La Hacienda Bakery has been making its rounds — literally.
The Houston bakery, located in a strip mall at 180 Uvalde Road in the Timberwood area, first went viral on TikTok in October for its seasonal concha rellenas, or stuffed conchas, which are loaded with a pumpkin-spice filling and shaped and colored orange just like a pumpkin. Though it’s the first time La Hacienda has sold this type of Mexican sweet bread or pan dulce, it’s been an instant hit. The conchas have garnered more than a million views on social media, and the bakery has sold out almost daily, selling thousands of its pillowy pumpkin conchas a day, with some diners driving up to 16 hours — and promising to fly in — just to score one.
They’ve become so popular that even ABC13 Houston had to get a taste, and on Thursday, October 31, owner Leslie Rangel delivered the pumpkin-spice conchas to New York, where they were featured on national news broadcast show Good Morning America (co-host and Houston native Michael Strahan seemed enamored).
“We wanted to create something unique and different from any other bakery. We came up with this filling, so for those non-pumpkin lovers, they’re going to love this,” Rangel told Good Morning America hosts. “They’re perfectly balanced, creamy, Not too pumpkin-y.”
The pastries are so popular they now have a waitlist, and Rangel says La Hacienda is working around the clock to make it possible to package and ship their conchas and other pan dulces. The support has been incredible — “I never ever thought we would be here,” Rangel says — but the pressure has also been high. Rangel has said on social media that the bakery has received countless messages and calls questioning about the conchas and the shop’s shipping operation, which has been delayed.
“We never thought it was going to grow so big in a matter of days,” a tearful Rangel says in a video posted to Instagram, where she apologizes for delays and thanks diners for support. “I want you to be in my shoes. Imagine you’re a small business, and in days, you explode. You can’t believe it.”
Rangel runs the business with her mother, who originally opened the bakery. She says she’s had to think of hiring more bakers and staff to meet the demand. She’s asked for patience, but she’s assured people that La Hacienda Bakery staff are working around the clock to fulfill orders and stock the bakery with more conchas so they don’t sell out as quickly.
The bakery has given people a behind-the-scenes look at much of the process and experience on social media, with footage of staff stuffing the sweet bread with fillings, placing them in the oven, and sprinkling them with powdered sugar, and also the lively crowds that have gathered in anticipation to try them. Rangel says she’s also extended the time that the pumpkin-spice conchas will be offered. Instead of ending on October 31, they’ll be offered through November, and people who signed up for the waitlist before October 31 will have first dibs on conchas moving forward.
The Houston pumpkin-spice concha craze is part of a larger trend happening around the country, where Latinx bakeries are revamping the traditional concha by experimenting and incorporating new flavors and shapes. Ema, which opened earlier this year in the Heights area, has made waves for its Mexican pastries, including its soft conchas, which come in flavors like blue corn and cinnamon-sugar, and elote cornbread. El Bolillo has long offered an array of pan dulce, including its own pumpkin-shaped and colored conchas (though they don’t come with any filling), and Urbe has unleashed a colorful variety of conchas, some of which are decorated with crossbones or skulls, to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
