Our family's baking tradition began in 1928 in Camagüey, Cuba as a husband and wife operation. They baked family recipes and peddled them around the town's train station. As the family grew, so did their success. Under the leadership of their oldest son, they traveled to the United States and Europe bringing products and techniques from abroad. In 1962 their enterprise, now distributing across the entire island, was confiscated by the Castro regime. Seeing that they were stripped, not only of their business, but also of their most basic freedom, they fled Cuba for the United States of America. Starting from the ground up, again proved well worth it for the family. The oldest son, now a Cuban-American entrepreneur, was busy rebuilding his bakery in the United States. Meanwhile, his son-in-law, Gilberto Arriaza was learning traditional American, Jewish, German, Austrian and Italian product lines from some of the best old-fashioned bakers in Miami. Years later, Gilberto and family worked together to make their Cuban bakery flourish in Little Havana and the Miami Latin community. After his father-in-law's death, Gilberto went on his own, uniting his knowledge of the Latin community with his vast experience of European pastries. In 1976, Gilbert's Bakery was inaugurated as one fifth the size of today's Douglas location. Capitalizing on the ethnic and operational experience gained in his previous work and driving forward with an extremely creative and open zest for food, Gilbert's soon became known for quality, presentation and creativity. This remains the cornerstone of Gilbert's Bakery today. The next generation is now involved and positively contributing to the history we will be writing tomorrow.
