De Michoacán a Michigan.

Every fall, monarch butterflies leave Michigan and fly thousands of miles south to the mountain forests of Michoacán, Mexico. In spring, the next generations make the trip back north.

Monarca is Spanish for monarch. Maty and Pedro named the shop for the butterfly because they come from Michoacán. Millions of monarchs spend the winter there, in forests protected as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our family

Maty and Pedro came to the U.S. from Michoacán. After a year in Texas, they settled in Michigan. Back home, Pedro's parents were the first in their town to make artisanal nieves and one of the first to open a store. Pedro grew up watching the whole town come to their counter.

In Michigan, Pedro kept meeting people from his hometown, and they all asked when he would make and sell nieves here. In the summer of 2019 he tried, with a couple of coolers and his kids at the soccer fields of Kalamazoo. They made every batch with love, kept taking calls through the 2020 COVID shutdowns, and got back on the road after the truck engine burned out in 2021. They sell out every time, and customers often tell them the nieves remind them of Mexico. Today those nieves, and the Michoacán-style tortas, tacos and burritos the family has cooked for generations, are here in Schoolcraft.

Come say hello at 321 N Grand St in Schoolcraft.