04.14.2025

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Bye-bye Starbucks, hello something new: Sisters who learned to bake during the pandemic bringing their act to Newton Centre

Don’t look now, but a coffee war is brewing in Newton Centre.

Laid off during Covid, the Restrepo sisters began experimenting with baking at their parents' home in Revere and soon found they had a flair for it.

Their hobby quickly became their full-time job as the two launched a home baking business featuring cakes and other goodies made with fresh ingredients and flavors inspired by their family’s Columbian heritage.

Now Valeria and Valentina Restrepo are preparing to bring their cakes, coffee and a little competition to Newton Centre’s bustling retail scene, with plans to take over an empty storefront that was previously home to a Starbucks.

Valeria and Valentina Restrepo

The new Luna’s Cakes and Coffee will also face hefty competition from the 800-pound gorilla of Newton Centre’s coffee and goodies scene, the perpetually busy Tatte Bakery & Cafe, just down Centre Street.

The sisters are planning to both cater to retail customers and take orders from corporate clients as well, having recently delivered 800 cake pops to a local life sciences company.

The new shop will be open by July at the latest, the sisters say.

“We have been working from home but the demand has increased tremendously,” Valentina, who originally started off in the field of veterinary medicine, told Contrarian Boston. “It is a huge learning curve.”

“We are still evolving but now we are ready for the next step,” she added.