A promise kept: Mary Roy opens Covinten Cafe in Hermosa Beach
by Laura Garber Mary Roy made a promise to herself when she held her nine-month-old daughter in her arms. “She could not speak, she could not understand but I held her and promised her a better life,” Roy said. That promise carried the mother and daughter from Bangladesh to the Mediterranean coast of France, and finally to a sunlit stretch of 14th Street in Hermosa Beach, where she opened Covinten Cafe on the last day of 2025. Mayor Rob Saemann presents Mary and Cinderella Roy with a Certificate of Recognition during the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting ceremony on February 12, 2026. Roy grew up watching her family transform fruits and vegetables into vivid dishes and fresh juices, timed to Bangladesh’s six seasons. Her father, she remembers, was a meticulous cook who approached every meal as something to be shared and savored. “We are very playful with our food,” she said. At 20, when her daughter Cinderella was born, everything shifted. “I came from a third world country,” Roy said. “Just one look at her and I knew I wanted more.” Roy’s work at the Bangladeshi embassy opened doors to international business. She specialized in building companies from the ground…
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