Pastry baker, coffee roaster find their niches with help from Wichita nonprofit
Paola Mentis wondered if she could turn her passion project of making Argentinian pastries into a full-time gig.
Oscar Pineda, a longtime coffee roaster, aims to sell coffee that reminds him of his motherland: Michoacan, Mexico.
They both found help and guidance at Empower, a non-profit in Wichita’s north end.
Empower — which reached its one-year anniversary this month — offers small-business development resources and knowledge geared toward the Hispanic community in Wichita. They also offer classes on personal finance, home buying process, workforce development and GED classes.
Ariel Rodriguez, Empower’s executive director, says they have made an impact in their first year by serving over 127 people through 10 workshops.
Passion project turns into small business
Paola Mentis is a home baker and the owner of Konkeh Artisan Alfajor Pastries.
She was born in Argentina. She graduated from Wichita State in 2006 and has worked as a paralegal and interpreter for the past 15 years.
During the pandemic, the law office where she works reduced her hours to part time, Mentis said.
She says the pandemic pushed her to open her business.
“I didn’t know if the law office was going to stay open, and this is a job I’ve been doing for the past 15 years — so I started thinking … if I had to do something for myself, what would I do?” Mentis said.
Mentis says she’s always liked cooking and baking. “I wanted to make food that represents my country,” she said.
What started out as a passion project would soon evolve as Mentis started to receive big orders for her pastries — alfajores, a traditional Argentinian pastry.
“I felt like I needed more structure. I needed to learn how to register as an LLC, basic accounting, among other things, in order to make it an official business,” Mentis said.
She learned about Empower one night while listening to a Spanish TV newscast. She found the Evergreen Community Center and signed up for her first class.
“I think without them I would have been lost. There is a lot of good information online, but it is so broad. Getting support from Empower, I was able to meet with an adviser who answered a lot of my questions and did the research for me,” Mentis said.
Rodriguez said Mentis attended one of the very first small-business classes Empower held.
“She came and thanked me for bringing this here. One thing that resonated with me about what she said is that it’s important to meet people where they’re at and really create those relationships,” Rodriguez said.
Mentis has sold her pastries at Final Friday ICT, the Brick and Mortar Venue, Goddard Farmers Market, the White Building on Douglas, Women Empowered Market and the Shop N’ Grub event at Naftzger Park.
Her next step is to rent a commercial kitchen in order to sell her pastries in restaurants, coffee shops and retail stores — and eventually move into a brick and mortar location that would double as a bakery and coffee shop.
Memories through a cup of coffee
Just as Mentis’ alfajor pastry business is gaining traction, another business owner is hoping to grow by offering something many people crave — coffee.
Oscar Pineda, a native of Michoacan, Mexico, has been a coffee roaster for 12 years. He has worked for Roaster Joe’s and is now at Reverie Coffee Roasters.
The pandemic also made Pineda realize that he wanted to start a business.
“Further down the road I saw myself building an online business because of COVID. It was a good time to develop something for myself, for my family and so forth,” Pineda says.
He started Esperanza Coffee Roasters about a year ago. He found Empower through a Facebook post. Pineda says he has attended three of the classes. “They were very helpful.”
“I think Empower has helped a lot of people from my point of view by teaching them how to start a business the right way,” Pineda said.
Both Mentis and Pineda gained knowledge on how to open and run a business, everything from registration to licenses, permits, tax information and legal advice.
“With a lot of this stuff, I don’t think I would’ve known if it wasn’t for them bringing this program to the Hispanic community,” Pineda said.
With Esperanza Coffee, he hopes to bring something to Hispanic people that “they can remember about the country,” Pineda said.
“I feel that a cup of coffee brings memories, connections and experiences.”
Pineda is doing online sales for the foreseeable future. His coffee products are available on Esperanzacoffeeroasters.com
“I don’t know about the next step right now. My family is growing, too — so it’s kind of difficult at the moment, but I’m taking baby steps.”
Empower is located inside the Evergreen Community Center, which reopened last month after renovations. A ribbon cutting will be held on April 9, said Sean Jones, communication specialist for the Wichita Public Library.
Rodriguez says Empower will be rolling out new programs this year.
“We will continue offering more programs in small business classes, start-ups, small business loans, obtaining tax ID’s and sales tax,” Rodriguez says.
More information about these programs and dates to attend can be found at empowernorthend.org or by calling 316-351-8612.