'Cozy, Inviting' Cafe Coming To Site Of Former UWS ALDO

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY - A father-daughter duo behind over a dozen Playa Bowls locations is planning a new cafe-bakery concept at the site of an ALDO outlet on the Upper West Side.

Misha Punwani, along with co-owner and father, Raj, plan to take over the site at 2321 Broadway, on the corner of West 84th Street, Patch has learned. The location served as the former home of the longtime shoe and accessory outlet ALDO and, before that, a Coach store.

The Punwanis are also setting up shop across the park at 1477 Second Ave. at the corner of East 77th Street.

While the spaces have yet to be named or formally announced, Patch spoke with one of the owners about their plans to give uptowners a bit of breathing room.

"We're going for something that is cozy and inviting," said Misha Punwani, 29. "That's our primary goal."

"We want it to be an oasis for everyone at all times of day," she added.

For refreshments, the cafe will offer coffee, "the best lattes," according to Punwani, plus brunch, gelato and an assortment of fresh baked goods made on-site (including pastries, cookies and pies).

The experienced father-daughter team are already running nearly 15 franchises of the popular bowl and smoothie shop, Playa Bowls, with at least six locations in New York City. In fact, there's a Playa Bowls on the same block as the planned Upper West Side bakery.

When the Queens born and raised Punwani graduated college from Stony Brook, she initially began a career in marketing, but soon found herself going into business with her dad, who was working in the corporate side of things at Playa Bowls at the time and had previously run his own smoothie shops.

As her father began to talk about finally opening his own franchise location on Wall Street in 2019, she started pitching marketing ideas.

Before she knew it, the two were full-on business partners.

"It came together really organically," Punwani said. "One thing let to another and few years later, we have 14 locations."

The idea for a new non-Playa Bowl venture just came from chatting with her dad about new ideas, Punwani said.

"We're always talking shop," she said. "It just kind of came up and we saw an opportunity."

Punwani says she and her pops have already lined up their team for the new Upper East Side cafe and bakery, with a goal of opening sometime in January.

The team added they hope to open the Upper West Side location within the next six months.

"We're really excited to share this with the community," Punwani said.