When Rigoberto Calzada first immigrated to California in 1995, his day began at 2 a.m. Calzada would drive from his home to work and then to the City College of San Francisco in the evening.
“I remember my brothers and sisters didn’t have anything. From the moment I earned money, I bought them toys, clothes, and shoes. One Christmas, I bought my brothers two small cars and a doll for my sister. They were really happy because that was the first time in years that they had a present on Christmas,” Calzada said.
His work consisted of one important skill set that he brought with him from Mexico: his years of baking experience. “I started working when I was 11, and all my family back in Mexico worked and owned bakeries,” he said.
Calzada initially worked at his uncle’s bakery, but he had a difficult relationship with him. “When I was working, I heard a conversation between my uncle and his brother. In Mexico, you have to call a pay phone and they charge you by minute. They were complaining about my mom, and I was really pissed off because my mom spent money just to know that they were fine. She wasn’t expecting to get any money from them,” he said.
Eventually, Calzada left Mexico and was left alone in a foreign country. He began working in a small bakery in San Francisco but faced immense pressure at his new workplace.“I didn’t feel appreciated. I felt like everything was on my shoulders. I started making my own creations in the bakery and started to get more customers,” he said.
Calzada also faced challenges balancing his work and learning about computers at the city college. “I thought it would be the same as in Mexico, but it was different here. There is no space for you to work. So I started to learn on my own. I went from library to library to get books and learn about computers,” Calzada said.
While Calzada worked at the bakery, he also started taking side jobs fixing computers. In 2004, Calzada received an offer to teach computer repair at the city college in San Francisco; however, he chose to decline the offer and continue baking.
Despite working at the San Francisco bakery, Calzada felt he was not appreciated. “I felt like I wasn’t getting enough money. The owner was making money from my knowledge while she didn’t know anything about baking. That was a push for me to step aside and open my own bakery,” Calzada said.
After more than 20 years of working at that bakery, Calzada decided to quit and start his own bakery: Rico Pan Latin Pastries. He decided to open his new bakery along San Mateo Ave in Belmont. He began the planning process in 2017 and opened the shop in 2019. “It took me more than two years to open it, and that was the hardest challenge for me. I was about to leave everything, but I thought I could get past the challenges,” Calzada said.
Working in Belmont had its own difficulties. “In San Francisco there are a lot of laborers and single people that don’t have families. Here, there are more families, so when people go out in the morning, they already have their lunches packed,” Calzada said.
To attract more customers, Calzada decided to make his bakery different by creating fusion pastries. “When I first opened, my main focus was the new generations. The sons and daughters of Mexicans. My pastries are made using Mexican recipes, but I add a fusion of European pastries,” Calzada explained.
Rico Pan Latin Pastries offers a large selection of pastries ranging from traditional Mexican treats like Cuernito Cinnamon to Danish pastries like Coconut Croissants. The shop also plans on introducing a breakfast menu, including tamales freshly made in-house.
Another goal of Calzada was to show customers the higher quality of his pastries compared to store-bought baked goods. “I had to understand the community—especially Mexicans. Mexican customers don’t know how to differentiate between commercial pastries and authentic pastries from a bakery. They believe that my pastries are the same as produce market pastries,” Calzada said.
Today, Calzada feels more confident in himself. “I used to be too quiet and only worked in the back, but customers want to meet the owner. They want to see who’s behind all these pastries. I want customers to know who I am not as an owner, but as a part of the community. My toughest challenge was communication because my English is not so good, but I understood almost everything. I was too shy to open up with everybody. But once I started pushing myself to open up, I got it,” Calzada said.
I used to be too quiet and only worked in the back, but customers want to meet the owner. They want to see who’s behind all these pastries. I want customers to know who I am not as an owner, but as a part of the community.
Rigoberto Calzada
“When you’re an employee, you do whatever you want all the time. When you’re a business owner, it’s different. You have to dedicate 24 hours a day to your business. It is like your baby. You are there when the business is born and you have to care for it,” Calzada said.
When asked what he would tell new immigrants, Calzada said, “When you come to the United States as an immigrant, you have a mindset to make money and go wild. But sometimes you lose focus. If you plan on staying in this country, go to school, or you can work 20 hours a day and go back with the money you earned.”
Find more information on Rico Pan Latin Pastries here. The bakery is located at 532 San Mateo Ave in San Bruno.
