Arturo Pozos is a stand up guy. He balances running his own all-fresh bakery, raising a family, and serving on multiple boards with a smile and a laugh. His bakery, Arturo’s Baked Goods & More, is a Michigan City favorite that has grown from a small hobby into a beloved business.
“I have always loved food and cooking. I used to bake with my mom, but a dozen cookies is much different than a five tier wedding cake,” Arturo explained.
Born in Michigan City, Arturo attended Joy Elementary School, Krueger Middle School, and Elston High School. He then went on and studied his passion of theater at Indiana State. After graduating and then getting married in 1993, he returned to the area and worked a variety of jobs throughout the county. Eventually, Arturo was struggling to find work due to overqualification and found himself in a bind.
He and his children began baking cookies for family and friends and selling them via Facebook. The feedback was unanimous, Arturo had a gift and he needed to use it. Arturo listened to the advice, but knew that he needed to exercise patience. After amassing a dedicated base of followers Arturo’s Bakery was opened and has been a hit ever since.
Arturo said, “We did it from home for a year just for friends and family. I advise not to try to do too much at once. We had a fairly strong fan base before we opened our retail door. The first two weeks we were open 90% of our customers were from Facebook, and we could hardly keep up. Focus on what you are good at and add on from there. ”
The bakery originally stuck to staples such as general baked goods and eventually added bread. From there, Arturo extended his repertoire to soups, coffee, specialty cakes and more, may I mention that this is all self-taught. Arturo recently has even purchased an air brush. Arturo simply explained that the shop serves anything that you can bake. The bakery has even taken special diets into consideration. Arturo’s serves up everything sans high fructose corn syrup and works to accommodate vegan and gluten-free desserts for customers.
Arturo explained, “What sets us apart is that everything is fresh. We bake all day long in small batches so that you are never getting old stuff. Nothing in this building has high fructose corn syrup."
Beyond running the bakery, Arturo makes sure to be heavily involved in his community and is the President of the Michigan City Mainstreet Association which works to promote and increase the viability of downtown and is on the board for the Michigan City Chamber Music Festival. He also strives to attend as many City Council meetings as possible. Additionally, he works with the Young People’s Theater Company on productions.
For the future Arturo is looking for expansion. He talks about creating a gluten-free facility particularly for autistic children. He has also been in discussion with Art Space about putting in a coffee shop.
“Downtown Michigan City needs another coffee shop. They need options. We could supplement it with our baked goods and have a full on barrista. We are passionate about art so Art Space just makes sense to us. We always feature local artists in the shop,” Arturo explained.
Arturo will be selling cookies and red velvet frappes and will provide 400 pretzel buns to Sahara to be served at Taste of Michigan City this Friday and Saturday. Arturo’s Baked Goods and More is located at 2613 E US Hwy 12.