ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – Jesse Arredondo has been running the La Fiesta Hispanic bakery for the last 15 years, but the establishment has been an Odessa staple since his grandfather got things up and running back in 1964.

He says the strong word of mouth support from the Hispanic community and the greater Odessa community made La Fiesta a success even before social media was around.

“It’s wonderful how much support we get from the Hispanic community, all communities really but mainly the Hispanic community since we’ve been around for so long,” said Arredondo.

Jesse says one of the best things about having Odessa’s Hispanic community behind him is seeing the love for his family’s baked goods passed from generation to generation.

“The most beautiful thing to see is when you have those little kids who were little, and their grandparent were bringing them in, and now you see them bringing in their grandkids,” said Arredondo.

The La Fiesta Bakery is one of the 63 businesses represented by the Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and their CEO says as the Hispanic community continues to grow in Odessa, so does its support of Hispanic-owned businesses who provide valuable services.

“We’re strong. We make the money. This is a place where you can make money. And this is a place where you have a lot of resources that can help you succeed in your business. And so that’s why I feel that we have so much. We have a growth that’s going on right now,” said Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce CEO Savannah Morales.

And that growth can be seen in one of Odessa’s newest Hispanic-owned businesses, Revitalize Health & Wellness. Their owner Hector Rivera says that strong word of mouth from the city’s Hispanic population has spread to the overall population and gotten them off to a strong start.

“Facebook, Instagram, and then from there we just kind of let the referrals take care of themselves. So, really strong Hispanic population, strong referrals, strong community,” said Rivera.

But Hector says the support his business gets doesn’t stop with the Hispanic population. He and the La Fiesta Bakery team say Hispanic business owners in Odessa look out for and support each other by encouraging their customers to shop local and to keep the cash in the Odessa community.

“Yeah I think that’s a big part of it: just kind of keeping our customers and our business local. And I think the Hispanic Chamber has been a great fit for us. We joined them not to long ago and the sense of community, and the meetings that we joined, the leadership that they’ve shown, I think it’s a great part of trying to grow our business,” said Rivera.