By Esteban Escalona
Mónica Lorca Correa is an entrepreneur from Wappingers Falls and owner of the Los Hornitos Bakery. She arrived from Chile more than thirty years ago with her husband, who accompanied her throughout this business adventure. Like any immigrant, she did different jobs to support her family income, but she was always looking for jobs that would allow her to be with her two daughters and be a present mother. Thanks to her entrepreneurship, Mónica and her family are well known in Wappingers Falls; she is cheerful and friendly, and when faced with problems, she has a positive and empowered attitude. This helped her to create her own business, and that is how, after eighteen years in this country, the idea of opening a bakery was born. It was not immediate. She thought of different ideas, but her husband suggested opening a bakery restaurant because he had worked as an administrator in Santiago de Chile, whose name was precisely Los Hornitos, a place where they met more than forty years ago.
They embarked on the adventure in February 2005.
“I didn’t know anything about business and finance; we started with pure passion and faith,” Mónica tells us. They looked for a place to rent, and only with instinct did they come to Dutchess Shopping Plaza, where they had remained since it opened almost twenty years ago. “When we visited the place with my husband, we saw many Hispanics walking by, so we thought it would be a good place.” And without a doubt, it was a good decision. The days before the opening, Mónica and her husband, Patricio, went to all the nearby stores to hand out and leave flyers on cars. One of the products they offered was cakes. This generated great excitement among the Puerto Rican public. The day they opened, many came looking for the famous Puerto Rican cakes, but what was their impression when Mónica gave them another very different product: Chilean cakes. This was the first lesson: New York is a state with diversity. Since then, she has tried to make the entire Hispanic and American community happy, as well as anyone who wants to be enriched with different flavors.
Difficult times.
Like any business, the beginning was not easy. During the first five or six years, they were very much in debt, but Mónica knew that if she persisted, she would do well. That faith helped them to keep going. She went to any fair she was invited to with her sandwiches, empanadas, and sweets; in this way, little by little, she became known. “I was able to have a salary after seventeen years,” she explains. However, it was not only faith in the business, contact with her clients, talking to them, and the enthusiasm they showed that inspired Mónica much more. Without a doubt, the support of the community has been significant: Chileans, Puerto Ricans, Ecuadorians, Mexicans, and North Americans are very grateful when they are treated honestly, they see a clean place, and they are given good service. “I always ask them how they are, how they feel, and we make sure to give them excellent service since I really enjoy what I do.”
Eight years ago, Mónica joined a Community Capital small business support project. This took her business to a more professional level. She took free courses at Westchester Community College, where she learned about finance, accounting basics, identifying types of expenses, organizing income and costs, and other courses on team management and labor relations. She expanded her business thanks to a loan from Community Capital. "They continue to support, advise, and help me get my first Clover cash register." She also understood the importance of getting advice from a good accountant who has all your business's financial information in order so that you can analyze the monthly results and do things correctly. Another thing that Mónica says she learned is that everything has a solution: "There is no problem that cannot be solved, and this has given me the peace of mind to face the most difficult moments of the business."
What is success?
Having a business means growing, not just financially but also as a woman and professionally. She perfected her English and learned about business, and everything has been a path full of learning and beautiful experiences. She has a team of seventeen people, many of whom have worked with her since the beginning. “They have been an important pillar for my business.” For Mónica, that is a success, seeing that Los Hornitos Bakery has grown, that its workers advance with their families, and that now she has the freedom to do what she likes and enjoy with her family.
Most popular products from Los Hornitos Bakery
● The “Churrasco” which is a Chilean sandwich made with Chilean-style bread, mayonnaise, beef, melted cheese, avocado (in Chile they call it palta) and tomato.
● The “pebre”, which is a Chilean sauce made with tomato, onion, cilantro, garlic, lemon and hot sauce.
● Finally the Torta de Tres Leches and also the famous Monica's Cake (sponge cake, vanilla, dulce de leche, puff pastry, whipped cream, peaches and cognac)
Los Hornitos Bakery
1582 US-9, Wappingers Falls. New York, 12590
Phone Number 845-298-8683
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