My name is David Monroy, the founder of ütea the first bubble tea robot in canada , and this is my story.
At 17, I made a life-changing decision: to leave Colombia and move to Canada. I wasn’t seeking comfort; I was seeking a challenge. I wanted to test my limits. Staying in Colombia would have been the safer path, but I felt something was missing. I had a deep fear of settling for less, and I knew that to reach my dreams, I’d have to face the unknown and build a future from scratch.
I arrived in Quebec without knowing the language, without friends, and without a support network. I immersed myself in the culture, learned French, and took any job that would allow me to move forward. From waiting tables to washing cars, every role was a stepping stone. Each position taught me humility and perseverance, and helped me understand more about life and business in Canada.
At 19, with endless ideas and an unbreakable entrepreneurial spirit, I decided to take bigger risks. I started with an event decoration company and ventured into other projects, even trying to import electric motorcycles, a venture that unfortunately failed due to an unexpected change in legislation. After that setback, I also lost a marketing agency I had just launched before the COVID-19 pandemic. All the work, time, and money invested in each business disappeared, and each failure left me with more uncertainty.
But I didn’t give up. During those challenging times, I found joy in simple things. I became passionate about bubble tea—a drink that allowed me to experience new flavors and discover unique combinations, a perfect analogy for what I was seeking in life. The pandemic left me with a dream: to create something innovative that combined quality and efficiency. I began to think about how to blend my passions: an accessible, automated business model with no constraints of traditional service.
That’s how ütea, the first robotic bubble tea machine in Canada, came to life. Bringing it here was a journey: overcoming logistical issues, convincing engineers, and assembling the team needed to install it. The machine weighs as much as a truck, and after a few months of investigation and hard work, we finally got it up and running. But that wasn’t the end of the journey. I decided to remove the machine from its initial location and find a space that reflected the experience I wanted for my customers—a place where every detail felt just right.
Today, at ütea, I’m committed to offering an unparalleled experience. My vision is for people to invest their money and not their time, a value I believe in deeply. This journey hasn’t been easy, but each challenge has been a step closer to a bigger dream. Now, at just 23, my mission is to revolutionize the beverage industry and share this journey with other entrepreneurs who, like me, dream big.
