Expansion

Yoli Rabadan built her business Barro like she bakes her pastries—from scratch. Each week, she sets up shop at the Gresham Farmers Market near Portland, Oregon, and sells a spread of both ultra-traditional Mexican pastries and inventive riffs on beloved favorites. (We’re tempted to book a plane ticket to PDX just to sample what she calls “manteconchas”—a mashup of the Mexican sweet bread called concha and sugar muffins called mantecadas.) 

Rabadan—who also whips up Japanese goodies at Tanaka in Portland—has been baking the sweet treats of her childhood since she was 15. With Barro, she can share the familiar-to-her flavors with a new audience. That kind of cultural exchange is important to her, living as she does in an area with a sizable Latinx population, but not much mainstream representation. While customers marvel over her empanadas, Rabadan makes an effort to teach them about her heritage. How better to serve up a little education than with dessert? 

Now Rabadan is thinking about expansion, and that’s where we come in. She’ll use our grant to spread her sugary goodness at local events around PDX, putting it toward tables, display cases, transport boxes, and more. Sounds delicious to us.