Syra Coffee’s Yassir Raïs Designs Specialty Coffee for Everyone
Unfailingly sharp, enthusiastic, and enterprising, Yassir Rais founded Syra Coffee, a takeaway cafe that aims to democratize good coffee, when he was just 22. He uses his background in architecture to cut through the specialty coffee scene in Barcelona.
Yassir Raïs was in between his architecture degree and masters in Paris when he saw the opportunity to bring specialty coffee — a drink he grew fond of while studying in the French capital — to his hometown in Barcelona. Armed with a background in design and construction, he sketched, assembled, and built a handsomely made, 20-square meter hole-in-the-wall cafe named Syra. It only took two weeks.
"We did everything from the design, to the engineering, to the building itself,” he recalls. “We shortened the process a lot and made decisions very fast because we were only two people. It was pretty cool to do it!"
Now with four branches across Barcelona (and one across the world in Kuwait!) Syra has grown to become a beloved staple in the city’s cafe scene. Their mission: to educate and change people's habits around coffee by serving quality coffee-to-go. Yassir generously squeezed in a moment before a hectic Monday to talk pivoting careers, making specialty coffee accessible, and the ups and downs of being a solo founder.
Hi Yassir! Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, and what led you to where you are today?
I am ⅓ Moroccan, ⅓ French, and ⅓ Catalan. I was born in Bordeaux and moved to Barcelona when I was two years old. When I turned 19, I moved to Paris for 6 years to pursue a degree and masters in architecture.
My parents are doctors in Biology, so I really enjoyed science, but I also enjoyed creating. So I decided to be an architect. I got my degree in Paris because it was more related to art and creation than it is in Spain; Spain's architecture is more of engineering. I liked to build small furniture like stools when I was super young, so it was kind of logical to ask, why not build cafes? And I was a super big fan of specialty coffee because of my time in Paris.
“For me, it’s easier to build my own coffee shops than to convince someone to build their home.”
Do you still practice architecture?
I practice architecture only with Syra. Now, for example, my background and career allow us to open in a more optimal way. I see everything through the prism of design and architecture. Our aim is to build a soul around a location, to be very intuitive, very responsive. That’s why, for example, the Syra shop on Passeig de Sant Joan has a completely different soul than the one in Gracia.
That's interesting. I've interviewed a lot of cafe owners and, for some reason, many of them are architects. Do you think there might be a connection between architecture and coffee?
Maybe! Because you see, architecture is a very frustrating career. For five or six years, teachers ask you, literally, to just create, create, create. Once you get your architecture diploma, the normal transition is to enter a firm and be the little hands of another big architect. So you stop creating for, maybe ten years, until you reach a big experience 'thing' and open your own office.
Going from creating a lot for five years to being stuck to not creating for the other ten is frustrating. That’s why there are a lot of architects that transition to anything where they can still continue to be creative. It’s a normal thing, let’s put it that way. For me, it’s easier to build my own coffee shops than to convince someone to build their home.
SYRA TOOK ITS NAME AFTER CALLE SIRACUSA, THE STREET WHERE YASSIR BUILT THE FIRST BRANCH. TOGETHER WITH HIS BEST FRIEND, THE ARCHITECT ASSEMBLED AND LAUNCHED IT IN JUST 15 DAYS.
Would you ever transition back?
I’m enjoying designing for myself and having no one tell me how the cafes are supposed to look, a lot. Maybe the transition would be to another big project, but one where I’d be behind it also.
Your concept for Syra is takeaway coffee. Why did you choose that model?
The prices of specialty coffee across Europe make it a bit intimidating. For Syra, we wanted to “Democratize Good Coffee.” Make it for everyone. We wanted to erase that intimidating aspect, and that happens firstly with the design, and then with the price. The idea was to make it as simple as possible. Like the philosophy of the architect Ludwig Mies van de Rohe: less is more — we wanted to be super focused on one thing.
“There have been lots of times when [being the only founder] felt like a very lonely situation, and a very difficult one too, but the good part is that it allows me to be fast.”
Something special about Syra is that the baristas teach you how to brew, as well as explain each origin. Could you tell us more about the idea behind that?
Another idea of democratizing coffee was to not only enjoy good coffee in a shop, but also at home. Sometimes, there's this idea that baristas tell you, “no, the only good coffee you will have is in a cafe.” This is completely wrong. We prefer to explain to others, in a simple manner, how to change their habits around coffee with ours — or other coffee, I don't care, really — but so people can discover this world, and also change their bad habits. The idea is to transform every single aspect of coffee in people’s lives and to push for it in a way that makes them change their habits.
You've opened four branches in Barcelona since starting in 2015. Not many cafes have been able to scale that quickly. What’s your secret to handling it? Does the simplicity — focusing mainly on coffee and having it for takeaway — play a part?
The simplicity and being the only founder, let’s say. [laughs] Being alone in making decisions allowed me to build Syra fast, and to see if a decision was wrong quickly, too.
There have been lots of times when it felt like a very lonely situation, and a very difficult one too, but the good part is that it allows me to be fast. And I don’t mean fast, like, conquer the Barcelona coffee scene quickly. I mean fast in taking decisions — if I see that a certain location is good and if I'm inspired by it, let’s do it! It’s a very organic thing.
Syra also has a branch in Kuwait, which is super cool and surprising! Why did you choose Kuwait? How did that happen?
The Kuwait location is a very cool story. All the Gulf countries actually have a very strong specialty coffee scene. It’s pretty unknown because it’s somewhat hidden on social media, but, when I was in Kuwait for the first time before opening the shop, I was surprised. There are probably more cafes there than most European cities. More than in London, more than Berlin… maybe even New York. It’s crazy! We had this great opportunity with our local partner to build a corner of Barcelona (literally) in Kuwait, wish has been an incredible experience.
LOOKS FAMILIAR? THE TILES LAID ON THE FACADE OF SYRA´S KUWAIT BRANCH ARE THE DISTINCTIVE ‘GAUDI PANOTS’ THAT LINE BARCELONA´S STREETS (PHOTOS: REDAT LARAQUI)
What are some frustrations you had at the beginning of Syra?
Probably all the bureaucratic processes that you can think of in Spain have been the worst frustrations.
Slow?
Let’s just say it can be slow, expensive, and not very encouraging to small entrepreneurs that want to make something. I lived in France and worked as a freelance architect and designer. There, you can make an invoice and declare things so easily, but here, you not only need a lawyer — because it’s impossible to do it by yourself — you need money and encouragement. It’s complicated, a bit frustrating. But that’s pretty much all I can complain about in Barcelona. I mean, you have the mountain, the sea, it’s a pretty cool place.
And how has business been for Syra during all the craziness this year? How have you adjusted?
For all the businesses now — not just coffee — what matters now is to survive. Not to earn money. Just survive. In Syra, we've been lucky to depend on locals. And I don’t mean Spanish or Catalan locals, but locals, like you, that are used to going to a cafe every morning or afternoon.
It's different for businesses in the center because they’re based in busy areas like El Borne. There are a lot of small shops that are suffering a lot, and only because there’s no tourism. Not because they depend their business on tourism, but because their location was designed to cater to tourists. For example, Raval or Barceloneta are empty because all the hotels are there. We were pretty lucky to base our locations on locals rather than in premium locations because, that way, people know where we are. ♦