Quick food making a comeback
Just like the founders of this community started as first generation and second generation immigrants, a new round of immigrants is planting their foot in Montgomery.
Martin S. Gomez was born in La Estancia, Guatemala, which is also the name of the first bakery he opened in Bloomington, Minn., after the pandemic hit. This month, he opened up his second bakery here inside of Mike’s Discount Foods called Pan Sabroso.
His journey as a baker started at age 15 when he would get up at 4:30 a.m. to deliver from local bakeries in Guatemala. “In my free time, I would watch and learn from them,” said Gomez. Eventually he said they welcomed him to work in the kitchen as a helper. By age 17, he jumped into his next job as the baker instead of a helper. He continued to work as a baker until he decided to move to the United States in the early 1990’s.
With language being a barrier, he didn’t find work here in a bakery but in a variety of different jobs such as in a casino, hotels, assembly lines, and laundry. Gomez said his family didn’t come right away. It was about 15 years later when his family joined him here in Minnesota, with him only having visited them about three times during that span.
COVID-19 hit in early 2020 and his job situation changed again. This time he decided to go back to his baking roots. “I spent many months baking out of my home,” said Gomez. “The moment I started baking, it all came right back to me.”
His son helped him get a loan, acquire the equipment needed, and a location for him to work out of full-time in Bloomington.
With success at their Bloomington location, La Estancia, and Mike’s Discount Foods looking for a tenant to occupy the former grocery store’s vacant deli space, they entrusted Gomez to bring something unique to Montgomery — authentic Guatemalan baking.
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