Pasadena to get own El Bolillo bakery

Source: By Y.C. Orozco, yorozco@hcnonline.com

A  little over a year ago, Kirk Michaelis, owner of Houston's El Bolillo bakery, noticed that some of his locations were drawing customers from Pasadena.

"I had my Google analytics showing me the people looking up the store on their phones, where they're driving from and a lot of it was coming from there and I was pulling from that," he said.

Michaelis did some research, drove around Pasadena and knew he had found a new market to expand the El Bolillo name outside its Houston base.

The sweet aroma of Hispanic pastries fresh from giant ovens is a familiar one in Pasadena, where neighborhood panaderías, a Mexican pastry shop, appear on corners all over the city, especially on the north side. But this pastry shop is not your average corner panadería.

At just under 12,000 square feet with wide open areas ready to be filled with dozens of different varieties of pan dulce, or Hispanic sweet breads, El Bolillo is nearly ready for its Pasadena debut. Currently under construction at Southmore and Pasadena Boulevard, the shop is scheduled for a spring opening, and its owners expect the Houston staple to add another sweet spot in north Pasadena for traditional Hispanic pastries.

"We want to be part of this community," said Michaelis.

Michaelis always knew a sweet business idea when he saw one, or tasted one.

About 21 years ago, the doughnuts and kolaches at his own Houston bakery, The Doughboys on Long Point Road, had been the shop's bread and butter since it opened.

"One of the guys (bakers) said, 'I need some anise seed, I want to show you something,' and he started making some different products with my doughnut and kolache mix at the shop," Michaelis remembers.

The sweet breads soon made their way into the shop's front counter and started outselling the doughnuts, adding a whole new world of flavors to the shop.

Pan dulce would eventually lead Michaelis and his business partner, Bud Harmon, to Mexico and border towns on a quest to find the best ways to perfect their plan of opening their own panadería in Houston.

Michaelis would eventually sell his doughnut shop and on Sept. 1, 1998, the first El Bolillo opened on Airline Drive and Link Road, across the street from the Farmer's Market in north Houston.

"When we started I used to take a big basket of bread across the street to the Farmer's Market and would walk around the market giving out free bolillos. That's how we created our market there," he said.

From there, television and radio promotions got the word out and El Bolillo became a successful staple, boasting the largest variety of Hispanic breads in Houston, listed among the 20 top bakeries in the U.S. by The Daily Meal, an online publication for food enthusiasts, and several times named the best bakery in Houston.

More bakeries followed on Wayside and Interstate 45, in the Heights area and near Woodridge. It was the Woodridge location which pointed in the direction of Pasadena.

"I noticed that the demographics of the schools and everything around it were geared toward the panaderías and that's why I chose that area," he said.

Michaelis purchased the property across the street from the former Pasadena Town Square Mall, where a dilapidated bank building and several others had sat for years.

The space was cleared for the new location, and construction began weeks ago on what is primed to be the largest El Bolillo, with an open-concept layout that invites customers to take it all in.

"We try to make it an experience. When you come into the store, we try to give good service, we try to talk to all the customers," Michaelis said. "You're not just coming in to buy bread, but it's the whole environment. We make it warm and inviting."

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, the store at Wayside was buzzing with production, like a well-oiled machine, except this machine is run by people. Everything made by hand and with care to every detail, whether it is teams of employees preparing the different doughs for the day or a single worker sculpting pastries one by one by hand. El Bolillo stays true the traditional approach, while always looking for new ideas.

"We give them time to create and do new things and that makes it fun," Michaelis said.

Carmen Garza comes from Baytown just for the bolillos, and she said it's always worth the drive.

"I like the bread because it's so delicious," she said in Spanish.

Empanadas filled with pumpkin and sweet potato, bright yellow conchos and bright pink, sugar and cinammon-dusted ojarascas and galletas (cookies), canastas filled with fruits and cheese and semitas are just a few of the Mexican, Salvadoran and Guatamalan pastries ready to fill the shop in Pasadena. The shop also has a large cake display, including tres leches, flan and decorative cakes.

"I think it works and has been successful because it's a good product and we believe in good service," said Harmon, 80, who also is Michaelis' father-in-law.

The Pasadena store is located just outside the heart of a residential community, surrounded by strip centers, a mall,and a Walmart. Smaller, independently-owned businesses thrive in north Pasadena and El Bolillo hopes to be part of that growing community trend.

"We want to be part of that community by bringing jobs and being part of its churches and schools," Michaelis said. "We've done that here in Houston, participated in a lot of things, people here have supported us tremendously and we just wanted to come back, start a new market, and we want to do that in Pasadena. We want to add some landscaping and light it up and draw in other businesses to the area."

Myriam Azua is manager at the original location on Airline which is located in a residential community. She started as a cashier in the bakery, and says the shop's appeal is simple.

"People really like the quality of the bread, but also the service because we try to be friendly to everyone," she said.

Eddie Flores was a long-time customer before he became an El Bolillo employee. He knows customers by name, remembers what they like, and things like that, he said, make a difference when you serve not only a market, but a neighborhood.

"When people come in for the first time, we know they are going to come back again, because not only is the quality good, but people come in to see friends, not just to buy," he said. "We are establishing a relationship to people in the community not only as a customer, but as a friend. I think that's the biggest thing about this store."

El Bolillo brings in thousands of customers every day, and the Pasadena location expects to employ between 50 and 75 people.

"We're like a family, we all work together and allow people to grow and do cross-training," said Michaelis.

Bolillo refers to a Mexican variation of a French baguette, but also is also a friendly term for an Anglo or gringo, and so the bakery's name is a playful tribute to its owners, Michealis and Harmon, who are, said Michaelis, "as white as can be".

"Back in the 1700s, they called it the 'little white bread' so we picked up the name," said Harmon.

Michaelis, 56, wears a T-shirt with the words, "Si, yo soy El Bolillo (Yes, I am the white guy)" written on the back, a playful nod to the shop's cross-cultural partnerships.

"I love the Hispanic culture. I've learned the language. I had to because we wanted to immerse ourselves into it," he said. "Our employs have brought us to where we are and we just provide them a palette."

For more information on El Bolillo, visit www.elbolillo.com