From her early years selling Mexican pastries door-to-door with her mother, Leslye Rangel has gone a long way.
Since launching its pumpkin spice concha, a contemporary twist on the classic Mexican concha, her family’s East Harris County bakery has seen a threefold increase in sales in a matter of weeks.
According to Rangel, we never in a million years imagined it would blow up the way it has.
The pumpkin spice concha, a fall-themed pastry from La Hacienda Bakery, which is situated in a strip mall far northeast at 180 Uvalde Road close to Channelview, became viral on TikTok in September. Ever since, people from Houston have waited in line outside the bakery to purchase the delicious bread that is stuffed with pumpkin spice cream and decorated with orange sugar to resemble a pumpkin. Customers have come from Chicago, Michigan, Tennessee, and other places to get their hands on the seasonal treat after Rangel made an appearance on Good Morning America’s Halloween special.
Over the years, La Hacienda has refined its recipe for sweet bread, ensuring that it keeps its delicate, fresh flavor for up to four days. They bake the bread with fillings like pineapple, strawberry cream, and cajeta, a caramel spread.
We decided to create something unique this year instead of just another bakery. “Rangel said.”
More than 20 years of commitment to creating Mexican delicacies culminated in the pumpkin spice concha’s seeming overnight popularity. When Rangel was six years old in 1997, his mother, Leticia Avils Mercado, moved to Houston from Valle Hermoso in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
After that, she got to know Rangel’s stepfather, a baker in his hometown of Puebla, central Mexico. He started sharing some of his culinary secrets with his wife. With a young Rangel, Avil’s Mercado began modestly, selling to friends and neighbors in Houston’s Fifth Ward.
We would knock on doors and sell the bread that she made. Rangel remarked, “I didn’t speak a word of English.” It was simply too much. I felt afraid. Since I don’t speak the language, I would just cry all the time.
However, Avil’s Mercado had big dreams all the time. Twelve years ago, the family started their own bakery.
According to Avil S. Mercado, I’ve always wished for the opportunity to work for no one else.
The 35-year-old Rangel assisted her mother and stepfather in managing the bakery’s operations, particularly when the English-language documentation became too complicated to comprehend. She continued to work as a Harris County Sheriff’s Office officer during the day and assisted in the bakery during her free time.
Rangel’s husband, who owns a marketing company, started lecturing her and her mother on the importance of marketing about a year ago. By creating new products and promoting them on social media, he urged the family to spend money on marketing. But, Rangel claimed, it was a never-ending battle.
Marketing is not something that Hispanics believe in. According to Rangel, they don’t invest. They believe that’s a waste of your money. Why must we pay so much for the internet or for someone to come and take pictures or a video?
In addition to his marketing responsibilities, Rangel’s spouse became a skilled baker and participated in developing new recipes for the bakery. He enjoys experimenting with different filler flavors to see how they work for clients. During September, he experimented with a filling made of sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and pumpkin spice. The pumpkin spice concha started because pumpkin spice was the obvious winner.
An 11-second TikTok video debuting the fall-flavored concha had over 130,000 views on September 30. A week later, Rangel cut into the concha to reveal the cream center in another video, which has since received over 600,000 views.
In order to meet demand, the family had to expand their bakery and add more employees because the treat was so successful. They produced 50 conchas a day at first, then 500, and ultimately 3,000. Every time, they sold out.
Houston locals who value the custom of sharing Mexican sweet bread with their families and like La Hacienda’s contemporary spin have found resonance in the pumpkin spice concha.
On a recent Saturday, Hector Padilla and his spouse, Naomi, stopped by La Hacienda for a cake, but they couldn’t help but get some pumpkin spice delights as well.
According to Padilla, a 45-year-old welder and native Houstonian, “around this time, when we were little kids, it’s coffee time, chocolate time.” We would go wild buying conchas.
After reading about the bakery, Ana Maria Falcin, a 77-year-old retired teacher, arrived with her spouse. Since her family relocated from Mexico when she was six years old, she has resided in Houston. The combination of her two countries’ traditions thrilled her.
We adore pan dulce from Mexico. Falcon replied, “We’re always eating it.” That lengthy article about it caught my attention. My pride in my people is immense.
Before choosing which pastry to purchase, the bakery’s devoted patrons, who are primarily of Mexican descent, mix Spanish and English as they browse the store. After La Hacienda s internet success, the clientele has expanded and Houstonians of all backgrounds are eager to visit the bakery, Rangel said.
La Hacienda has finally ventured into e-commerce, and started shipping their pumpkin spice conchas in November to the nearly 2,000 people registered online. However, it s no longer taking new registrations so they can keep up with demand. They intend to grow by opening a second site in Houston.
The bakery is now working on two new Christmas-themed concha recipes, which they plan to launch in December. The business is finally successful enough that Rangel can leave her law enforcement job to focus solely on the bakery.
Leaving her job is bittersweet, Rangel said, because she loves helping people.
But to Rangel, baking bread is not just about satisfying a sweet tooth. It s about taking pride in her Mexican heritage and uniting families.
For us, it means you re bringing family together in love. We definitely need more love in this world, Rangel said.
This brings happiness to people and we love that feeling.
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