The History of Perezsosa Bakeries: A Cuban Heritage with Food and Family

By Kira Phillips

Introduction

As a little girl, I roamed the bakery, awestruck by all the pastries at the tip of my fingers. Looking back, the bakery—my grandparents’ bakery—was the coolest place in the world. Cuban bread, croquettes, flan, and cafe con leche are only some of the things splayed out on the cafe tables for each customer. People talking loudly and moving their hands like swatting a fly while speaking to others. Many people came to have their delicious food and would leave with a sense of familiarity and community. It was the hallmark movie setting where my father met my mother behind the bakery counter. Even the source of all the best brown paper bag school lunches. It was where my love of food was discovered. 

As I try to recapture all my memories from the bakery, all I can remember are the fuzzy faces with aprons and the sweet smells. Yet, the history of the bakery is more than what I can remember, it goes back further where the complete American Dream was a source of its creation and an endearing way of commemorating the memory of Cuba for my family and others who also traveled to achieve a better life in America.

A Bakery In Cuba 

My family is well known in Miami, for its vast creations of Cuban pastries from our family bakery. However, the bakery was more than an old institution; it established the American dream for my Cuban-immigrant family and was a symbol of freedom and mobility. It all started in Camaguey, Cuba in the 1920’s where my great-great uncle started the famed Perezsosa Bakery. According to my Mother, Eloisa Alvarez, his name was Basilio Perez Sosa and he initially had a small grocery and dry goods store in front of the city’s railway station where my grandfather and his brothers worked. The store was called “El Fenix” which translates to The Phoenix.  As an addition to the dry goods sold, my great-grandmother Eloisa would make pastries and dulces (sweets)—Eloisa handmade desserts like Natilla and Flan to sell at the store. Natilla is a custard dish made with milk and eggs and flan is a baked custard dessert with a layer of clear caramel sauce on top. Milk was a main ingredient in many of the desserts as this region of Cuba was known for its dairy farms. The popularity of the baked goods transformed it into more than a grocery over time, and they decided to concentrate on selling the desserts and creating a bakery. They named the new bakery after my great-great uncle’s last names Perez Sosa, and so La Dulceria Perezsosa was born. As a result of being located near the railroad station, many tourists and people waiting for the train would visit the store and the goods were also advertised at the railroad station itself. Business was booming due to many passengers getting off the train and grabbing a bite to eat.  The bakery specialized in Cuban pastries “pastelitos“, puff pastries filled with guava preserves, coconut and ground beef (picadillo, a sort of ground beef hash made with olives and raisins). They also sold a specialized butter pound cake sprinkled with almonds known as Gacenigas and a sweet and savory cornbread named Pan de Karakas. Cuban bakery goods were highly influenced by Spanish Cuisine as the Spanish were the colonizers of Cuba. As a result,  many recipes and traditions had a direct connection to Spain .  For example. During Christmas time, the bakery created  turrones,  a candy nougat made from almonds and sugar, to put a Cuban spin on these, some of them were made in the shape of a suckling pig, the traditional food of Noche Buena (Christmas Eve).  During the Easter holidays and Lent, they made and sold cocas mallorquinas , a type of foccaccia bread with sardines or tuna and, onions, olives and olive oil to be eaten during Good Friday and the surrounding days. These are still a traditional dishes of the Mallorca region of Spain.  Due to this influx of customers and these tasty treats you could not get anywhere else, they were nationally recognized and advertised in Cuba. 

Immigration from Cuba to South Florida 

In the 1940s and 50’s  Perezsosa Bakery thrived economically. My grandfather Carlos Alvarez, was sent to New York to a cooking school to specialize in pastry making and he came back with various recipes that were instituted there. 

However, the next decade, the 1960’s brought about a  revolution that changed the system of government from capitalism to communism. Fidel Castro’s rise to power in Cuba caused many privately owned businesses to be abolished and owned by the state. (Frommers, 2023)  My grandfather had to sadly give up his thriving business to the Cuban government with no compensation. The property remains in Camaguey and is still in existence as Perezsosa Bakery but there has been no acknowledgment of my family’s contribution to its establishment. 

After having to give up the business to the state, the only other option for the Alvarez (Perez-Sosa) family was to immigrate to the United States and start over. This new regulation and restrictions in Cuba with many being detained or businesses being over-regulated, caused an influx of about 125,000 Cuban residents to Florida. (Pbs, 2005) Immigration to the United States was a big transition that left them wondering if they could survive in this new place where they didn’t even speak the language. 

A Cuban Bakery In America 

Upon reaching Miami and spending a couple of years in various jobs, my grandfather Carlos Alvarez managed to reunite with his brother, who also had experience in the bakery business and was a silent partner. Together, they successfully reestablished the bakery in the Cuban community, now recognized as Little Havana. They resumed baking the familiar Cuban recipes, which resonated with customers who remembered them from their time in Cuba, resulting in a loyal customer base. The bakery was located at 1441 S.W. 8th Street, the now famous Calle Ocho which to this day is a tourist attraction for the city of Miami, highlighting the Cuban culture which transformed the city into a thriving Metropolis.

Some of the pastries and cakes that the bakery made in this locale were the same recipes from Cuba. However, some of them were hybridized versions taken from the new American culture, like pizza pastels ( a version of pizza filling in the puff pastry pastelito form).   Another Miami creation was the mini-media noches – bite-sized versions of the famous Cuban media noche sandwiches filled with ham, roast pork, swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard.  These were a hit and no Cuban birthday party was complete without ordering a few dozen and even hundreds of them. 

Despite, the bakery’s success at this locale,  crime and disrepair took over the neighborhood in the late 1980’s and the bakery was forced to close here.  However, they soon reopened in a new neighborhood, Coral Gables, to the west of Little Havana.  Here they mainly specialized in business and lunch catering but also continued selling their famous pastelitos and cakes.  They were even commissioned by the Coral Gables City Government to make a cake for the city’s birthday. They continued to work there until the death of my grandfather in 2011. 

Perezsosa Legacy 

The Perezsosa legacy is more than just the bakery, it is also a symbol and an example of how immigrants can translate their culture, especially their food culture into the melting pot that is America.  I still have people stop me at the grocery store or on the street as the granddaughter of Carlos Alvarez the owner of Perezsosa bakeries since they knew my grandparents and loved the bakery. It continues to be burned into people’s memories and has always had a way into people’s hearts. Therefore my reason for loving food is more than just the food itself, it is the tethering of family and history, and how food joins communities that seemingly don’t have anything in common. Food is often described as a universal language that transcends cultural and linguistic barriers. It has the power to evoke emotions, create connections, and tell stories. People from diverse backgrounds can communicate and understand each other through the shared experience of preparing, sharing, and enjoying meals. This universal aspect of food becomes particularly evident in the context of immigrants and their ability to start new businesses, even in places where they may not initially know the local language. My family’s American Dream was always coming here to America for a better life, yet I think we got so much more than that. The rise of two more Perezsosa bakeries showed the enduring legacy of Perezsosa reflects the transformative power of food as a vehicle for preserving family ties. The recipes passed down through generations, the meticulous crafting of each pastry, and the commitment to quality ingredients are not just business practices—they are threads woven into the fabric of familial connections. As the great-granddaughter of the bakery’s founder, I embody the love, dedication, and stories that have shaped Perezsosa. Beyond being a bakery, it is a living narrative of resilience, culture, and the shared human experience.

Bibliography

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