{"id":408444,"date":"2026-09-23T17:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408444\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T17:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:42:11","slug":"from-colombia-to-central-florida-how-mecatos-grew-from-one-cafe-to-9-locations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408444\/","title":{"rendered":"From Colombia to Central Florida: How Mecatos grew from one cafe to 9 locations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The \"The The story behind Mecatos Bakery & Cafe<\/a> <\/p>\n

One man’s passion for his culture has turned into a business that now has 9 locations across Central Florida. FOX 35’s Amanda Ruiz talks with the owners of Mecatos Bakery & Cafe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ORLANDO, Fla. – For Edwin Lurduy, a cup of Colombian coffee or a bite of pan de bono at Mecatos is more than just food. It is a taste of home.<\/p>\n

“I came from Colombia when I was nine,” he said. “I got to live a good part of my early childhood there and the food has always stuck with me.”<\/p>\n

That connection to Colombia inspired Lurduy to create Mecatos Bakery & Caf\u00e9, bringing Colombian food and culture to Central Florida.<\/p>\n

The menu includes Colombian favorites like empanadas, pan de bono, coffee, and desserts.<\/p>\n

“The fact that we can bring a piece of that here, not just for the Colombian-based customer but everybody,” Lurduy said. “It\u2019s been a fun experience to see the acceptance.”<\/p>\n

From one caf\u00e9 to nine locations <\/p>\n

Lurduy opened the first Mecatos location in 2016.<\/p>\n

That one small caf\u00e9 has since grown into nine locations across Central Florida with more expansion planned.<\/p>\n

Lurduy says that growth is a reflection of the passion and work that went into building the business.<\/p>\n

“I think it\u2019s proof that if you work hard on something that you\u2019re passionate about and then you give it your all, the results speak for themselves,” he said.<\/p>\n

Lurduy also credits the customers who kept coming back and the ones who brought their friends and family with them.<\/p>\n

That word-of-mouth helped Mecatos build a loyal customer base and a larger community.<\/p>\n

From customer to franchise owner <\/p>\n

Nelson Lerma was one of those customers. About a decade ago, he walked into Mecatos looking for a taste of Colombia. He remembers being impressed by the food, coffee, and pastries.<\/p>\n

“Just the food that they brought from Colombia, the taste, the coffee and other variety of pastries that they had, I was just wow. This is pretty cool to have a little bit of Colombia here in Central Florida,” Lerma said.<\/p>\n

Lerma is no longer just a customer. He is also a Mecatos franchise owner in Edgewood and is working on opening his second location in Kissimmee.<\/p>\n

For Lerma, being part of the business is about more than owning a franchise. It is about the relationships he has built with the people who walk through the doors.<\/p>\n

“It feels like a family. The customers come in, they greet you, they know who you are,” Lerma said.<\/p>\n

Lurduy says seeing customers like Lerma become part of the business is one of the most rewarding parts of the journey.<\/p>\n

“It makes me feel proud, happy about the fact that someone who one day walked into the store, enjoyed a cup of coffee or bread were customers, enjoyed the product, liked it so much, decided to change their lives,” Lurduy said.<\/p>\n

A piece of Colombia in Central Florida <\/p>\n

Ten years ago, Lurduy set out to share a piece of Colombia with Central Florida.<\/p>\n

That idea has grown into nine locations and a community of customers, employees, and franchise owners.<\/p>\n

“Mecatos has become a staple at the Central Florida community. It feels good,” Lurduy said.<\/p>\n

The Source: This story was written with information gathered by FOX 35 reporter Amanda Ruiz.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Orlando News<\/a>Orange County News<\/a>Hispanic Heritage Month<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The story behind Mecatos Bakery & Cafe One man’s passion for his culture has turned into a business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[47,2229,115,1335,139,141,140,628],"class_list":["post-408444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-fl","tag-hispanic-heritage-month","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}