This viral bakery on wheels is looking for a forever home

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Juan Carlos Soto has been selling pan dulce, empanadas and other baked goods for over 25 years, but last year Zeledon’s Bakery on Wheels went viral on TikTok and things have never been the same – that is, in the sweetest possible way.

“Since we went viral, our sales have gone crazy,” he said. “We get calls from China, Mexico, and so on.”

Zeledon’s Bakery on Wheels is a partnership between Soto and his nephew Ernesto Botello. Their panaderia has become popular in the San Jose area. Now they plan to put down roots in a permanent place.

Finding a Pan Dulce van is not much different from finding treasure these days. Some customers simply follow Zeledon stories on Instagram, where Botello posts intersections and parking lots where they plan to park. Others rise to the horn of “La Cucaracha” – Soto and Botello play the song from the van’s speakers, like an ice cream truck or a grocery cart. They usually don’t stay in any one place for more than an hour, so it can be a fuss to make things right.

“I always try to hit all the hot spots, and eventually that fire burns out,” Botello told The Standard. So I’m always on the move.

This feeling of sweet spontaneity inspired the creation of a TikTok series where customers run to get to the bakery on wheels. In other videos, customers choose their favorite treat from the back of a van that is packed full of Mexican sweet bread, elote, tamales, empanadas, donuts and muffins.

After several of those TikTok went viral last summer, Soto and Botello received calls from The Today Show, NBC Bay Area and Telemundo Área de la Bahía, and made three TV appearances within a month.

Now Soto and Botello are planning to open a permanent home — not in San Jose, but in Los Banos, a town in the San Joaquin Valley, southwest of Merced. Once they open this brick-and-mortar panaderia, Soto plans to focus on the business and leave the nomadic bakery to his nephew, who will hopefully add to his roaming truck fleet.

While Soto hasn’t set a date or exact location yet, he said he’s looking forward to bringing in as many customers as possible across California.

“People love it, and we love seeing them smile,” he said.

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