We had the good fortune of connecting with Carlos Leo & Geoffrey Swetz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carlos Leo, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Soon after we got together, we realized that we both love to travel, and go to different restaurants and discover new flavor combinations. After a few years together, we were able to travel to Europe, and we spent hours at the farmer’s markets, cafés, and restaurants in Paris, Rome, and Barcelona. We started to talk about how wonderful it would be to travel to different places around the world, buy the products that we fell in love with, and share our discoveries and experiences with other people. That spark of an idea is how Spoonabilities was born. A very special moment really gave us the final push was in Belgium in 2012. Walking through some of the narrow streets of Bruges, we found this little cheese shop with an amazing selection of local cheeses, charcuteries, mustards, jams & wines. This lovely lady at the store gave us a little tour of her wonderful products and we decided to buy some of her goodies. We walked out the door of her shop and went directly across the street to a baker to get some fresh bread, and then to the store just next door to pick up some delicious Belgian chocolate truffles. Could you imagine living on that block? We took our goodie bag down the street to a beautiful park next to the canal and we sat on a bench with a spectacular view of this quaint neighborhood. Right there is when the light bulb when on and we started to dream about how wonderful it would be for us to be able to do this more frequently, and have a cute store with products from all around the world from our travels. The idea developed very slowly during the next year, and we didn’t take any steps forward to make it a reality. I guess we thought that this was a crazy idea… until our next trip to Philadelphia. We went to the Reading Terminal Market that was next to our hotel. That day is when we really got excited, and during dinner that night we wrote down our first ideas for our culinary entrepreneurial adventure that would be named Spoonabilities.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Spoonabilities is where you will find Mediterranean, Dominican, and ethnically diverse recipes, along with those we re-imagine from restaurants we discover. We strive to include food health benefits, interesting facts, and appetizing photographs with every recipe. You can also find a variety of select, small-batch, gourmet foods you can order for yourself, or as a gift for family and friends. We only work with small specialty companies, mostly female or family run, who are enjoyable to work with. We feel if the people are happy, it will show in their products. There are a few areas that set us apart from other food blogs and food shops. First is our customer service. We take pride in connecting with our customers as much as possible, and taking care of their needs personally. We are often told how exceptional our customer service is, but we’re just doing what we would expect from any company. That being said, way too often when we have to call a company, we realize what the standard customer “service” is in our current world, and then understand our customers’ high praise. Carlos, the recipe developer and photographer, takes amazing photos of our recipes. We also try to create at least 3 or more recipes using every product we sell. That way if our customers want to make a recipe with leftover products, they have that option. And, through our free Recipe Concierge Service, our customers let us know what half-empty jar they have in their refrigerator, and we help them find a recipe to use it up. Our mission is “No Jars Left Behind” and we strive to give ‘out of the jar’ solutions for every day meals.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Wynwood is always a great place to start. Some of our favorite places are: – Kush https://kushhospitality.com/locations/kush-wynwood/ – Wynwood Walls https://thewynwoodwalls.com/ and Wynwood Kitchen and Bar https://thewynwoodwalls.com/wynwood-kitchen-bar – and then the food trucks, wherever they are at the time, are great. – Beakers & Gray https://www.beakerandgray.com/ – we did a blog post that includes some of our Wynwood places, and also Art Basel https://www.spoonabilities.com/caramel-apple-cider-vodka-punch/ Where we had our wedding, and one of our favorite places is the Rusty Pelican https://www.therustypelican.com/ which has fabulous views of downtown Miami. Did you notice all our favorite places to go in Miami have to do with food?

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
One of our partners and suppliers is Vivianna Karamanis from Hellenic Farms. She has been with us almost since the beginning, and is a super awesome person to work with, and we would not be where we are today without her help and our relationship with her.

Website: https://www.spoonabilities.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spoonabilities/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spoonabilities

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Spoonabilities

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Spoonabilities

Other: http://www.pinterest.com/Spoonabilities/

Image Credits
Carlos Leo, Spoonabilities.com

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