Orlando-based Fortuna Bakery & Cafe is set to close out its 10-unit expansion this coming January, with openings at 4812 Grandview Pkwy in Davenport, Orlando’s The Mall at Millenia, and another in Winter Park, before setting its sights on another 10-unit expansion that’ll take shape in the second half of 2023 with locations in Tampa, Lakeland, and beyond, according to company president, Ricardo Panneflek.
Davenport, Orlando, and Winter Park mark “the end of the 10 bakeries we plan to open this year,” Panneflek tells What Now Tampa, “and then we’re going to be not opening any for six months, just waiting for them to mature and expand, and then we’ll go back again to building another 10.”
Panneflek continues, “We’ll be looking at opening the 10 stores between the areas of Lakeland, Tampa, and South Tampa,” adding that the company is “trying to put a strong footprint in that neighborhood.”
According to the brand’s official website, Fortuna Bakery & Cafe “has been Central Florida’s go-to spot for Colombian and South American pastries and breads” since it opened in 2006. Today, seven locations dot the greater Orlando area, where every morning a team of bakers – led by Head Baker Juan Carlos Arango, Barista Oriana Tridenti, and Pastry Chef Rene Stotomayor – prepare everything in-house while “[focusing] on making sure every customer leaves happy, appreciated, and with a stomach full of joy.”
Its menu features an array of both sweet and savory goods, including empanadas, arepas, and buñuelos, as well as guava rolls, chocolate rolleto cake, and milhoja de arequipa, with a slate of specialty coffees and teas to wash it all down.
Fortuna Bakery prides itself on not being an it, but a we – “a vibrant community that works together to make a difference,” with all proceeds from coffee sales being donated to “provide life essentials to disadvantaged children and families in Latin America.”
