By JULIE ALPAUGH – Photography Editor
By ANA ALDRIDGE – Staff Writer
“The whole family working for you” is the slogan of Panaderia Tacuari. The family owned bakery, located at 145 Fritz Mar Lane, opened the summer of 2015.
The Latin-American bakery Panaderia Tacuari is located at 145 Fritz Mar Lane, where a family of four has worked nonstop to start a successful business. Upon arrival, one instantly smells sweet breads baking in the back room and lively voices talking in Spanish as they knead dough.
Panaderia Tacuari co-owner Ana Martinez proposed the idea of starting a bakery after visiting her father’s bakery in Uruguay. Ana’s husband and co-owner Ignacio Vergara says they started the bakery to bring Uruguayan bread to their lives in Athens.
“This is my wife’s idea. We miss a lot of our bread, the (type) that we ate at our country, and I think that’s why we started this crazy idea,” Ignacio said.
The family’s recipes and business model are largely based on Ana’s father’s bakery in Uruguay, of the same name. The name, Panaderia Tacuari originates from the River Tacuari, in Uruguay.
“My wife’s family, they had a bakery in Uruguay for 35 years, so most of the recipes come from there. My father in law, he’s been a baker for 60 years. (So) when we start baking and have any trouble with the recipes, we FaceTime my wife’s father,” Ignacio said.
Ana learned the skill of baking from her parents when they started the original Panaderia Tacuari, and is now passing that on to her husband and children.
“(I learned to bake) with my mom and dad. My father was a baker, and when I was ten, he had the opportunity to buy himself the bakery and he became owner,” Ana said.
Clarke Central High School senior Ignacio Vergara Jr., Ana and Ignacio’s son, learned baking from his mother as she did from her parents.
“Everything that we do, I learned to make it with my mom,” Ignacio Jr. said.
Building Panaderia Tacuari in Athens was not an easy task to take on according to Ignacio. The building was closed for several years before the family bought it, and Ana, Ignacio and Ignacio Jr. had to completely renovate the place.
“We were looking for a place, and all the rents were so expensive. This place was closed for like 12 years. It was really ugly. But there’s a lot of Hispanic community here. They eat a lot of bread, and we live two minutes from here,” Ignacio said. “(We did) everything. We painted the building, did the floors, everything, the three of us.”
Ignacio Jr. says the time spent working in the bakery with his family over the summer strengthened his family’s relationship.
“Over the summer we would spend all (our time) there. Like we bonded closer together and as much as we get on each other’s nerves, we also have to deal with each other. (But) since school started, I’ve had to stop (working at the bakery),” Ignacio Jr. said.
According to Ignacio Jr., his family bakes a large variety of Latino foods in order to appeal to the whole community.
“We’re from Uruguay, so a lot of our breads are from Uruguay. But we know that a huge portion of our audience is Mexican and from El Salvador and all Central America. So we try to make things that they would like,” Ignacio Jr. said. “The Mexican conchas, those are like probably the ones we sell the most because it’s just a big part of Mexican culture. Recently, we started making more breakfasts, like croissants and stuff like that, and we also make lunches like tortas, and anything we can think of that people would want.”
The Vergara family takes pride in making their wide variety of breads and other foods from scratch instead of using store bought mixes.
“We like to think that we’re different because everything that we make is made on the spot, nothing’s like ever frozen or pre-made. But like if you order a torta, it’s gonna be made in ten minutes, and yes it’s gonna be a little bit of a wait, but it’s being made on the spot,” Ignacio Jr. said.
According to Ignacio, the baked goods made in Panaderia Tacuari are low in price and generous in portion.
“We’re very cheap, I think. We have 75 cents pastries, good size. Our tortas are $5. We make everything fresh, like the bread we use and our tortas. We cut the chicken thicker. We do the steak like Uruguayan style,” Ignacio said.
Ignacio notes that his children are both very involved in the business, and he hopes that the bakery will help finance their dreams.
“Victoria, my youngest, she’s eight and she’s so connected with the bakery. She knows, ‘Oh, dad, we’re doing ok today,’ or ‘Today’s slow.’ That’s pretty nice. And (my son), he’s very connected also,” Ignacio said. “My hopes are like every parent, to give my kids a better future. (Panaderia Tacuari) can pay for my son’s college and basically, that is our main hope.”
