Porto’s cooking up some more space

Ryan Carter

It’s only a matter of a few months before Raul Porto, owner of a

popular Glendale bakery, and his employees will have more room to

bake.

The expansion of Porto’s bakery into the former Numero Uno space

at 309 N. Brand Blvd. is due to be completed by July, Porto said. He

also said when that’s done, he will renovate the bakery that’s

operating now.

Hordes of Porto’s Glendale fans converge daily on the bakery at

315 N. Brand Blvd The space next door was expected to be completed by April, but a

lot of renovation got in the way of that, Porto said.

“We basically had to gut the place and build it back up again,”

Porto said.

Partitions have gone up inside the new space and new plumbing put

in, Porto said. At the same time, the 35-year-old business, found-ed

by the Porto family, is trying to buy the space.

“Our main goal is to make coming to the bakery more pleasant and

more convenient to come in and out of,” he said.

Porto’s menu includes everything from Cuban sandwiches to French

baguettes.

But as volume has grown, so have customers, who regularly pack

about 5,000 square feet of customer space in the bakery that’s been

at the Brand address for eight years.

In the 4,000 square feet of new customer space will be a cafe that

will serve customers looking for sandwiches and similar items. The

bakery will stick to selling baked items.

Porto said if he didn’t expand, volume would dilute the service.