José Cáceres remembers the face and the tears behind the first concha he sold. A young lady in a military uniform approached his table at the Quarry Farmers Market. She eyed a basket of colorful conchas, or Mexican sweet bread, and began to weep.
“Why are you crying,” Cáceres asked, his brother David beside him.
Years earlier, the woman explained, she had left Mexico as a little girl to cross into the United States. The last thing she remembered was stepping into a panadería holding her mother’s hand. The conchas on Cáceres’ table transported her to her childhood, to the pan dulce at a border bakery.
“So I gave her a basket with pan de muerto,” said Cáceres, recalling the sweet bread made for Dia de los Muertos. “And we connected. Those are the moments you remember.”
Twelve years later, brothers José and David Cáceres marked another memorable transaction. They sold their two millionth concha on Thursday at a pre-Fiesta event at the midtown location of their popular bakery, La Panadería.
“Two million is very special to La Panaderia because our mission is to elevate the pan dulce,” said José, co-owner and principal partner. “We started counting at the Quarry Farmers Market. When we started April with 1,998,216 sold, I said, ‘We’re reaching a milestone.’”
Inside La Panadería at 2503 Broadway, nearly 100 guests celebrated the 2 million milestone with complimentary concha cakes, flutes of champagne and fiesta medals.
“Two million conchas is really cool,” said Missy Hernandez, a long-time patron. “I wish I was the one who bought it. I’ve been coming here for 10 years. I love the atmosphere. I love the people. I love the pan.”
The Cáceres brothers sold their first concha on April 16, 2013. According to records provided by José, they sold an estimated 25,000 conchas at the farmers market before opening a brick-and-mortar the following year.
From 8305 Broadway, where precise records were kept, La Panadería sold 49,702 conchas in 2014, with sales climbing as the bakery and cafe expanded to four locations. It took almost 10 years to register 1 million sales — but less than three years to hit the 2 million mark.
The business is in the brothers’ blood. José and David grew up in Mexico City, the smell of oven-baked bread wafting through their earliest memories. As kids, they sold loaves on the streets for their mother, Doña Josefina, who ran an industrial baking business.
“Every single night we sat together at the table,” José recalled, “and the glue that kept our conversation together was always the panaderia.”
Years later, after their mother died, the brothers took over the business and explored a crazy idea. Maybe they could open a panadería in the U.S.
José studied the American markets. David earned culinary degrees from Le Cordon Bleu Mexico and the San Francisco Baking Institute, where he studied under internationally recognized artisan Michael Suas.
Under a tent at the Quarry Farmers Market, the brothers set out their first colorful treats.
“We spent a week planning the baskets,” José said. “We rented a commercial kitchen on Guadalupe Street. My brother started mixing and baking. We set up baskets full of pan dulce and conchas. That’s where the almond tequila croissant was born. David used our family recipes and took it to the next level with the pan dulce.”
They believed in their product. But would it sell?
“Our only goal back then was to survive,” José said. “It wasn’t to make a profit. It was to not lose money. We had to sustain the little commercial kitchen we were renting. Our goal was just to cover those expenses more than anything else.”
The brothers succeeded. “That first day,” José said, “we welcomed a very good crowd.”
A good crowd began forming at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday to celebrate the milestone. David passed around trays of conchas. Helpers handed out champagne. Customers eyed the new Dubai chocolate concha and enjoyed all kinds of fresh pan dulce.
“It’s amazing to think my family has been baking for almost 50 years,” said David, a James Beard nominee for Outstanding Baker in 2022. “We have been baking all our life. When we started, we didn’t know how many we would make. So we are very impressed with two million.”
Someone asked José what his mother would think about Thursday’s celebration. His throat tightened and his eyes welled. His mouth would not open. Emotion gave the answer.
As people mingled and flutes clinked, memories stirred. The first customer. The woman in uniform. Twelve years and two million conchas later, she is a reminder of a dream unfolding around two brothers.
“We are celebrating,” José said, “a life of baking.”
