TAMPA, Fla. — Hispanic-owned businesses are booming across the U.S., with nearly one in four new businesses being Hispanic-owned, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
What You Need To Know
- Florida is home to more than 600,000 Hispanic owned businesses, according to the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- La Bahia Factory was founded in 2019 to be a Puerto Rican bakery with a purpose to give back.
- 100% of the Bakery profits go towards mission trips to give back to children and families in need.
- Pastors Ivan Garcia and Josue Colon are part of that growth, establishing another bakery location in the Tampa Bay area
That includes La Bahia Bakery, a labor of love serving more than just food.
"Many of the bakeries in our culture have part food and part of it a bakery, and so we decided to continue that piece of culture here in Florida," Pastor Ivan Garcia said.
On most days you’ll find Garcia and Pastor Josue Colon at La Bahia Bakery. In Puerto Rican culture, bakeries often operate more like restaurants.
The duo serves platters of their native food paired with their signature cup of coffee.
They’re the owners of what they call a ‘bakery with a purpose.’
“We were able to establish a mutual relationship to open this missionary business with the help of God, which has been very successful and known in the city, with the purpose of everything that we collect goes towards local and international missions,” Colon said.
Both pastors have a lengthy history of missionary work. They’ve each donated clothes and shoes to hundreds of children and their families. Since 2019, they’ve joined forces on two or three missions each year, traveling to poverty-stricken areas in Latin America.
“We are fulfilling our calling and really just putting a smile on a child’s face is like, we’re creating hope that there is opportunity to keep serving the people,” Garcia said.
The mission has been to spread love across the globe, but now their goals are expanding right here in the Tampa Bay community.
“This will be a location where we can take bread to different places and different business locations,” Colon said.
They say the expansion is a way to continue their mission to help others.
Florida is home to more than 600,000 Hispanic-owned businesses, according to the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Garcia says this factory will help them make a greater impact.
“We’re also focused on trying to reach those younger generations so that they follow our traditions but without values and with the same mission.”
These pastors have a calling, but it’s not just about religion. They’re committed to continuing to share their culture through their bakery with a purpose.
Their new location is expected to open in the early October and will be located on Columbus drive in Tampa.