Bakery brings a taste of Argentina to metro Atlanta

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. - A metro Atlanta business owner says her goal is to "win over one American at a time" — but judging from the response to her baked goods, she’s winning them over much faster than that.

Belén de la Cruz is the owner of Belén de la Cruz Empanadas & Pastries, an Argentinean bakery first opened in Johns Creek and now expanding to Marietta. The main attractions are, of course, the empanadas, which de la Cruz says are ubiquitous in her native Argentina.

"Everywhere," she says with a laugh. "What do you order on a Sunday night when you're watching a movie? You order pizza, we order empanadas."

And what is an empanada exactly?

"Anything that has dough wrapping a filling," de la Cruz explains. "And that filling, depending on the country, can be anything. For us in Argentina, the most popular would be beef or chicken or ham and cheese."

That sounds simple, right? Of course, it’s not — which is why when the mother of three settled in metro Atlanta and started hosting cooking classes for fun, her students were far more interested in skipping to the good part: "They told me, ‘Very nice to do it, it's a lot of work...where can I buy them?’"

And thus, a business was born. Belén de la Cruz Empanadas & Pastries opened at 11730 Jones Bridge Road in Johns Creek in February of last year and, to the owner’s surprise, was an immediate hit.  

"We opened and I expected to sell a few empanadas, and really, we sold out the second day. I ended up crying because I was overwhelmed," she remembers.

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And if she was overwhelmed then, de la Cruz says she was utterly astonished at how the neighborhood support continued into the pandemic. Call-in and online orders and curbside delivery didn’t just help the business survive, they allowed it to expand to the second location, this one in Marietta. And with every bit of love she’s getting from the community, Belén de la Cruz says she’s giving it right back.  

The only difference?  Hers is a whole lot tastier. 

"We say that we bake with love and I really meant it. Every empanada has a lot of love here. There's a lot of work in every empanada."

For more information on Belén de la Cruz Empanadas & Pastries, click here.

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