Ten years ago, Rolando Alvarado, manager and co-owner of Venezuelan bakery Mr. Cachito, could never have imagined leaving his home in Trujillo, Venezuela. But following the rise of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, Alvarado and his family fled for their safety.
After living in the U.S. for four years and spending the last two as an Uber Eats delivery driver in the Chicago area, Alvarado noticed a vacant spot on the corner of Sherman Avenue and Grove Street. The space was previously occupied by The Plant Shop and Other Brother Coffeebar.
With no prior experience owning a bakery, Alvarado and his wife Angie Frías decided to use the space to bring a piece of Venezuelan culture to Evanston. The bakery opened earlier this summer and features the bakery’s namesake pastry, the cachito.
“If you met somebody from Venezuela and you ask about the cachito, everybody knows it,” Alvarado said. “We realized nobody here has the cachito.”
Cachitos are crescent-shaped Venezuelan pastries typically filled with ham. Mr. Cachito offers a variety of other fillings too, including turkey and cream cheese, pepperoni and mozzarella and seasonal flavors like pumpkin and cream cheese.
Open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., the family-owned bakery offers a friendly atmosphere, a vibrant interior and a diverse selection of beverages and Venezuelan baked goods, including the cachito.
Despite facing challenges like securing funding, receiving permission from the City of Evanston and navigating language barriers in the process, Alvarado considers the bakery a success.
“For us, it was a big surprise because in Evanston, everybody supports the small business,” he said. “The people are so polite, always so friendly.”
Alvarado said Mr. Cachito has seen plenty of business but few Northwestern students since Fall Quarter started in mid-September. He hopes to do more advertising aimed at students in the upcoming months.
School of Communication senior Ashley Qiu visited the bakery for the first time over the weekend.
“I feel like I’ve pretty much visited all the cafes (and) bakeries around here, so I feel like it’s exciting that there’s a new cafe open,” Qiu said.
Mr. Cachito’s proximity to Qiu’s residence and cozy ambience make it a great study spot, she said.
Martin Krongo, a pharmacy student at University of Illinois Chicago, decided to stop by Mr. Cachito to study while walking around Evanston with friends.
“The staff is really nice, and the owner had a big smile when he greeted me,” Krongo said.
Alvarado and Frías are continuing to advertise Mr. Cachito by posting content on their Instagram account, @mrcachitobakerycoffee, and participating in community events, including Taste of Evanston, an annual celebration of local food.
In the future, Alvarado said he hopes to open more Mr. Cachito locations in Chicago and beyond.
“Mr. Cachito has not been easy, but every day we try to get better,” he said.
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