Not even in her wildest dreams did Laura Molinar imagine that one year after opening Pan Pan Bakery and Cafe, there would be lines of people waiting to buy her bread and drinks after one of her videos went viral.
At 21, this young entrepreneur has already built a business that now employs 25 people and sells around 2,000 pieces of bread daily in Dalworthington Gardens, near Arlington. Her bestseller is the concha-matcha, which she describes as the perfect fusion of Mexican bread and Japanese culture, the business’ specialty.
“I don’t know where the idea to make bread came from,” Molinar told The Dallas Morning News. “Ever since I was little, I designed my own birthday cakes, and when I saw my grandmother making cookies, I always asked her for the recipe, but she told me I had to find my own way of doing it.”
Molinar found her teachers on YouTube, learning how to bake cookies and bread, or prepare signature drinks, especially matcha. Her talent is natural; she only needed a few virtual lessons to experiment and improve her skills.
As she grew older, her passion began to take shape, and as a teenager, she baked her own bread at home. At 16, in high school, she started her business, selling Mexican bread at pop-ups. She sold chocoflan, conchas, jalapeño bread and other varieties.
“I went wherever they permitted me to sell,” Molinar said. “It didn’t matter if it was raining, windy or cold, I went and was always selling.”
Originally from Odessa, Molinar was constantly exposed to different cultures, but particularly Japanese culture due to the influence of her father, a lover of anime and everything related to Japan.
Her parents, Raúl and Laura Molinar emigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico, without knowing English, but with the conviction that hard work would make their dreams come true.
“My dad always told me: Follow your dreams, prosperity and money will come later. First, follow your dreams and everything will be fine,” Molinar said. “And that advice has always stayed with me.”
After a trip to Japan with her family, she discovered the softness of the bread sold there. She wanted to do something similar, but fuse Japanese bread with Mexican bread.
When she was 19, a man approached her at one of her pop-ups and told her that there was a person with a bakery in Dalworthington Gardens who was looking to retire and wanted to sell their business. Molinar lost her card, but her mom and dad took it upon themselves to visit the bakeries in the area until they found the business they had been told about.
That’s how Molinar embarked on her entrepreneurial adventure with her first bakery, which she ran with her two older sisters and her mother.
Her presence on social media has been crucial to this business. A week ago, a video on TikTok in which Molinar explains her business surpassed 16 million views and attracted hundreds of people who lined up for over an hour, despite the heat, to buy her products.
“I would like to expand this building, so people don’t have to wait outside,” Molinar said. Her business provided umbrellas and offered cold water to customers waiting in temperatures exceeding 95 degrees.
Molinar said her next goal is to open more locations in the area while maintaining the quality of her products, so that people come back for more than just the social media hype.
Pan Pan Bakery and Cafe is located at 2110 Roosevelt Drive, Suite A, Dalworthington Gardens.
