We visited Manolo's Latin Bakery to indulge our craving for sweet and savory baked goods from Latin America.

[lively salsa music] - As soon as we open the door, oh, you can smell the bread.

- In the middle of the store, there is this hanging case of all these sweet breads.

And so I just go around the whole cart and just pick a little bit of everything.

- For sure, I get pan de bono, I get churros.

- The empanadas are to die for.

I usually go for two or three.

- It's a Latino bakery that brings together many different kinds of Latin American cultures for those who grew up in those cultures but also folks like me for whom this is the ultimate trip.

I could park once and walk around the world.

[utensils scraping] [mellow music] - My business, my bakery, is an extension of my soul, an extension of myself.

[mellow music continues] I hate the word, I.

It doesn't make sense to me use that word because if we all share the same air, the same water, the same government, the same system, why we are not allowed to talk in our?

[mellow music continues] [Manolo speaking in foreign language] Our bread, our people, our future.

[mellow music continues] Bread has a special meaning for humanity.

The Bible talks about the bread of God.

So bread is sacred.

[mellow music continues] We offer 65 kind of breads [lively salsa music] to Mexico to Argentina.

We are most known for our own tres leches cake.

- I'm a wedding planner and I bring my customer here.

I've been traveling around and you cannot find this very delicious flavor.

I have 100% of my customer, they decide to get the cake from Manolo's.

- [Manolo] We are also well-known by our churros.

- They're crusty.

They're toasty without being burned.

They have that crunchy craving sound inside your mouth.

[churro crunching] Mm.

- Churros is the closest thing to perfection.

It has sugar, fried, and all the good things that make our bellies bigger.

- Manolo himself is a entrepreneur who not only enjoys what he does, but also supports his community and he gives back on a regular basis.

- We have been supporting pretty much like 26 organizations.

Through the pandemic, I started The Cake Project.

It was just giving cakes to anyone in this county who had a birthday and couldn't afford a cake.

We gave like almost 5,000 cakes.

[lively salsa music continues] [customers chattering] - [Tom] I admire someone who is so driven to promote his region's culture that he bends over backwards to bring it to all of us.

- I want for the new generations of our children to feel proud for the bread that we are bringing from our countries.

[uplifting music] - The bread that is cooked here, it not only gives nurture to the body, but also to the soul.

This is where we all recognize each other's value, and we all validate each other's background, and we have a voice to discuss, to talk, to share.

Having that recognition of the soul in this particular bread make us part of something.

That sense of belonging, that is available to anybody that comes.

- Yeah.

- Oh.

- High five.

- Give me five.

[Manolo faintly speaking] [customer laughs] - Manolo's Bakery is at 4405 Central Avenue in Charlotte, and they're open daily from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. For more information, give them a call at 704-568-2120, or visit them online at manolosbakery.com.