Bring on the Chill: Chaldean entrepreneur goes primetime
Mirna Ashaka and one of her wall decorations inside iChillyn Cafe.
By Cal Abbo
Mirna Ashaka, a 24-year-old café entrepreneur, learned the business from her brother. Now she has a successful catering business – Detroit’s Royal Sweets – as well as a prime storefront in downtown Rochester under the name “iChillyn café.”
“When COVID hit, I went to learn this business for my brother,” Ashaka said, recalling her dreams of being a chef. She loves food but loves feeding others even more.
Ashaka’s brother married and moved to San Diego a few years earlier, starting a business in El Cajon named Royal Sweets. This is where Ashaka worked for over three months before starting her own catering business, aptly named Detroit’s Royal Sweets – a nod to her brother, to whom she says she owes everything.
While she was in El Cajon, she worked overtime nearly every day. She would walk almost three miles to work and three miles back because she didn’t have a car. When opportunity knocks, one must answer.
Upon returning to Detroit, her catering business gained popularity rapidly. Like a southern California wildfire, her ideas and cooking talent took over the community. Almost every day of the summer, with the help of her sisters and the rest of her crew, Ashaka would serve at different events from grad parties to large weddings. Her crepes, churros, and taco-rolled ice cream became staples at high-end Chaldean parties.
After saving enough money, Ashaka was able to purchase a café in downtown Rochester, on the corner of 2nd and Main Street. She rebranded and implemented her catering recipes. Her menu is enormous; it includes sweet and savory crepes, croissants, fresh smoothies, milkshakes, protein shakes, coffee, churros, rolled ice cream, crème brûlée, mochi, pancakes, bubble waffles, bubble tea, Mexican corn, acai bowls, normal ice cream scoops, and other pastries. Each item comes in several different flavors. The small corner shop offers hundreds of unique flavors to hungry customers roaming the streets of Rochester.
Though Ashaka has found success and a calling, her early life in Baghdad was quite difficult. Her family lived through the U.S. invasion and the violence that occurred as a result. On two separate occasions, members of her family were kidnapped by dangerous militias and threatened death if her family didn’t pay the ransom. At one point, her brother was missing for more than two weeks.
When the threats became more frequent and dangerous, Ashaka’s family decided it wasn’t worth risking their lives to stay in Iraq. It took a few years, but they eventually completed the journey to Detroit. She made the move with her entire family, who now live safely in the United States.
Mirna heaps tons of praise on the U.S. and the freedoms she enjoys. It’s miles ahead of Iraq, she said, in almost all areas, but especially the rights of women and their ability to be independent. In her home country of Iraq, she said, it’s difficult to imagine her starting a business and making an income.
When I walked in to meet her, she offered me any item I wanted, so I asked for a crepe. I’d never seen one made in front of me, which is an experience of its own. Mirna spread the batter on her crepe maker until it was super thin and cooked through, which didn’t take long. She drizzled Biscoff butter and caramel over the crepe and added strawberries and raspberries before putting it all on an artsy plate that resembled a slice out of a tree trunk.
Not only was the presentation beautiful, but it tasted exquisite. An excellent combination of sweet and salty, Mirna’s fresh berries topped off the sweetness of the Biscoff and caramel. There were so many other items I could have tried, but they’ll have to wait for another day.
Mirna said she closes the café in the dead of winter. This year, she’ll likely be closed the coldest months because business grinds to a halt once the weather changes. Fear not, however; this only means iChillyn will come back fresh and better than ever once the hiatus is over.
Her long-term goal with iChillyn is to begin franchising out new locations to hardworking entrepreneurs like herself. She has a careful eye for women in business and wants to emphasize their role in the economy. In fact, she hopes that her story will inspire other women to take risks and attempt new business ventures like she did.
You can book Mirna’s catering company by visiting detroitroyalsweets.com and you can find her storefront café at iChillyncafe.com