We were lucky to catch up with Noe Camacho recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Noe , thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I have a online bakery and where I live, that’s was so new (actually I don’t know another bakery like this). All this started at the pandemic, I was unemployed because I got fire at my job in a restaurant. So I couldn’t find another job, so I went back to my parents house. Through the pandemic I had a lot of time and I love bake, so I stared to sell to friends cinnamon rolls and some conchas ( i love to make this two things) and suddenly every time there were more and more people coming to my house to find some bread. People from another zone where I live. But the was a problem, I didn’t have days were I usually bake and a placed like a tradicional bakery, I only baked orders and a few more extra. So when people came to my house (bakery) they didn’t fine me, it was a really problem. I didn’t have a lot of money to rent a placed and a lot of stuff to started to bake a lot of bread, so I got a bank loan, with the money I bought a bigger mixer, racks, and a big oven. I had a lot of help from my parents and brother, but there was I problem, people still come to fine my bakery and didn’t find me, then I realizes I wasn’t a Normal and tradicional bakery, I was a online bakery. Thought social medial I stared to explain to people that if you need some bread from us, you need to ordered with one to two days before they wanted. Explained to how to came and make a lot of signs to make easier to fine me. I this time maybe you were thinking, “um but, what makes the bread so good that people want to come over and over and far away from the bakery?” The answer is “I make bread like ours grand parents did at they time” the tradicional yeast we know is “new” it was invented at the 90’s so, before there bakers usually kept a small amount of dough to make the dough of the next day (the sourdough we know actually) and the placed the dough at a fresh place out doors or in a freezer (at the 50’s it wasn’t so hot, they could leave the dough at room temperature, nowadays and where I live the temperature is so hi that I have to leave the dough at the refrigerator always.
Fermenting the dough in the fridge and over the night makes the bread tease way to better than normal beakers do. And although I use instant yeast, i only use a little bit of it and use a method like our grand parents did.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Well I love food, for our family the food is always a reason to come and get around. And when I was at high school it was very easy to me what I want to do the rest of my life. I started to make bread since I was 13 years old. My mom loves to cook and she always wanted to learn how to make bread, but she didn’t have a teacher or a baker to teach her. So she always try to make bread by her own, it wasn’t a good bread, but she always try and every time she did a new recipe I helped her. I’m bigger than my mom so I helped her mixing the dough. And that’s how I started in the world of the bread. The time past and when I was study at the culinary school when I was learning about bakery, for me It was very easy and very natural making the bread but I wasn’t expecting open a bakery years later.

When I was at the culinary school I new that I have to went to visit another’s countries, citys, states to lear about new flavors, texture, food, everything about new culture, that was what was going to make the difference between a cooker from a great chef. Since I was in the culinary school I been traveling and learning, I hope never stop doing it because that’s philosophy created “Panadería Camacho”
When I realized that I could make money with my bakery I said to myself, what kind of bakery I wanted to make? What kind of bread i what to sell? Well, where I lived (angostura, Sinaloa, Mexico) the bread is very good, I love the bread people usually sell, but I wanted to sell bread that you don’t normally found around, like bagels, pita bread, sourdough, babkas, brioche bread, etc. high quality bread.
At the beginning I thought it was a good idea haha, but I lived in a small town, people don’t know what is a pita bread or a babka and of course, the price of those product it wasn’t cheap, because I used butter not margarine or shortening, i used real milk and natural eggs, at the beginning (and always) my mom and dad help me telling their friends and family to buy me bread and if I needed money, they always helped, without they I think panadería camacho it won’t exist.
When people from another’s town know about my bread I stared to sell more and more and it gets easier and harder haha, easier because people started to taste the “new” bread and they like so started recommend to their friends and family. That’s what when it got harder, because it was more work for just me, so I called a nephew how was at the culinary school too, José Luis helped me a lot, but then I needed more help, so call some friends, Fernando and Carlos started to help me at the bakery at my parent’s house.
And suddenly i got a lot of people call me to find pita bread or brioche, babkas, bagels because I was the only bakery I made it so at that point, I knew that was the direction i was to keep.
The thing I’m very proud of myself is that I started the bakery only with 5 dls (100 pesos, at its time ) and tree years later I have selling around 35k (more less) (665k pesos ) that gave me a lot of confidence, now I know that if everything falls apart, I can star over and over again, no matter what, if I could make a bakery with no a lot of equipment and money, and can do whatever I what, and no one can’t tell me that I can’t.
Now days I left my bread in three cafes and one small shop business, and I’m looking for more.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

At the beginning I was too afraid to talk to a camara, I wasn’t used to doing it, but I knew I had to if I wanted to sell. How the bread I used to sell wasn’t “normal” or the traditional bread that people are used to buy, I had to start record me explained people of where are pita bread is come from, how they can eat it, what ingredients it has and doing it with all the menu (because almost everything wasn’t “the normal or tradicional bread” I used to sell) that’s helps me to connect with people, because I talked to they like were my friends, I did it naturally, but it wasn’t very easy, less at the beginning. Because I had a lot of voices at my head telling me “do you think you’re re a influencer? But you only have like 250 followers, people gonna make fun of you to speak to a camara and no one is watching or listening to you” but it was just my head, no one said to me anything about that, instead they feels that I had a conversation with them, and feel very comfortable when they see me at public, I stared to had connection with my public. It’s not easy to star overthinking. But once you don’t do it, you will grown, a lot. Another advice I give you is show to you public the background of you business, people loves see what is behind. Showing them the hard part of it, how you started and always, but always be thankful with them, that’s helps a lot, more than you spect.
Nowadays I had over 2k of followers, around 600 personas who watch our stories at instagram, the number of cellphone around 900 clients and all because I showed the real face of the bakery

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I love to read, and the first book I recommend you is atomic habits of James clear, the autor talk us about how little changes do bigs results. And how quit bad habits and make good habits, it’s just really easy to read with not fancy vocabulary, and a method that really helps. The second book is “how to make friends and influence people” of dale Carnegie, this book was written in 1936 and it has change a little bit but the essence still there, and it’s awesome how the information dale give him to us it’s still applicable. I don’t have much to said about the book, the title speaks by itself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Panaderia.camacho
• Facebook: Panaderia.camacho

Image Credits
Alexis Felix, Daniel Ruiz