With the help of a FRITSCH partners, the Cáceres brothers find a unique way to serve their community
La Panadería Gets Creative Amidst a Crisis
It is a typical Sunday morning in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, a region of lush vegetation considered the border between the American Southeast and Southwest. Danny Kelly, affiliated with FRITSCH U.S. partner EPCO LTD, loads up his truck with La Panaderia baked goods and his dog Maddie and heads out on the delivery route he is been serving for several months since COVID-19 has caused the shutdown of many Texas businesses.
Although Sunday mornings for Danny are typically reserved for church and time with family, the global pandemic caused churches to close and left Danny looking for another way to serve his community.
La Panadería, a FRITSCH customer run by brothers José & David Cáceres, has lost nearly 40 % of restaurant sales since the public health crisis caused businesses to close down. In response, they decided to start selling care packages for customers to bring the delicious experience home. The care packages contain eggs, milk, beans and their most popular products.
Danny’s story is part of the FRITSCH #SaveOurBakers campaign, an initiative to highlight the personal experiences of bakers and a way for those in the industry to access the FRITSCH network and share their campaigns or new business models that have arisen from the current public health crisis. Danny’s motivation is to support FRITSCH’s customers as well as people in his neighborhood. He also wants to be an inspiration to other people to support their local bakeries, too.
Established in 2014, Brothers José and David Cáceres opened bakery-café La Panadería to share their Mexican heritage and love for baking with the people of their adopted hometown of San Antonio, Texas. The Cáceres’ passion for baking began when they were young boys selling loaves of their mother Doña Josefina’s fresh baked bread on the streets of Mexico City.
Eventually José and David took over their mother’s home-grown business and started baking on a large scale, supplying bread and pan dulce for businesses throughout Mexico. After finding financial success in Mexico, the brothers realized they wanted to get back to the basics and decided to bring their passion for bread “cultura” to Texas.
„La Panadería means everything to me. I come from a very humble and somewhat broken family, so growing up it was hard to figure out a lot of things, but bread was the glue that brought us together“
, said David Cáceres.
La Panadería, which specializes in making handmade bread and pan dulce inspired by Mexico’s Golden Era, or Epoca de Oro, also draws influence from French, Italian and American breadmaking techniques. La Panadería’s unique approach to breadmaking includes a 48-hour fermentation process that results in artisan baked goods unlike any other.
The attention to detail and welcoming atmosphere found at La Panadería have quickly made the Mexican bakery and café a staple in the Alamo City (=nickname of San Antonio).
“The blend of cultures that we use in our cooking makes it interesting,” David said. “It’s pretty unique. My brother and I were in the commercial baking industry, but we always had a dream to open our own bakery. So then we chose San Antonio for its strong culture and Hispanic background.”
„Our products are authentic. We try to stick to the baking techniques that were used hundreds of years ago, while staying on top of new technology and methods so we’re making the most of what we have. Concha, pan dulce, birrote, things like that“
, continues David Cáceres.
The Mexican brothers also incorporate their varied and international training and experiences into their products.
“I went to a French culinary school that had a lot of Italian and American influence. I also lived in Europe for a time in college so I learned to appreciate those techniques. I try to take pan dulce to the next level and these techniques are helping us do that. I mix cultural techniques all the time to make something new and different that has the best of both cultures.” Although the future is still unknown for many bakers, La Panaderia, FRITSCH, EPCO, and many others in the industry maintain adaptable as they continue to serve their communities and revolutionizing the baking industry.
Author: Marleen Linares González
She is a writer and communications specialist born in Puerto Rico, raised in Texas, and currently residing in Iowa City.
Get to know La Panadería
La Panadería, which specializes in making handmade bread and pan dulce inspired by Mexico’s Golden Era, or Epoca de Oro, also draws influence from French, Italian and American breadmaking techniques. La Panadería’s unique approach to breadmaking includes a 48-hour fermentation process that results in artisan baked goods unlike any other. The attention to detail and welcoming atmosphere found at La Panadería have quickly made the bakery and café a staple in the Alamo City.
Who’s EPCO Ltd.?
Established in 2001 European Process Concepts limited (EPCO Ltd.) was developed to support the needs of our customers by developing automated processes that excel in maximizing production output without sacrificing product quality. EPCO is a partner of the MULTVAC subsidiary in the US.
How does EPCO Ltd. ensure customer satisfaction?
