Why a mom-preneur started a kid-friendly café on the Burnaby-New West border

There's a place along the Burnaby-New Westminster that's creating friendships and allowing kids to be kids.

It's called Rainbow Play Café, and the name says it all: a multi-coloured playground where kids can improve on their sensory and motor skills as their parents relax and sip a freshly brewed coffee.

Such a place for new parents or parents with young kids was non-existent, said owner Xanat Guiot, who officially opened the business in May this year.

Since then, it's sprouted as a community staple situated near the intersection of 12th Street and London Avenue in the north New West suburbs, but it's also a block from the neighbourhood around St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby.

Guiot said she's proud to provide something of a service to parents like herself. 

"Rainbow Play Café's main goal is to be a friendly face in the community, where parents can connect and interact with each [other], fighting the feeling of isolation and finding the support and resources they need," the mom-preuneur said in a statement to the Record and NOW.

Guiot, born and raised in Mexico, is a mother of two kids.

Upon arrival in Canada, she said she realized it's important to find a safe space in the community you live in where adults can socialize while their kids experience life and learn new things.

"That is why I created this space, where I want other parents to feel they have the support they need, a place where they can meet on those rainy and cold days without having to worry about the kids being bored or too loud," Guiot explained. 

"A place where kids can also develop, interact, play and learn." 

The Rainbow Play Café's 300 sq. ft. fun space is catered for kids aged six months to six years with features that include climbers, wooden toys, a multilingual library and interactive boards — one that has lights and pegs.

It's menu consists of organic fair-trade coffee, hot and iced lattes, smoothies, pastries, light sandwiches and empanadas, a nod to Guiot's Mexican heritage.

Rainbow Play Café is open daily at 9 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 5 p.m. on Sundays.

For more information, you can visit the coffee shop's website.