

WHY JUGGLING A FULL-TIME JOB AND A SIDE HUSTLE IS GOOD TRAINING: I truly believe that if a side-project is something you are passionate about, you will make sure you have the time. If it is something you enjoy doing enough to miss out on going out with friends on a Friday night or watching TV, you will make those sacrifices. If you don’t, perhaps it’s just a hobby and not something you should pursue as a business. Juggling a full-time job and a side business is good training too, because starting a business is time consuming so it’ll prepare you for the fact that you’ll have to cut out a lot of personal things to help it grow.


Maman founder, Elisa Marshall


ON HER PARTNER IN LIFE AND WORK: I met my partner Ben in a bar. On our first date, he said he wanted to open a restaurant and a bakery. After a few months living together and really getting to know each other, we knew our personalities would work well together in business and that we both had complementing strengths. There’s no case of stepping on one another’s toes. He looks after the accounting, the numbers, the math, the invoicing…and that’s from his legal background. Then, I mostly take care of more of the creativity, the marketing, the branding. Our roles in the company were never really defined, we just took them on our own. Even in the kitchen with menu development, I oversee the baking side of things, he looks after the cooking side of things. 

ON THEIR FIRST COLLABORATIVE PROJECT: After we met, we both had a cool opportunity presented to us. His best friends growing up was a part of the Experimental Group and they asked Ben if he would want to join them on a project for a restaurant in Ibiza, Spain. We started talking about it, and we were both kind of sick of our lives. I was doing a little bit of everything, but nothing too seriously. He was doing everything very seriously, as a lawyer, working crazy hours in a job that was just not very fun. Once we talked about it, we learned that the venue was one of the top wedding destinations on the island. It was amazing. We said, ‘You know what. Forget it. Let’s do it. We both want to get more into the food industry.’ It was a perfect stepping stone for me, because it was a wedding venue, and event venue. We could really work for ourselves and combine all of our passions. We dropped everything, picked up and moved over to Ibiza. We did that for two years. But I still had this passion to ultimately do…this — Maman.


Maman founder, Elisa Marshall
Maman founder, Elisa Marshall


HOW MAMAN WAS BORN FROM A DESIRE TO CONNECT: Before we opened Maman, I felt that I was doing a little bit of everything but nothing whole heartedly, so from a personal standpoint, I wanted to create a world and job for myself where I could combine all of the things I love: food, baking, coffee, design, events, friends, family and the man I love. It’s selfish thinking about it now but that said, I really felt that there wasn’t a space that encompassing all of those things. Many coffee shops and cafes were very trendy and hipster but didn’t have a warm, home-like atmosphere – something people love, know and can relate to. I wanted to create a home away from home, especially in a city where most people do not feel at home. For a quick meal or an intimate event, you’re surrounded by beautiful but also familiar things that make you want to stay awhile and come back often.

ON THEIR FIRST LOCATION: We found it when we weren’t even really looking. I was speaking to a landlord saying, ‘I have this dream and I have this concept. I want to create a cute little event venue and I want a bakery and really good home-cooked food, and a lot of attention to details, and basically just everything I love, under one roof.’ I saw the SoHo location, which was a poster store at the time. It had these vintage aged floors, distressed brick walls, tin ceilings. It was such a perfect foundation for the vision I had. Across the street is one of the most prestigious buildings in the city. You feel like you’re in Europe looking out at that place. Upon research, it turned out the space was going to be available shortly, and I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is really happening.’


Maman founder, Elisa Marshall
Maman founder, Elisa Marshall


THE STORY BEHIND THEIR INSTAGRAMABLE DÉCOR: Creating the visual identity for Maman was my favourite part. Most of my inspiration has come from individual pieces that I have found and fallen in love with. My father was an antique dealer & collector growing up so ultimately it reminds me of ‘home’ for me. The overall aesthetic and branding was created from my love for mixed patterns and vintage pieces. Indoor plants and upcycling are two of my major inspirations when decorating. I love to reuse materials and most importantly have something unique and one-of-a kind that no one else has. To me, that is what makes Maman special and stand out from other cafés and restaurants. From our one-of-a-kind disposable coffee cups, to our old postal carts made into couches, it’s these small elements that make us memorable and Instagrammable from a marketing perspective. It is too easy (and boring) to go to a store and buy a classic piece, which you will likely end up seeing elsewhere. We love the creativity, challenge and especially the hunt of finding unique pieces. We’ve just opened in St Bart’s so I’m not looking to expand soon unless an amazing opportunity comes along. It would need to be someone where with a good foundation and tons of character – I don’t like working with a cold white box when it comes to spaces. I love to find exposed bricks, tiles and great floors – something that gives the building some warmth and character that we further enhance. Until then, I’m focused on really exploring the potential we have within our current spaces. I still dream of the many amazing things we can do – from catering to weekly workshops, kids activities, pop ups and collaborations to growing our marche maman retail side of things.

THE CHALLENGE OF GROWING AND KEEPING THEIR QUIRKY CHARM: Scaling and maintaining all of special details that make us special is really difficult. I am constantly going store to store getting so frustrated that no one is watering the plants, that there are dead flowers in vases or that the display in the window fell down and no one has noticed. Things like that drive me crazy. Finding staff with the same eye for detail is the biggest challenge for me. Over the years I’ve learned to pick my battles and ultimately realize that people may not see or care about these things like I do. We may not get a bad yelp review if the frame in the washroom is not straight, but we may if the quiche is cold so I need to realize where to focus my energy or I will drive myself crazy. Opening our location in Toronto was a big lesson in letting go for me too, because I can’t have control of all the little details. I had to learn to trust someone else. We are very fortunate to have two amazing partners in Toronto who share the same vision and attention to detail as we did, which was a big stress reliever.


Maman founder, Elisa Marshall


ON THE ETERNAL QUEST FOR BALANCE: I’m very bad at creating a separation between work time and personal quality time, though. It’s my one and only New Year’s resolution. Being a business owner is something you must be willing to commit 100% of your time to, in the hopes that one day, it’ll only take up 80% of your time. I think many people (myself included) go into it not realising how much hard work is really involved. It’s even harder in a city like New York where the food and beverage industry is so competitive and challenging.  I’m trying to work less, or better I should say, to allow myself to have more personal time, as it’s been very rare these past few years. More and more, I am seeing the importance of it. Not having boundaries has taken its toll on me and my relationships so it’s something I’m actively working on…Now, I make sure to take one day off a week to do something that I enjoy that has nothing to do with work – most often that means lying in bed watching TV or going shopping and aimlessly sifting through the aisles for hours. Ben and I have also made a point to have dinner together as often as we can and not talk about work, which isn’t easy when it’s a huge chunk of both of your lives.

ON BOUNDARIES: I am learning that it’s okay to say no to opportunities sometimes. It’s a tough challenge for me but the reality is, I don’t have enough hours in the day to say yes to everything. As disappointing and frustrating as it feels at the time, I’ve learnt that for me and the business to grow, I have to keep focused.