Photo of Juanny Romero by Joseph Donato (Cashman Photo)

Juanny Romero

An Entrepreneurial Pioneer Without Equal

BY JOSEPH AMATO AND CHANTEL BLIGNAUT

Juanny Romero was born in Queens, New York, but you would never know it from meeting her. The native roots of this former New Yorker lie deep within her psyche and current dedication to living life to its fullest. Ms. Romero admits to a very challenging childhood, surviving her early years as the middle child of immigrant parents. She immediately adopted a global view that relied on personal growth and continuously searching for new opportunities. Ms. Romero understood the need for a resilient spirit, leading by example and always reflecting a servant’s heart with everyone she encountered.

To the outside world, Ms. Romero is a bright, articulate woman. She is bundled with a beautiful smile and unbridled energy that exudes tremendous confidence and a pure vision of community and connectivity that she is willing to share with anyone she meets. She makes her presence known to the Las Vegas community and beyond with her passion for volunteerism and ongoing dedication to multiple non-profit groups like Hope Village, St. Jude’s, SafeNest, and The Center, with its focus on workforce development.

As the Owner/CEO of Mothership Coffee Roasters, Ms. Romero has assembled an ever-expanding group of five specialty coffee shops located in Henderson, Summerlin, and Las Vegas, Nevada. Mothership Coffee is well known for its dedication to quality, ethically sourced beans, and expert roasting.

The Mothership Coffee concept was initially established as Sunrise Coffee in the Las Vegas marketplace in October 2008. Originally, Sunrise Coffee was going to be set up as an artists’ enclave serving premium coffee. Ms. Romero wanted to create a comfortable atmosphere for artists to commune and interact regularly. She was also an avid observer of how people interacted and wanted to promote a “community environment” within her business enterprise. So, the original Café artist concept was scrapped and replaced with a more pronounced “incubator” environment. Subsequently, the business operation evolved to become a flexible workspace, a community meeting place, and a dating destination for Las Vegas locals. Ms. Romero understood that women are most comfortable meeting first dates at café locations and men are comfortable meeting over quality coffee at cafés.

In 2012, Mothership Roaster was born out of the initial success of Sunrise Coffee. However, Ms. Romero wanted better control of the coffee quality and to improve the company’s vital inventory source. So, she built her own roasting operation for business and retail sales. She also wanted to utilize only coffee beans from woman-owned growers in South and Central America, placing the owners in control, not the coffee brokers. She needed to be absolutely sure that the expanding company had enough ongoing inventory to meet the demands of a growing enterprise currently using as much as 30,000 pounds of coffee beans per year. Her eventual goal is to establish her own coffee bean farm in Central America and become part of the café feminino community.

In 2015, Mothership Coffee opened its second café location with bakery offerings in Green Valley. That is when she decided Mothership would become a multiple-unit coffee café with a goal of ten units by 2026. Since establishing her first location in 2008, Ms. Romero will open her sixth location by 2024. Her vision includes building the next four units within the Las Vegas community and exploring the possibility of establishing units outside the State of Nevada.

The last few years have been very challenging and exciting for Ms. Romero.

Surviving the Pandemic in a restrictive retail environment was a more extensive test than anyone could have expected or prepared for. Still, she was able to capitalize on the hand she was dealt with in the best way possible. Ms. Romero moved inventory by providing every customer with sales product incentives (buy 1, get 5). She also instituted a barter system between Mothership and other area businesses to offer coffee products to both staff and the community. Finally, Mothership could keep key staff employed during the Pandemic by utilizing the various economic stimulus programs available to small businesses nationwide.

The community and government officials constantly recognize Ms. Romero for her dedication to her staff and the community and her ability to survive the Pandemic. In 2022, Ms. Romero was nominated by the Nevada Small Business Administration (‘SBA”) as the Nevada Small Business of the Year. But that wasn’t enough for Juanny Romero and Mothership Coffee. She was recognized and justly awarded the Regional Small Business of the Year Award and the National Small Business of the Year First Runner-up from the White House.

Not surprisingly, Ms. Romero has finally realized that her efforts for “showing up” every day were being rewarded beyond her expectations. She was now being seen and accepted throughout the Las Vegas community, and her success was becoming a guiding light for other enterprising young women seeking to find their way in the business world.