A bakery and restaurant in the Northbridge Mall is selling pastries as far away as Minneapolis, but the owners are trying to get the word out in Albert Lea.

Kruscheff Barrientos and his wife, Ligia, have owned Chapinlandia Restaurant & Bakery in the food court of the Northbridge Mall for about four months, said Kruscheff.

They bake and sell Guatemalan pastries and sweets, most with filling inside, and they also make Mexican breads. They also serve a variety of Guatemalan and Mexican foods.

Not all of the bread Kruscheff and Ligia bake is sold in Albert Lea. Twice a week, Kruscheff delivers as many as 2,000 slices of bread to stores in Austin and the Twin Cities, Kruscheff said. That bread can stay on those stores’ shelves up to 12 days, Kruscheff said.

Kruscheff, who previously owned a similar store in Minneapolis, said he is adapting to working with more English-speaking customers, because he speaks only a little English, and his daughter Jennyffer often translated for him during the interview.

They owned a bakery in Minneapolis before this and didn’t work with many English speaking people.

“Before, he solely wanted to work with Hispanic people because of the English, the language barrier,” Jennyffer said translating for Kruscheff. “Now he’s been working a lot more with English people. Still his English isn’t perfect, but he’s working with that little more.”

Kruscheff is spreading the message locally about the restaurant and bakery, and one of the ways to do that is to give out samples of food, said Barb Fate, mall property manager.

“Those who have tried it, clearly, continue to come back,” Fate said. “It’s a matter of getting the word out. It’s not your typical bakery. You don’t come down and get a cake doughnut. It’s a specialty bakery.”

Most of the recipes are family recipes that Kruscheff said he’s had since he lived in Guatemala. He said he is working to increase the number of foods they serve. Part of that comes from making new dishes, which he gives to customers and friends to test.

Kruscheff and Ligia, who have lived in Minnesota as refugees for more than 20 years, can bake as long as 10 hours a day. Working in a mall can be difficult. At a previous bakery in the Twin Cities, Kruscheff and Ligia would work until 11 p.m. or midnight, but they can’t do that in Albert Lea because of mall hours.

“Everything is made from scratch here,” Jennyffer said, translating for Kruscheff. “You don’t make anything out of the can — you know, open the can and throw it in. No, it’s all made from scratch. Homemade food. It gets kind of difficult at times. Is it the right quantity? We don’t use measuring cups. Our hand — that’s what we use.”

She gestured to her hand. “This is a measuring cup right here.”

But like the bakery they had before, people come and try the food even if they’ve never tried a similar product.

“People came in and had no idea what was going on,” Jennyffer said, translating for Kruscheff. “They didn’t know exactly what the food was, but they came in and tried it.”

Kruscheff said he’s learned the community is supportive but also curious. He said many people ask a lot of questions about ingredients because of allergies to certain foods.

“As a Hispanic person, we go, we see something we like, we grab a bunch of stuff — about 20 pieces,” Jennyffer said, translating for Kruscheff. “As American people that come and buy here, it’s like one or two pieces of bread and they go try it, and if they like it, they come back for more.”

Kruscheff said he likes the people he has met and sold food to at the mall, many of whom are older. He said they are nice, calm people who will work with Kruscheff to understand him despite he language barrier.

While Kruscheff said he and Ligia have daily customers who come for a roll and coffee each day, he said many of people will purchase their food at a different business in the food court each day: “They help everybody out here, and try to help keep the business going.”

Rita Severson, who comes to the mall food court almost daily, is one of those customers. Severson, whose husband walks in the mall, said her favorite food is a strawberry-filled pastry called empanadas.

While winter is a good time of year for business, Kruscheff said traveling to Albert Lea from their home in Northfield can be difficult because of unpredictable weather. Kruscheff was unable to work for three years because of a surgery and other health problems. Kruscheff said he tires easily after his health problems, so the commute can be even more difficult.