Moots Café grew to seven locations. Now its owners are expanding beyond coffee

REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — After growing Moots Café from a single coffee shop into a seven-location Reynosa chain, its owners are making their first move beyond coffee with a new restaurant concept.

Óscar Emir Rodríguez Gallegos and Giovanni Gastelum Araujo are investing up to 2 million pesos, or about $114,000, in Brio Fresh Kitchen. The health-focused restaurant is tentatively scheduled to open next month at Plaza H100 along Boulevard Hidalgo at Calle Azucenas in Reynosa’s Jardines Coloniales area.

Brio will operate as an independent brand, marking a new direction for the entrepreneurs who opened their first Moots Café in 2019.

“This concept was born from seeing a need here in the city,” Gastelum said. “We wanted to offer a healthy, practical, and fast option made with quality ingredients.”

The restaurant will offer freshly prepared meals and functional beverages, with options for different dietary preferences, including keto, low-sugar, and high-protein offerings.

The owners said they developed the concept after observing consumer trends during their travels and conducting benchmarking to identify opportunities for a differentiated concept in Reynosa.

Growing beyond coffee

The move comes about five months after the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal reported that Moots had opened its seventh Reynosa café and was preparing the brand for potential franchise growth.

Moots opened its first location on Boulevard Hidalgo in April 2019. By March, the company had grown to seven locations and about 80 employees.

The company had also expanded its operations with its own bakery production center, a house coffee blend, and specialty coffees sourced from farms in Veracruz.

The owners told the Journal earlier this year that they had documented Moots’ operating processes and registered the brand with Mexico’s intellectual property institute as they prepared for potential franchising.

Brio gives Rodríguez and Gastelum another avenue for growth, this time in a different segment of the restaurant industry.

“With Brio, we’ll be adding 10 more jobs and bringing our company close to 100 employees,” Rodríguez said.

Building Brio locally

The owners are also turning to Reynosa businesses and professionals to help develop the new concept.

A local chef is working on Brio’s menu, while a local architect is involved in the project, and local creative professionals are developing the brand’s identity.

Brio plans to source fruits and vegetables from family-owned businesses in Reynosa and collaborate with nutritionists, wellness physicians, and other local entrepreneurs on menu items and beverages.

“We were pleased to find family-owned businesses where parents and children work together,” Gastelum said. “By partnering with them, we’re also supporting their entrepreneurial journey because that’s how we started ourselves.”

While Moots remains positioned for potential franchising, Brio gives Rodríguez and Gastelum an opportunity to apply what they have built over the past seven years to a new locally developed restaurant brand.

If the current schedule holds, Brio Fresh Kitchen will open Sept. 17.