Local tortillerías, panaderías report strong business despite rising prices

Despite the economic downturn, local Hispanic bakeries and tortillerías are booming while gaining more Anglo customers.
    Prices for wheat flour and eggs — two bakery staples — have dropped, but they remain high by historical standards and future prices are uncertain, according to the Wall Street Journal.
    But Dodge City bakeries have, at least for the time being, been insulated from these up-and-down prices.
    Local owners have also reported a fluctuation in the cost of ingredients, mainly wheat and corn flour and yeast.
    Norma Orona, owner of Tortillería y Panadería Madero, started her business four years ago. She said the cost of flour, yeast, sugar, butter, cinnamon and other ingredients has increased since then, although sometimes prices have come down.
    For example, the cost of 50 pounds of flour rose from $17 to $32, and 50 pounds of sugar went from $35 to $54. Twenty pounds of yeast rose from $45 to $52.66, and 50 pounds of corn flour went from $13 to $17.67.
    Orona said she buys the supplies from an Amarillo, Texas, company three times a week, and her average bread and tortilla production is 1,200 pounds a week. Her bakery also supplies products to three eateries located at the local packing plants.
    “Since the sales are expanding, we bake seven days a week without stop,” Orona said.

Booming business
    The sales increase has prompted Orona to hire more staffers: three bakers and six sellers. Bakers' wages range from $450 to $700 weekly.
    “The important thing is that we also create more jobs in the community, and therefore, we are helping to keep the local economy moving up,” she said.
    Orona's bakery produces more than 35 kinds of bread, which she said she believes is attracting more and more Anglo customers.
    “What distinguishes our bread is that we put a different flavor in each type, while the traditional American goodies almost taste the same, no matter the variety," she said. "Also, we try to make some kind of breads with low sugar and salt content to satisfy customers who take care of their health."
    She said that demand remains strong, despite the rising cost of her baked goods.
    “A cake standard size is 10 pounds," Orona said. "Before, the cost was $82, now it is $95. But the demand keeps up since Hispanic people also use cakes to celebrate baptisms, communions and quinceañera parties."

Staying strong
    Cecilia Trenzado established her tortillería and bakery, Mi Tierra, in Dodge City about two years ago, when she moved from California. She now produces about 5,000 pounds of bread and tortillas weekly.
    Trenzado’s bakery makes 35 kinds of bread, and many of her supplies come from Mexico, including almost all the butter.
    She said that the cost of bakery supplies has increased about 50 percent in the last year; however, she tries to buy her supplies in bulk to obtain them more cheaply and to avoid any future price increases.
    Because the demand for bread and tortillas has risen, Trenzado now keeps a full-time staff of five people: two bakers and three sellers.
    “Traditionally a majority of Hispanics have been my customers, but now I notice that many Anglo customers are showing up," she said. "I have a lot of clients from the Sublette Menonnite community and from other small towns. We even supply to customers from a Canadian town called Monotova through a Canadian trucker, who comes every month to pick up more than $1,200 in flour tortillas and bread."
    Another bakery business reporting good sales is Panadería Real.
    Owner Armando Serrano opened his business about a year ago, and now he says he's producing an average of 2,500 pounds of different breads each  week. Since he is a baker himself, he does not pay anyone else, except two helpers.
    “Bakers must be well paid because they are scarce,” Serrano said.
    Because of the sales increase, he now has a staff of nine people, two of whom are full time.
    According to Serrano, bakery supply prices have fluctuated since a year ago. Since he buys 50 pounds of flour for $12.85 and 50 pounds of sugar for $24.99, he can sell a single piece of bread for 33 cents.
    Serrano said cake sales have increased for him, but people used to buy the more expensive ones.
    “Bakery is for now a stable business, and sales tend to increase more in winter, perhaps because the people are drinking more coffee. But the sales go down a bit when the summer arrives,” Serrano said.
    Micaela Pichardo, director of membership for the Dodge City Area Chamber of Commerce, said that Hispanic bakery owners are promoting their businesses by delivering different kinds of bread among more than 30 local businesses for free every Friday.