Manolo Betancur is the CEO and founder of Manolo’s Bakery in Charlotte, North Carolina. Below. He shares about his inspiring Cake Project and how it’s helping everyone celebrate in sweet style. This story is as told to Karla Walsh.
Our bakery was founded in 1997 by my kids’ grandparents, immigrants from Mexico. They used to drive to Atlanta, Georgia to buy Mexican pastries to sell here in North Carolina. It was a very good business, so he decided to go back to Mexico and learn to bake his own treats.
I emigrated to the States from Colombia in 2005, and was blown away when I saw people lining up to buy bread. In Colombia, you buy coffee or hot chocolate and a single pastry. But here, people order $20, $40, or more at once, so I saw the potential in baked goods, too, and was excited to get involved in the family business…