{"id":303,"date":"2024-09-24T18:45:57","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T18:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brownsvillecic.com\/?post_type=success-stories&p=303"},"modified":"2025-05-28T14:32:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:32:59","slug":"amor-y-pan-let-the-food-be-your-medicine","status":"publish","type":"success-stories","link":"https:\/\/brownsvillecic.com\/es\/success-stories\/amor-y-pan-let-the-food-be-your-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Amor y Pan: Que la comida sea tu Medicina"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By: <\/span>Ricardo Cavazos, VBR content editor<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business during a pandemic has taught Karina Saldivar some valuable lessons while deepening her appreciation for local support of small businesses.<\/p>\n

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The latter has been vital for the success of her business,\u00a0Amor y Pan<\/a>. The bakery and store promotes healthy living with products that appeal to fans of keto, vegan and paleo lifestyles. A look inside her stylish shop just off Expressway 77\/83 features an array of other delicious offerings.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s low carb\u00a0conchitas<\/i>, a perennial Mexican pan dulce favorite, to go with\u00a0chocoflan\u00a0<\/i>and carrot cake cupcakes. Her \u201crock stars\u201d are tortillas consisting of almond flour and sea salt. It all looks good as does everything in Saldivar\u2019s store. She\u2019s delighted to be part of what she calls \u201ca new momentum in Brownsville.\u201d Saldivar sees her hometown as being in a transition to being a bigger city with more opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like sometimes we\u2019re underrated,\u201d she said of the Rio Grande Valley. \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing right now is all the entrepreneurs here who are doing wonderful things. I love it and I love being part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was May 2019 when Saldivar started to build out the site of what would become Amor y Pan. Going through all the construction and renovation work and then dealing with the barrage of city inspections and permits was tough. Finally, she got to open on March 2, 2020, the eve as it turned out of the COVID-19 era.<\/p>\n

\u201cI finally get to my dream and then I have to deal with that, just like everyone else did,\u201d she said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t going to just quit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saldivar shifted gears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went hard on social media,\u201d she said of the spring 2020 adjustments. \u201cWe started doing curbside, we got really active on WhatsApp, and people liked what we have to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started seeing people line up to our door. I felt so grateful and appreciative that people were willing to do that for us,\u201d Saldivar said. \u201cIt made me see that there are people who understand the importance of small businesses and were willing to do that for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Confidence grew as her business got established and the community at large felt more comfortable being out and about. Recognition of her business received a major honor and $20,000 in funding. Amor Y Pan was one of five local winners of the 2021 StartUp Texas Pitch Summit.<\/p>\n

The virtual spring 2021 event was hosted and organized by the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation. During the summit, Saldivar made an enthusiastic presentation to four judges. They were impressed by her pitch and named Amor y Pan one of the winners, with the grant to help expand her operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning this tells me we\u2019re on the right track to making our business bigger,\u201d Saldivar said. \u201cIt validates what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Saldivar, Amor y Pan is more than a business. It\u2019s helping people in her community live a healthier lifestyle. Those looking for gluten-free breads and sweets with less sugar and fewer carbs while not sacrificing on taste will find a great outlet at Amor y Pan.<\/p>\n

Saldivar raves about her almond flour tortillas \u2013 her best seller \u2013 for providing what many locals consider an essential food item and being able to enjoy it without the downsides of their flour counterparts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that\u2019s good for Brownville and the Valley,\u201d she said of the store\u2019s keto, vegan and paleo products. \u201cWe aim to fit into all three lifestyles, so that makes us unique.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"featured_media":297,"template":"","industry-categories":[26],"class_list":["post-303","success-stories","type-success-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","industry-categories-startup-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillecic.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success-stories\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillecic.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success-stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillecic.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/success-stories"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillecic.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success-stories\/303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillecic.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillecic.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"industry-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillecic.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry-categories?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}