When a Venezuelan family set up the first Don Pan International Bakery in Miami five years ago, they weren’t just a mom-and-pop operation offering strong coffee and sweet rolls.

The owners of Don Pan are third-generation bakers in South America, with more than a dozen bakeries in Venezuela and franchise rights there for Subway, Papa John’s, Burger King and other restaurants.

In South Florida, they’ve grown to 15 Don Pan outlets in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, with seven more being built and revenues topping $10 million a year. Plus, the Miami-based chain plans to start franchises soon to expand across the United States and beyond, said President Alvaro GorrM-mn.

“The real money is in the franchises and royalties,” GorrM-mn said.

There’s heavy competition for baking and selling breads, pastries, meat pies, sandwiches and other perishables. Supermarkets such as Publix have ample bakery departments. Plus, Cubans, Italians, Jews and other ethnic groups run hundreds of local shops.

But what sets the Don Pan chain apart, clients and managers say, is its wide selection of more than 150 items, locations with easy parking, clean and well-lighted tables, plus ample hours. Stores are open 7:30 a.m. through 9:30 p.m., including weekends and holidays.

“They make the best dulce de leche caramel and cheese bread,” said Octavia Suarez, 60, a Nicaragua-born saleswoman who stopped by a Little Havana outlet on Wednesday for breakfast. She was taking home sandwiches, quiche and other goodies for lunch. “And I love their cappuccinos.”

Don Pan, which means Mr. Bread in Spanish, makes all its own products: from Italian breads to Cuban guava pastries, French custard fruit tarts to Argentine meat pies and Venezuelan arepas — often using family recipes developed since the 1950s.

The business started back then after GorrM-mn’s grandfather emigrated from Spain’s Canary Islands to Venezuela in the wake of the Spanish Civil War. He set up his first bakery in Caracas at a time when families had bread and milk delivered to their doorsteps each morning. The business grew through sons, daughters and cousins to dozens of units, each with names other than Don Pan.

It wasn’t until 1994, when Alvaro GorrM-mn came to Miami to study English in hopes of getting a pilot’s license, that the idea of a South Florida expansion took root. Alvaro GorrM-mn told family members back in Venezuela that Miami could use sit-down bakery restaurants.

Still, bankers in South Florida were nonplussed by the family’s record in South America and not eager to lend money to a new restaurant entry in 1994.

“It was very difficult in the beginning,” said Alvaro GorrM-mn. “The first Don Pan we had to build with all our own money, because the banks don’t know you. And they’re afraid of restaurants. They want to lend against real estate, not food.”

But once the first store prospered near Florida International University, where Alvaro GorrM-mn studied English, the expansion got easier. Clients suggested the company open outlets in their neighborhoods, in Kendall, Little Havana and Hialeah. And the GorrM-mns got a break from Miami’s Hamilton Bank NA, an internationally focused bank led by Eduardo MasFerrer.

With 15 outlets today, “now the banks come to us,” GorrM-mn said.

One key to growth has been prime sites. The chain seeks out free-standing locations, like those favored by pharmacies and fast-food chains. Plus, it sets up in the end units of strip malls, so that access and parking are easy, said GorrM-mn.

The company also strives to keep units compact, generally 3,000 square feet with up to 12 tables. And it’s opening Don Pan Express outlets in gas-station convenience stores, said GorrM-mn.

Yet challenges remain.

In South Florida, the average sale at Don Pan today is about $4 to $5 per customer, with a lunch comparably priced with many U.S. fast-food restaurants. But for some people, that’s still too expensive compared with smaller eateries in some Hispanic neighborhoods.

“Other bakeries also have good sandwiches and [are] cheaper,” said Cuba-born Janet Delgado, 24, a cosmetology student who lives in Hialeah. She was enjoying the air conditioning at a Don Pan with a classmate but had not purchased. “I’m a student. I have to be economical.”

Franchising nationwide also is a tough order. Many bakery chains, including Einstein Bagels, have faltered by growing too fast or lacking the financial muscle to support extensive franchising, said Edward Lee, editor of Chicago-based Modern Baking, a monthly trade publication.

“They’re going to need a very good marketing plan to compete,” Lee said. “But they sound like they are in a strong position,” because of the company’s wide selection and its franchising background in Venezuela, Lee added.

GorrM-mn is optimistic. Watching the busy counter at Don Pan, he takes heart from generations of success and an old Venezuelan saying: “‘Who finds it bitter to eat something sweet?'”

Doreen Hemlock can be reached at or 305-810-5009.