Three young entrepreneurs kick start their business

“Oh you’re young! Oh you’re very young!” Is the reaction these three owners have been hearing a lot of since they opened up May 15.

Isabelle, Carmen, and Micael Wiebe are the brand new owners of CafeXI in Kelowna. They only just moved to town five weeks ago from Surrey and within their first week were the owners of this little coffee shop.

The shocking part is that the three siblings are all under the age of 20. With help from their parents the kids were able to make their dreams of owning a cafe a reality.

“We talked to the kids and we said what do you want to do in Kelowna, and Isabelle has always wanted to be a business owner.” says Jessica Wiebe, mother of the three. “She said let’s own a cafe, and we said okay we’ve never done that before but let’s try.”

Isabelle, 19, said that their main goal in owning the cafe is to connect with the community, and make their space feel comfortable for everyone stopping by.

When asked how they’ve felt about running their first business, Carmen, 17, informed NowMedia that the family is currently the only staff working from Monday-Saturday. They hope that once they add more employees it’ll start to feel more real, and add a bit of spice to the cafe.

CafeXI get’s all their coffee from Rosso, a Canadian chain based out of Calgary. Since the family is new to the cafe business, Rosso coffee ended up making the trip to Kelowna to help train the family for five days on drink preparation.

Along with coffee, the family makes a variety of baked goods made fresh daily. “A lot of the food that we serve here is how we eat at home.” says Jessica, who’s been working hard to provide healthy and sustainable options for the community.

These three young entrepreneurs are excited to start their journey of owning a business, support local this summer and click here to learn more.