This longtime Charlotte baker has been named ‘Bread Hero’ of the U.S.A.
.jpg "Manolo’s Bakery owner Manolo Betancur has been named the overall winner in the US Bread Hero category of the Tiptree World Bread Awards.")
You may not have heard of the Tiptree World Bread Awards before, but they’ve heard of one of Charlotte’s best known bread makers: Manolo Betancur of Manolo’s Bakery.
Betancur, who was the awards program’s Southeast regional finalist, took home the top award of Overall Winner in the US Bread Hero category.
The Tiptree World Bread Awards normally celebrates the best commercially baked bread in the country. But last year, it began celebrating the people who make it all happen — farmers, millers, bakers and educators — as USA Bread Heroes.
Betancur has been baking artisan breads, cakes and desserts in Charlotte since 2004, when he moved to town and worked at the city’s first Latin bakery.
The Colombian immigrant later bought the spot and renamed it Manolo’s Bakery in 2011, turning it into the to-go spot to pick up pan de muertos or rosca de reyes. Manolo’s also supplies baked goods to more than 100 stores, restaurants and supermarkets, and caters, too.
Besides baking great bread, his commitment to community sealed the deal. His bakery’s vision is: Nuestro Pan, Nuestra Gente, Nuestro Futuro (Our Bread, Our People, Our Future).
He embodied that while donating Ephiphany week profits to charity and donated blankets to the homeless in Charlotte, even as he battled COVID-19.
“With so much going on and all the uncertainty, many think they can’t change what’s happening around them. But with the right support, we can change our future by creating opportunities that will allow us to grow and keep dreaming,” Betancur said.
The winners of the Bread Heroes campaign were announced on Wednesday, Nov. 3 in an online awards ceremony.
There were 35 judges for the 2021 awards, including chairman Stephen Hallam, master baker at Dickinson & Morris in the United Kingdon; Zachary Golper, baker at Bien Cuit in Brooklyn, NY, and James Beard Foundation Award nominee; Dana Cowin, founder of Speaking Broadly; and Maurizio Leo of The Perfect Loaf and Gregory Loft, deputy food editor at Martha Stewart Living.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 1:19 PM.
