PHOENIX — The stainless steel counters and tidy shelves filled with bagged coffee beans at Panaderia Taza are standard coffeehouse decor, but the pastry case isn't filled with muffins and scones.
It's lined with conchas, Mexican sweet breads, and empanadas, triangle-shaped crust filled with fruit or custard. And the coffee is Mexican brand Cafe Combate.
Panaderia Taza is a coffeehouse targeted specifically at Latinos, a market growing so rapidly here and elsewhere in the United States that its owners plan to franchise it.
"We just want to be ahead of the curve," said Peter Conforto, president and chief executive of Masa Men, the management company that opened Panaderia Taza in June.
Ethnic markets and mom-and-pop bakeries have long been tucked into urban shopping centers, but as the Latino population grows, entrepreneurs like Masa Men and others are looking to build slicker models that can be franchised.
Latinos make up more than a quarter of the Phoenix-area's population and are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population.
Because of the growth, more large companies are looking for ways to target the market. Conforto and the other two businessmen at Masa Men, all of whom have experience in starting and franchising restaurants, see an opportunity to create an expandable business model specifically catering to Latinos.
They would not be the first. Masa Men started as the Arizona franchise holder of Pizza Patron stores, a Dallas-based chain that targets Latinos by generally building in neighborhoods that are at least 40% Latino.
Started in 1986, Pizza Patron had four stores two years ago but expects to have 80 by yearend, said Andrew Gamm, the company's director of brand development. Most Pizza Patrons are in border states, but Gamm said the company expects to expand nationally as the Latino population grows.
Beyond offering chorizo, a spicy sausage, as a topping, Pizza Patron's menu looks much like most pizza places, but the bilingual signs and staff and relatively inexpensive pies have allowed it to expand aggressively, Gamm said.
The executives at Masa Men got the idea for Panaderia Taza while opening their initial eight Pizza Patron locations. A baker leased the space next to one store, and Lee Cohn, a Masa Men managing partner who sits on a number of restaurant boards including that of Morton's Restaurant Group, saw an opportunity.
