ROCHESTER — After many years of selling bread only on Sundays, Federico "Freddy" Gomez has opened a brick-and-mortar store for customers to get his baked goods seven days a week. Panaderia Freddy’s Bakery & Café is a family-owned Hispanic bakery that recently opened in Rochester. The small business held its grand opening on Sept.
14, 2024, and Gomez has been happy with business so far. ADVERTISEMENT Gomez has had a few jobs over the years, but his first was at his family’s bakery when he was 15. He worked there for around five years with his four uncles who were all bakers.
He left the business after getting tired of the overnight work and worked in construction for a while. Gomez moved to Rochester after meeting his wife and spent many years working at Canadian Honkers. While working and learning at that establishment, Gomez began his own small business just one day a week.
“I've been selling my bread for years,” Gomez said. “I used to do it at home, I sold my stuff on Sunday. So, a lot of people already know me.
So it's not like I'm new here. A lot of people still don't know that I'm open, but that's what we are working on, letting people know that I'm already here.” Gomez would take his bread around to local customers in the area and sell it.
Sometimes he would just text his clients and ask if they wanted him to stop by with bread and they would buy it from him directly, but some people needed more bread before the week. The Hispanic community was also smal.