[1][2] He put his plan to start a café on pause for more than 10 years as he headed to the United States for schooling and being a consultant in Boston before going back to the UK.

He spoke with the owners of the shops, commercial real estate companies, architects, designers, and people who sold coffee.

Zur-Szpiro was fine with not having full ownership of his proposed new coffee shop, thought venture capital would be a good fit for the financially uncertain business, and desired an investment partner who would both provide consultation and be accepting of his plan to invest substantially in the coffee shop's design.

[1] Charlotte Packer commented in The Independent, "The electric yellow interiors are now a familiar sight across the West End".

Of the invested funds, 26% were expended on the design of the cafe and the furniture, 17% on furnishing the kitchen, 14% on legal costs, and 9% on creating the logo and branding.

Architects' Journal noted about the design, "The common palette of pigmented and waxed plaster finishes, low-voltage lighting and natural beech create a Mediterranean atmosphere in the cold, hard surroundings of the city.

"[6] In a c. 1994 Café Magazine review of Aroma, Bob Biderman wrote, "From the moment I stepped inside I was mesmerised by its curious combination of outrageous charm and earnestness."

There was a clear attempt to bring together form and function, to provide a sense of communal relaxation and enjoyment – the antithesis of the pervasive practices which treat the masses like cattle and turn harmony into a privilege you have to pay for.

Writing for The Sunday Times in 1996, Nicholas Fox commented, "Aroma remains the most innovative [coffee bar], incorporating a flourishing food business serving unusual sandwiches such as turkey and red cabbage.

"[9] Associated Press reporter Bruce Stanley described Aroma in 1999 as a chain that "sell[s] coffee and sandwiches in a lively atmosphere of recorded Caribbean music and bright yellow and orange decor".

[10] Claire Oldfield wrote in The Sunday Times in 2002 that the acquisition "is made more remarkable because Aroma was a start-up in 1991 backed by venture capital and retained an entrepreneurial feel when McDonald's bought it".

After acquiring Aroma, McDonald's had created a partnership with Pret a Manger, which offered customers both sandwiches and coffee.

The BBC's Alex Ritson speculated that this made Aroma redundant to McDonald's plans and further noted that a second factor for the sale is that the UK is saturated with coffee shops.

[18] To fund the deal, Caffè Nero secured a £5 million loan from NatWest and Paladin Partners, which acted as both its bank and venture capital investor.

On 7 June 2004, the McDonald's local representative Arcos Dorados sold Aroma Ambiental to Freddo, an ice cream chain owned by Pegasus Capital.

[26] In a 2018 article titled "Shared premises: the strategy to improve profitability", La Nación reported that several Aroma Ambiental locations started to include Freddo ice cream stands.