Walk into Mekato’s Colombian Bakery on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago and you’ll quickly learn two things: come hungry and don’t expect to choose just one treat.

“Our main product is the empanadas,” said John Bohorquez, CEO and one of the family business owners. “They have to try the empanadas. Definitely. They’re going to love it.”

He’ll also happily point you toward the cheese breads – “pan de bono or pan de yuca … those products have 90% cheese” – and pastries filled with guava and caramel.

That variety is the point. The name Mekato is rooted in a Colombian tradition of tasting a little bit of everything at once.

“I want to eat a little bit of this one, a little bit of this one … and that’s me,” Bohorquez said. It’s a philosophy that has helped turn the bakery into a place where customers come for the food and the feeling of being transported.

“When you bite our bread,” he said, “it’s like flying back to your country.”

It’s also a business built on family – and partnership.

Mekato’s is a family-owned operation where everyone pitches in. Bohorquez credits that teamwork for keeping the business strong across decades of growth and change.

“Everybody works. We help each other to make this business grow,” he said.

When Bohorquez took over the business in 2000, the Bohorquez family didn’t know how to bake, he said. So they flew to Colombia, learned and brought that knowledge back to Chicago to work on making the bakery a point of pride for the community.

That is what drew Veronica Quintana, a bilingual small business specialist with U.S. Bank, into the story — first as a customer, then as a banker.

Quintana, who is of Colombian descent, would buy bread for her family, she said, because Mekato’s was the only place she could find in her community that had food her parents grew up with.

On one visit, she noticed the business was having issues with its payment processing equipment.

“I just made myself of service, letting them know that we were here to help them,” she said.

That relationship became more intentional when Quintana realized the Bohorquez didn’t have a dedicated banker.

“We started the relationship that way,” she said. “And as time has been going, it just progressed.”

For Bohorquez, the difference has been consistency, accessibility and trust – especially in the moments when small businesses need it most, he said.

“These last five years has been very hard: COVID, the economy,” he said. “When things were tough, I went to U.S. Bank and said, ‘I need help,’ and they stepped in. They gave me the support I needed to get back on track.”

Mekato’s has been a U.S. Bank business client since 2014 and, today, uses a range of U.S. Bank solutions – including business checking and money market accounts, business credit cards, and more.

However, just as important is the human connection, something Bohorquez said he can feel the minute he walks into the newly remodeled branch on Lincoln Avenue near the bakery.

“It’s like being in family,” he said. “They remember my name and they help me with anything I want.”

That sense of care is something Quintana said she hears, too.

“What’s made our relationship really strong is the fact that he knows that we care,” she said. “We care about his business. We care about them succeeding.”