L.A. County kudos come for Porto's bakery
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger honored Beatriz “Betty” Porto of the popular Porto's Bakery and Cafe chain at the Los Angeles County Commission for Women's 37th annual Women of the Year awards and scholarship celebration, at the Sheraton Grand Los Angeles, on Monday.
In all, a dozen women were honored at Monday's ceremonies from all over the county, including county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, Museum of Latin American Art President/CEO Lourdes I. Ramos-Rivas and Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, President and CEO of LA Family Housing.
“I'm so excited to celebrate Betty Porto,” said Barger, “but it's a celebration of the whole Porto family. She's carried on the legacy that her fam
ily brought to this county.”
Barger said the ceremony was truly a special one. “It's about celebrating Porto's and the impact they've had on L.A. County, and it's also about celebrating that we're back out of COVID as well.”
Porto, the chain's Vice President of Community Relations, holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in political science from Cal State Los Angeles and UCLA, respectively.
“Behind me stands an incredible family, my brother, my sister, and, of course, my parents, upon whose legacy we have built this incredible business,” Porto said.
“We're so proud that we did this as a family, as a unit,” she added, “liking each other, loving each other, not fighting, but working as a team. We will work to keep it that way for the next generation.”
The chain opened its newest bakery and cafe in Northridge in April, the company's sixth site, with other bakeries located in Downey, Glendale, Buena Park, West Covina and Burbank.
The chain tapped a customer survey to determine where to puts its latest store, determining that San Fernando Valley diners were flocking to its Burbank and Glendale sites.
Before opening the Northridge site, the bakery sold its Cuban rolls, croissants and other pastries at the Northridge Farmers
Market.
The eateries have a passionate following and the news about the latest opening set off another wave of excitement on social media.
“Finally,” one Instagram user wrote. “I have literally been waiting for this announcement for two years.”
Another user wrote: “I will be there every day. I'm so excited you will be in my neighborhood.”
The bakery — known for its savory potato balls, sweet guava and cheese Refugiados and an array of elaborate cakes — began in Rosa Porto's home kitchen in Cuba in the 1960s, after Fidel Castro came to power.
With her husband Raul Porto Sr. locked away in a labor camp, Rosa began selling cakes to support their three children, all the while living under the fear of being
caught. But the family was approved to relocate to the U.S. And in 1976, five years after landing in Los Angeles, Porto's opened its first shop on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park.
Rosa died in December 2019 at age 89. Three Porto siblings — La Cañada Flintridge resident Beatriz, along with brother Raul Porto Jr. and sister Margarita Navarro — run the show now and have maintained and expanded Rosa's culinary legacy.
Beatriz and her siblings demonstrated remarkable flexibility during the pandemic, a trying period that spurred the shutdown of many Southern California eateries.
Within three days of Gov. Gavin Newsom's call to shut down dine-in establishments to slow the spread of the coronavirus in March 2020, the chain morphed its business model, pivoting from dinein to online orders for incar pickup for the first time in its nearly five decade history. The chain also beefed up its Bake at Home service, featuring select frozen pastries that it ships nationwide.
Now that the virus numbers have eased and onsite dining has returned, so have long lines streaming out the doors of the bakeries at all hours. The recent Northridge opening was just the family's latest triumph.
Count Barger among the chain's fans. “Every family birthday celebration,” she said, “we get cake from Porto's.”