Silvia Miguel plans to greet this summer’s visitors with a taste of home, the Argentine-born business owner said. As the FIFA World Cup arrives in the metro in the coming months, Miguel and her team at Pan Caliente are crafting new products and partnerships with an international crowd in mind.
The moment carries special weight with her birth country among the teams scheduled for matches — and a base camp — in Kansas City.
“It’s kind of crazy,” said Miguel of buzz around Argentina’s arrival.
“To me, soccer and food are connected,” added Alejandro Cabero, her husband and business partner.
Pan Caliente, an Argentine-inspired bakery and food manufacturer, supplies empanadas, alfajores and pastries to such coffee shops as Café Corazón, along with restaurants, hotels and event partners across the region.
For the World Cup, the company is introducing an “International Platter,” a rotating lineup of empanadas inspired by participating nations. Limited edition alfajores will highlight visiting countries, and a display of replica World Cup balls dating to 1930 will add a sense of history to the experience.
Cabero expects demand to surpass anything the company has managed before — even the early rush of Super Bowl orders Pan Caliente has handled in the past.
“It’s going to be a lot of people and a lot of responsibility,” he said. “I hope people understand what it means for the rest of the world. These events are huge.”
Food Biz Con enters the picture
To prepare, Miguel and her team attended this week’s Food Biz Con, an annual conference that connects food founders with legal, financial and operational resources in one setting. The three-day event ran Wednesday through Friday at Kansas State University’s Olathe campus.
“To me, it’s like a shortcut,” Miguel said about the food-centric summit. “Everything we need is in those workshops.”
Launched in 2021 and hosted by partners including Mid-Continent Public Library, the conference has become a key gathering for the region’s food ecosystem. This year’s program expanded Spanish language sessions and featured a pitch competition for startups seeking funding.
Xander Winkel, culinary director at Mid-Continent Public Library and a driving force behind the conference, sees Pan Caliente as a reflection of long-term thinking.
“This is exactly why we put together the food business conference,” said Winkel. “Hearing Pan Caliente’s story and seeing the global connection and realization of that dream.”
Even with the World Cup spotlight, Winkel stressed, growth still depends on a solid foundation.
“The fundamentals are still the same,” he said. “The potential consequences, for better or worse, are multiplied here. Let’s make sure that it’s multiplied to businesses’ benefit.”
Boosted through the Ennovation Center
Pan Caliente’s World Cup moment began in a commercial kitchen in Independence.
Miguel formally launched the business in 2018 within the Ennovation Center, where access to equipment, mentorship and connections helped transform catering jobs into a wholesale operation.
“When we started at the Ennovation Center, we started from zero,” said Miguel. “They gave us a lot of information and connections. We started building our business step by step with their guidance.”
Today, the company operates primarily as a business-to-business manufacturer, supplying seven major cafe clients while expanding production capacity. Partnerships with spots like Café Corazón introduced the empanadas to new customers and established steady demand.
“We grew a lot with the help,” said Miguel.
The shift from side hustle to structured company became unavoidable during the 2015 Super Bowl, when orders arrived faster than expected.
“We had so many orders that we were kind of stressed out,” he said. “That was the breaking point where we decided to make this a business.”
Now, instead of racing to catch up, Pan Caliente is preparing with intention.
The World Cup will place Kansas City on a global stage. For Miguel, it is an opportunity to reflect both her home country and her adopted city, one carefully packed tray at a time, she said.
“I think at this moment Kansas City is going to be a representative of American culture,” said Cabero. “Now it’s our time to be at the same level.”
