When Winchell’s Donut House first opened on East Broadway decades ago, the smell of fried dough and coffee filled the corner lot.

Now, that same space has come full circle with Cal’s Bakeshop, where owner Caleb “Cal” Orellana is serving up vegan pastries and reviving the building’s sweet history with a modern twist.

Most recently occupied by Rocco’s Little Chicago before its move down the block earlier this year, Cal’s opened its new location at 2707 E. Broadway earlier this month.

Visitors to the bakery are greeted by an assortment of vegan pastries of various origins, including American donuts, Mexican conchas, quesadilla salvadoreñas and more.

Orellana was born in Los Angeles and moved to Tucson in 2005. He left town in 2016 to pursue his culinary education and gain hands-on experience in bakeries, returning to Tucson in 2021.

“I had just recently moved back from San Francisco because of the pandemic,” Orellana told Tucson Spotlight. “I was looking for a job and I couldn’t find anything … and (my best friend and his wife) pitched me the idea, ‘Why don't you make something from your house? Make something and sell it.’”

Shortly after his return to Tucson, Orellana opened a cottage bakery out of his kitchen, sharing his goods on social media and with friends and family.

Orellana started selling his pastries by order, spending each morning baking before personally delivering them to customers.

The ability to cater to each person's preferences and dietary restrictions revealed a high demand for vegan pastries, with only a handful of options in town.

“When I first started, it wasn’t vegan, it was just normal pastries,” Orellana said. “I myself am not vegan, but I had a huge demand for it, so I just slowly started converting all of my pastries vegan.”

This idea initially proved to be a challenge since Orellana was unfamiliar with vegan baking and had to take a step back and rethink his favorite recipes.

“At the same time, that opened up a lot of other possibilities,” Orellana said. “I was creating more of my fillings. I was creating everything from scratch.”

Once he’d found his footing, Orellana expanded to wholesale and briefly opened a pop-up bakery in 2023 before returning primarily to wholesale orders.

Eventually, the business garnered enough positive attention to catch the eye of other Tucson entrepreneurs who reached out to support Orellana’s growing success.

“I’ve had partnerships that have offered me their help. They trained me to be a barista so I could learn the coffee side of this business,” Orellana said. “Terry (Kyte) is pretty much teaching me the business side. Whenever I don't know what to do, he's just like, ‘Hey, I can help you out. I can show you how to do this.’”

Kyte, founder of Ombre Coffee and several Bisbee Breakfast Club locations, purchased the lot after Rocco’s Little Chicago announced its move down Broadway last year. Given the space’s history with donuts, Kyte decided to bring it back to its roots.

“I was very skeptical,” Orellana said. “Opening up brick-and-mortar is a huge step, and I’ve seen a lot of local places shut down.”

More than 20 local restaurants have closed this year, including popular spots Flora’s Market Run, Ermano’s Bar and Le Cave’s Bakery.

So far, however, Orellana and his bakery are on track for success, regularly selling out of pastries and becoming more popular with each passing day.

“The Tucson community has given me so much. I feel like I want this to be a place for them where they can feel like home,” Orellana said, adding he wants people in his bakery to feel “happy and just enjoy their time with their friends and family.”

Ian Davis is a Pima Community College student and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact him at imdavis52023@gmail.com.

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