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On most mornings at La Suerte Bakery and Resto in Prince Albert, the day starts before sunrise.
By the time customers arrive, trays of fresh doughnuts line the counter, and the smell of sweet Filipino breads fills the small shop on 6th Avenue East. Owner Ben Docabo moves between the kitchen and the till, greeting regulars while keeping an eye on the next batch in the oven.
The bakery’s name comes from a nickname his mother coined for him when he was a boy. He kept it, he says , because her voice stayed with him.
“It comes from a Spanish word, [it] means lucky one, la suerte,” he said. “I remember my mum’s wording when I was still young. She’d say ‘la suerte’ all the time.”
Docabo moved to Prince Albert from the Philippines in 2007, trading the warm weather and tropical islands for Saskatchewan’s snowbanks and long winters.
He didn’t mind it — for the most part — as long as he could bring the food with him.
Even as he settled into his job at a local diner, he found himself missing the baked treats he grew up with. The soft pandesal, the sweet breads and the familiar smell of fresh dough in the morning.
He soon realized others felt it, too, that small ache for home that lives somewhere between appetite and memory.
By 2017, the feeling wasn’t just anecdotal. A feasibility study revealed that Prince Albert’s Filipino community was growing. It confirmed something Docabo had already been noticing and it flipped a switch.
That same year, he opened La Suerte to cater to the community’s needs.
“There were a lot of Filipinos,” he said. “And I know Filipino people like Filipino baking back home.”
For Renzo Mondejar, a Filipino immigrant, the bakery feels like more than a storefront, so he visits La Suerte every chance he gets.
“It’s really nice because it’s not only going to give you a nostalgic feeling, but also it makes you feel at home even though you’re not in your home country,” he said.
At first, most customers were Filipino, people who knew the breads – and missed them – from home. However, the clientele quickly widened.
Maya Fetterly, a regular at the shop despite having no Filipino background, raves about the coconut buns and the work Docabo puts in day in and day out.
“He’s doing such a good job,” she said. “He is such a kind person in general and I know the high schoolers come here for lunch every day. [It’s] just a staple in the community.”
The business expanded beyond Prince Albert when La Suerte’s products began landing on Superstore shelves in both Prince Albert and Saskatoon, along with several Asian markets in Saskatoon.
But it hasn’t come easy. It’s meant long drives and even longer days for Docabo. He personally delivers the baked goods to Saskatoon, often filling his van to capacity.
“Usually, it’s kind of a sacrifice,” he said. “But at the end of the day, when you see your customer happy, all those hardships are getting paid up.”
What keeps him moving, he says, is the community that’s formed around the bakery.
“I cannot explain how blessed I am, how the community responds to the way I deliver service,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I’m really thankful for them.”
Eight years after opening his doors, the bakery’s doughnuts and breads, once made for a few dozen people, are now baked for thousands.
Docabo talks about the future the same way he named the bakery, with optimism and faith.
“I’m looking forward — maybe someday I can deliver to the whole Saskatchewan and the whole Canada as well,” he said. “Someday — that’s the dream.”
