MOMENTS OF
TRUTH
This project spotlights people in Texas who experienced turning points that reshaped the course of their lives.
ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN IBAÑEZ
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Laura Molinar
My name is Laura Molinar. I’m the owner of PanPan Bakery and Cafe. I’m 21 years old, and I’m in here every day baking, doing what I love. The translation for bread in Spanish is “pan” and the translation for bread in Japanese is also “pan.” So seeing that, I was like, “no way, like the origin of these languages, that’s insane.”
My parents, they always are teaching me, investing in what’s important, investing in yourself, investing in your health and investing, you know, the money that you do, back into your passion.
When I was 15 years old, I was usually selling from my house, or just like on the corner. You know, 15 year old me, where I was trying so hard. I even remember crying so much to my sister. I’m like, “I don’t see the fruit of my labor,” like I don’t understand, like, when this effort, you know, will start showing in reality, because I was pouring so much, and it was hard to almost see that return. If I would go to a pop up and no one would show up. And that happened so many times. I got a little bit older, I was able to drive further distances. I would go to Oak Cliff. I would go to Deep Ellum. I was there at Deep Ellum. I was doing a pop-up bakery, and I was selling banana puddings. I was selling Hello Kitty conchas, churro cheesecakes. And this guy comes up to me. He’s like, “it’s raining outside. It’s like pouring Why are you out here?” And I was like, “I love I love this.” He’s like, “I can see you really want to do this. I find it really, you know, awesome that you’re out here. I know of a bakery owner really needs to retire, but he won’t give it unless he trusts that person.”
So we came, we talked to the old owner, we gained his trust. He saw my passion, and, yeah, we were able to take over and sublease the bakery in that way. It was a really it was very serendipitous, like we were there, and I felt a little bit nervous. I was wanting to get there at some point, and saving up to get to a point where I can open my own business. I just saw it kind of as like a opportunity that I would knew I would regret if I gave up.
In Mexico, I mean, that’s home, so it’s awesome. You can walk by everyone. You can be buenos días, buenos tardes, and you’re kind of always greeting everyone like they’re your Tio or your Tia. For Mexican panadería, I look up to kind of my parents experiences. What did you eat when you were little? In Mexico, it varies region by region, different pan dulce, different cuisines. So I love to pull from like Oaxaca. They have Muñecas during día de los muertos, which is literally a little girl with her legs crossed in the shape of a bread. Ciudad de Mexico, they go absolutely wild with the other los muertos. Again, that’s I that’s whenever they do their a bread like crazy. So then pan de muerto, the orange blossom flavor, was really interesting to you know, pull from.
When we had the opportunity to travel, we had gone to Japan, and it was absolutely life changing. I went to a tea ceremony. I learned from a tea master. I learned a phrase that she mentioned that is prevalent throughout Japanese culture, “Ichigo Ichie”, and I actually want to paint that on the wall. It means, for this time only, it’s the intentionality behind whisking every single matcha, the respect that it creates and the bond it creates between two people. It’s it’s that intentionality, and it’s kind of what PanPan is about, is creating that bond between us and the community and over something that we all kind of love and didn’t know we needed. I really hope a lot of people can, even if it’s not PanPan, can connect to a place where, you know, they feel that they are being seen, where they’re comfortable, where they’re heard. And this is the future, is fusions. And you know, our new generation to be able to experiment with tradition and respect it and hold the utmost love for it. And I really hope everyone’s able to find something like that.
PanPan bakery mixes heritage, innovation, and community
It’s common to see a line snake out the door of a little bakery just outside Arlington, Texas. The minimal space’s white walls are punctuated with bright pink and brown paintings of whisks, bread and pastries. A line of Mexican ceramics leads customers to a display case packed to the brim with inviting treats.
This is PanPan Bakery and Cafe, owned by 21-year-old baker and entrepreneur Laura Molinar, whose parents were born in Chihuahua, Mexico.
“I did not see PanPan having the reach that it does,” said Molinar, who opened this storefront just over a year ago.
PanPan’s eclectic decor and mix of Mexican-Japanese fusion — with a menu including milk bread concha, mango sticky rice and horchata matcha — led to an explosion of support on social media early on.
Customers line up outside at 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 28, 2025 at PanPan Bakery and Cafe for its 9 a.m. opening. The line often wraps around the building. For customers who come early and wait before doors open, the staff provides umbrellas and water.
MICAELLI MAGDAY / NEXTGENRADIO
To Molinar, the success of PanPan is the culmination of a journey that began as a teenager when she first started baking. Since 15, she’s worked to perfect a combination of her family’s own Mexican food traditions and the Japanese culture she embraced growing up — recalling fond memories like watching the Dragon Ball Z series with her father as a child.
For inspiration, Molinar looks to her parents’ experiences, often asking them what pastries they enjoyed growing up in Mexico. She further developed her love of baking by researching different regions in the country and drawing from their unique traditions and cuisines.
More recently, Molinar and her family visited Japan, which strengthened her enthusiasm for the culture and sparked new menu ideas.
Her most memorable Japan experience was visiting a tea master. She remembered them whisking matcha traditionally by hand and saying the phrase “Ichigo ichie,” which means “for this time only.”
“It’s the intentionality behind whisking, every single matcha — the respect that it creates and the bond it creates between two people,” she said. “That’s what I want PanPan to be about: Creating that bond between us and the community through something that we all love and didn’t know we needed.”
Bakers roll and pipe Nutella conchas inside PanPan. Bakers begin work as early as 3:30 a.m. each morning to prepare and continue baking throughout the day until the shop’s 3 p.m. closing time.
MICAELLI MAGDAY / NEXTGENRADIO
Dough filled with chorizo lines a baking sheet inside the kitchen of PanPan Bakery and Cafe in Dalworthington Gardens. Menu items at the cafe range from sweet to savory, from chorizo kolaches to milk bread conchas.
MICAELLI MAGDAY / NEXTGENRADIO
Before becoming a social media sensation, Molinar started as a teen by running a pop-up bakery almost every weekend with her parents. She said her family nurtured her entrepreneurial drive and helped her keep going through the difficult, early days.
“I remember crying so much to my sister, [because] I don’t see the fruit of my labor,” Molinar said. “ I was pouring so much and it was hard … when I would go to a pop-up and no one would show up. That happened so many times.”
But she kept at it, running shops across the Dallas-Fort Worth area for years. She was eventually approached by a man while selling baked goods in Deep Ellum. Impressed by Molinar’s dedication, he offered her an opportunity to lease a soon-to-be vacant bakery space in Dalworthington Gardens.
“It was very serendipitous. He saw my passion,” Molinar said. While she felt a bit nervous, she mostly saw it as “an opportunity that I knew I would regret if I gave up. So I took it.”
Lauren Molinar, owner of PanPan Bakery and Cafe, speaks with coworkers inside the kitchen while baking. Molinar often wakes up at 3:30 a.m. to assist her bakers.
MICAELLI MAGDAY / NEXTGENRADIO
A matcha latte. PANPAN BAKERY AND CAFE / INSTAGRAM
Now, PanPan Bakery is a successful and viral business, with customers often lining up two hours before opening time to try her fusion recipes.
And those days tend to be long. She often starts at 3:30 a.m. to help her bakers prepare for the day until they open at 9 a.m., and she ends her day in the evening — sometimes, at 9 p.m.
Though the work is physically and mentally demanding, she hopes her customers feel the same sense of community she does at PanPan.
“Entrepreneurship has a way of making you shed so many layers that you didn’t even know were there,” Molinar said. “Every single day, I’m learning to be myself, [knowing] that everyone may not really enjoy what I do or what I put out into the world.
“I’ve come to a place where I’m at peace with it,” she added, “because I have an overwhelming amount of people who are here and present with me and cheering me on.”
The success of PanPan Bakery and Cafe, she said, also reflects what she sees as the future of American culture.
“This is the future. Fusions,” Molinar said. “For our new generation to be able to experiment with tradition, to respect it and hold the utmost love for it. We are a huge melting pot here in America, and being able to connect with so many young people who have the same vision is amazing.”