The co-founders of CAO Bakery & Café have opened their 22nd location near the Hialeah-Miami Lakes southwest border.
“The community showed up,” said Marketing Director Yvette Cao of the April 18 debut at 7755 W. 4th Ave. in Hialeah, in the Amelia development.
She and her husband, Antonio Cao, are Miami Lakers. He and co-founder Carlos de Varona launched the bakery and café business in 2018.
At the new store, a Mariachi band greeted customers. County and city officials cut a ribbon and indulged in the baked goods – crispy croquetas (fried ham, chicken or cod), guava and guava and cheese, Nutella or coconut pastries and bite-sized Cuban desserts -- that the owners say reflect their homeland’s culture and flavors.
Franchisees at the new location are partners Alex Garrido, Ariel Urena, Ulysses Poveda and Kevin Velazquez.
The franchise partners have worked in CAO bakeries and have ties to the area.
“I never imagined I would one day own a bakery in the neighborhood where I was raised, but here we are,” Alex Garrido said in a press release. “This is a dream come true for me and my family. We are not just opening a café, we are planting roots in the place that means the most to us, and we plan to take care of this community the way it took care of us.”
The bakery is open seven days, 6 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Antonio Cao learned the business at Vicky Bakery and went out on his own. A third-generation baker, he called the newest opening “…personal in every sense of the word.
“Hialeah is where we come from,” he said in the press release. “These are the streets where I grew up, where I formed who I am. To open a CAO here, alongside friends – not just business – and to do it for the community that raised us, this is a dream that means a lot.”
He and his wife Yvette Cao live in the Loch Lomond East neighborhood in town.
“As of right now, we do not have anything in Miami Lakes,” Yvette Cao said. “If there were an opportunity and the right location came along, I would be open to it. I’d love to have a CAO Bakery that is a brisk walk from my house.”