{"id":239358,"date":"2026-03-27T15:32:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/239358\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T15:32:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:32:46","slug":"beatriz-porto-explains-the-tasty-success-of-homegrown-bakery-to-los-al-chamber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/239358\/","title":{"rendered":"Beatriz Porto explains the tasty success of homegrown bakery to Los Al Chamber"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo by David N. Young
\nBeatriz Porto speaks to the Los Alamitos Chamber at the Epson America auditorium in Los Alamitos. Chamber officials said the event attracted a standing-room only crowd. <\/p>\n

A second-generation owner of Porto\u2019s Bakery spoke at the Los Alamitos Chamber of Commerce\u2019s February meeting, giving a packed auditorium on the Epson America campus a riveting rendition of a true American success story.<\/p>\n

Beatriz Porto explained how her family left Cuba with little or nothing but a dream for a better life. Only with the work ethic of her father, Raul, Sr., and the baking skills of her late mother Rosa\u2019s, could the family transform hard knocks into a family fortune.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a story 50 years in the making,\u201d said Beatriz, going into riveting detail about their lives in Cuba before coming to America in 1971.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no money (in Cuba) because the money was worthless,\u201d she told the group. When her parents fell onto harder times after filing papers to leave Cuba, her mom secretly baked and sold cakes, she told the group.<\/p>\n

\"\"Garage Pilates owner Kristin DiMiceli is pictured with Chamber President Richie Barnes, who honored the local business as the Chamber\u2019s \u201cBusiness of the Month.\u201d
Courtesy photo<\/p>\n

Even if there was no money, \u201cthey would pay her with beans, rice and chicken,\u201d remembered Porto.<\/p>\n

She said the family made a smart move after arriving in the USA, she said. While most Cuban refugees went to Miami, \u201ca lot of smart people were telling us \u2018there are no jobs in Miami, come to California,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

They did, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

Her dad soon found a job at a Dutch company and her mom started baking again, but had to experiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took her several months to figure things out because (in America), the flour was different, the milk is different and the butter here is different,\u201d Porto said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo months later, she was making wedding cakes,\u201d said Porto. \u201cAlthough my dad wanted her to fail because he wanted her to get a job, she said \u2018if I was able to have a business in Cuba, how could you not be successful in America,\u2019\u201d Porto said she remembered her mother saying.<\/p>\n

Pretty soon, the Porto\u2019s kitchen was super busy and in 1976, they were driving in Silverlake when they found an abandoned bakery and opened. They moved to Glendale in 1982 and never looked back.<\/p>\n

Today, Porto\u2019s Bakery is known throughout the region as one of the tastiest treats on the Southern California restaurant menu.<\/p>\n

Porto\u2019s took the number one spot on \u201cYelp\u2019s Top 100 Places to Eat in the US.\u201d In 2021 Porto\u2019s Bakery was voted Best Bakery in the Southland, according to the Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n

Beatriz said just as Porto\u2019s Bakery started in Rosa\u2019s home back in Cuba, with Porto\u2019s Bake at Home, \u201cwe now ship our most popular pastries and cakes nationwide\u201d for customers to bake at home.<\/p>\n

Porto\u2019s has gradually grown into six current locations in Glendale, Burbank, Downey, Buena Park, West Covina, and Northridge, with a seventh location in the Downtown Disney\u00ae District on the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuality is the key,\u201d said Porto. \u201cWe\u2019re no longer just a bakery, we\u2019re a business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chamber President Richie Barnes thanked Porto for speaking to the Chamber and several other officials were on hand to present Certificates of Appreciation to Porto.<\/p>\n

In other action, the Chamber honored Garage Pilates and owner Kristin DiMiceli for being named \u201cChamber member of the month.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by David N. Young Beatriz Porto speaks to the Los Alamitos Chamber at the Epson America auditorium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-239358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}