This Saturday, March 22 is the closure of Expo BreadPizza and pastriesan event that is in its first edition and promotes the learning, growth and training of the industry.
The Tikal Futura Convention Center is the scene of this event organized by Modern Mills and Multi Investment Corporation (CMI). Within the activities There are demonstrative classes, discussion forums and masterful presentations by chefs and experts from El Caribe, Mexico, Colombia and Central America, Among which the chocolate chef, José Ramón Castillo Pedrero, stands out better known as Joséra Castillo.
Raquel Mishaan, modern Molinos brand manager, shared that this event has caught the attention of Guatemalans for the desire to learn. He also shares that he was part of the guests among Castillo because in addition to his art in chocolate he has a passion to support the development of entrepreneurs, “he not only thinks about how he can be the best chocolate but how to be a more accessible person and that people grow up,” he adds.
Castillo gave one of the most anticipated talks about entrepreneurship in pastry. At 16.30 he will have a demonstrative class of a banana and oat panqué.
In an exclusive interview with Free press He talked about his life, entrepreneurship and the difficulties he has spent in life to get to the place where he is.
From what age did you learn the value of work?
I come from family of dentists. My parents are from Chiapas, my brother and I are from Mexico City. Our parents instilled in us the value of the daily effort and also of being grateful. I studied the career at the Ambrosia culinary center, the specialty in the Ritz in Paris and the postgraduate degree in the University School of Hospitality and Tourism of Stol, in Barcelona.
In the tour I have won several international awards. I open doors to be in several elite restaurants and after many years during a vacation I attended an exhibition where I met my first chocolate mentor and from there I started learning the chocolate business. I took the concept to Mexico with a chocolate store called what bo!
What was your life as a student?
In adolescence nobody would recognize me, I had long hair, I liked rock, heavy and strong music. My mother knew how to direct myself to the things I liked. My family was worried about what would be my future, they ran from many schools. They realized that I liked to cook in the mornings and they differed me that I could dedicate myself to that trade. A neighbor had a Belgian boyfriend who was a chef and there I started learning from Cer. I washed pots, plates no longer shame.
Where does the love for chocolate begin, I ate as a child?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, my parents didn’t leave me. He was not someone in desserts. And if I go to a restaurant I do not ask for dessert, unless it is a flan, a good cheesecake or a good ice cream. They told me that my hands were very hot to work with chocolate and I always had respect, I liked it a lot for the delicacy I had. I saw David Pallas work and I was surprised how I worked with spatulas and I had control of the product, there I started learning from scratch.
I loved it, I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. I was made a beautiful specialty and today, people recognize me for that.
You talk that through work you must be a blessing to others. How do you manifest it?
It is about the people who work on the team are happy and that they develop. There is nothing worse than getting up and saying, “today I have to endure this cuate again”, or be in a place for necessity. It is important to create a pleasant place.
He has been invited to celebrate large cinematographic productions for their chocolates. How was that experience?
We have worked for Warner, Disney, Netflix because we make rare or difficult products. We have really enjoyed the process.
In Coconut We made a spectalar box where part of the movie stage came out. For Willy Wonka We made a briefcase that opened and there were the chocolates. We have also done jobs to Black Panther and Caribbean pirates. I must recognize that it is the work of a team.
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What have been the most difficult moments of entrepreneurship?
During the pandemic it was difficult. Our product was expensive people bought a bathing paper and gel for their hands. And then we had to move, what do we do? We ecandate to make bread and ice cream, also to teach online.
Another critical moment was a loan I did when I was 28 years old, it was more than US $ 200 thousand (more than Q1 million). A bad decision and the time came that I could not pay and the bank took everything that reached the electronic accounts, so we had to work everything in cash. I did not sleep well until I finished paying the last fee and that day I slept two days in a row, one weight was off. We almost broken.
What is the message to Guatemalan entrepreneurs?
Today I have an entrepreneurship talk. During the pandemic many women were widowed in Mexico. They cooked and needed to generate an income and not have a formal job because it would leave their children.
So we create a program called Emprendora to have a correct guide on how to undertake. The idea is to do it with the things they had at home. The first generation was a thousand women and we had more than 6 thousand to date.
We will also learn to make a panqué. The taste already have it and perhaps better than mine because their mother or grandmother taught them. But, we will learn how to present it, how it will be negotiated. Many people believe they need to have 40 thousand products to succeed and it is not so, some famous brands are successful for doing only donuts or only cinnamon rolled, and in that they specialize. One at the same time.
Who is Mexican chocolate Joséra Castillo Pedrero?
José Ramón Castillo Pedrero founding what bo! a Mexican chocolate shop and also from the CLASSROOM Formation Center What Bo! Mexican cocoa precursor. His artisanal and modern work has led him to be recognized worldwide.
- Qualified as the maximum representative of cocoa at the Latin American level.
- The Cergy Pontoise University, in France, awarded the title of Master Chocolatero de las Américas.
- The Larousse publishing house finds it among the best chefs in Mexico being in the book registry Top chefs from Mexico, Posted in 2009.
- Desert Professional magazine included it in 2010 in its Top 10 Chocolatiers of North America list, being the first Latin American to achieve this ranking.
- From 2013 to date what bo! It is part of Le Guide des croqueurs de Chocolat, the maximum guide in France that includes the best chocolate stores in the world.
Part of its dynamics is the creation of new products. He currently has five companies that he has developed with the theme of chocolate.