Carlos Pereira, unmatched artisanal bread baker, owner of Bon Breads the best bakery in Las Vegas

Biography of Carlos Pereyra

Carlos Pereira opened Bon Breads in 1999, just a few short years after moving to Las Vegas from Lima, Peru, to attend the University of Nevada – Las Vegas . He came to the entertainment capital of the world fully intending to earn a degree in hospitality management and then return home to Peru to pursue a career in that country’s burgeoning gaming industry. To help pay for school, he took a part-time job as an apprentice in a bread bakery. Then, when he spotted a job posting for an artisanal bread baker at Caesars Palace, he found himself on a completely different career path than he’d ever imagined.

It’s true he wasn’t qualified to be an artisan bread baker, but nobody else who applied for the job was, either. In fact, at that time there simply was no artisan bread made in Las Vegas. Most local restaurants — if they even served artisan-style bread —purchased it from La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles. Pereira had one interview the hiring manager, Caesars’ Executive Chef John Hui, who told him matter-of-factly he was looking for someone with experience specifically in the art of artisan bread-making. However, he said, if no better candidate came forward, he’d keep Pereira in mind.

Of a persistent temperament, Pereira was unwilling to sit back and wait for a phone call he knew would probably never come. Instead, he called Hui “literally 20 or 30 times” by his own admission until he finally got the job. Since he lacked the dedicated artisan bakery experience Caesars Palace sought, they he was sent to the San Francisco Baking Institute to study under master baker Michel Suas, the SFBI’s founder and author of the recently published, acclaimed baking text, Advanced Bread and Pastry. Caesars Palace wanted to begin its in-house artisanal bread program right away, so Hui made sure Pereira was set on fast-track course, working with Suas one-on-one to learn the art of artisan baking.

Back in Las Vegas in the late 1990s, the city’s culinary sophistication was growing. New resorts were opening, boasting rosters of sophisticated restaurants helmed by celebrity chefs from around the globe. Meanwhile, Pereira’s bread-making skills were becoming well-known in their own right, so much so that another major resort tried to hire him away from Caesars Palace in 1999. He was offered such an attractive salary, he felt he couldn’t turn it down.

Hui listened as Pereira told him about the offer he’d received, and agreed the compensation package was attractive and wasn’t something Caesars Palace was able to match. “But Carlos,” he said, “I always assumed you’d leave one day, but I was sure it would be to start your own company. Don’t you realize that no one else in Las Vegas knows how to do what you do?”

He hadn’t really considered such an option until that moment, but Pereira had to agree. Equipped with a set of baking skills unparalleled by anyone else in the region and with the local culinary scene demanding more and more high-quality breads every day, he seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

And so Bon Breads was born. Today, Pereira employs several bakers, each of whom he has trained in the same artisanal methods taught to him. In addition to running the 25,000 square-foot Las Vegas baking facility, most days Pereira can be found working alongside his staff, making sure each and every baguette, rustic loaf or specialty roll meets his exacting standards. Bon Breads boasts an unsurpassed client list comprising the city’s most exceptional restaurants and hotels and has, without a doubt, cemented its position as the most well-regarded artisanal bread bakery in Las Vegas.



	Biography of Carlos Pereyra Carlos Pereira opened Bon Breads in 1999, just a few short years after moving to Las Vegas from Lima, Peru, to attend the University of Nevada – Las Vegas . He came to the entertainment capital of the world fully intending to earn a degree in hospitality management and then return home to Peru to pursue a career in that country’s burgeoning gaming industry. To help pay for school, he took a part-time job as an apprentice in a bread bakery. Then, when he spotted a job posting for an artisanal bread baker at Caesars Palace, he found himself on a completely different career path than he’d ever imagined. It’s true he wasn’t qualified to be an artisan bread baker, but nobody else who applied for the job was, either. In fact, at that time there simply was no artisan bread made in Las Vegas. Most local restaurants — if they even served artisan-style bread —purchased it from La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles. Pereira had one interview the hiring manager, Caesars’ Executive Chef John Hui, who told him matter-of-factly he was looking for someone with experience specifically in the art of artisan bread-making. However, he said, if no better candidate came forward, he’d keep Pereira in mind. Of a persistent temperament, Pereira was unwilling to sit back and wait for a phone call he knew would probably never come. Instead, he called Hui “literally 20 or 30 times” by his own admission until he finally got the job. Since he lacked the dedicated artisan bakery experience Caesars Palace sought, they he was sent to the San Francisco Baking Institute to study under master baker Michel Suas, the SFBI’s founder and author of the recently published, acclaimed baking text, Advanced Bread and Pastry. Caesars Palace wanted to begin its in-house artisanal bread program right away, so Hui made sure Pereira was set on fast-track course, working with Suas one-on-one to learn the art of artisan baking. Back in Las Vegas in the late 1990s, the city’s culinary sophistication was growing. New resorts were opening, boasting rosters of sophisticated restaurants helmed by celebrity chefs from around the globe. Meanwhile, Pereira’s bread-making skills were becoming well-known in their own right, so much so that another major resort tried to hire him away from Caesars Palace in 1999. He was offered such an attractive salary, he felt he couldn’t turn it down. Hui listened as Pereira told him about the offer he’d received, and agreed the compensation package was attractive and wasn’t something Caesars Palace was able to match. “But Carlos,” he said, “I always assumed you’d leave one day, but I was sure it would be to start your own company. Don’t you realize that no one else in Las Vegas knows how to do what you do?” He hadn’t really considered such an option until that moment, but Pereira had to agree. Equipped with a set of baking skills unparalleled by anyone else in the region and with the local culinary scene demanding more and more high-quality breads every day, he seemed to be in the right place at the right time. And so Bon Breads was born. Today, Pereira employs several bakers, each of whom he has trained in the same artisanal methods taught to him. In addition to running the 25,000 square-foot Las Vegas baking facility, most days Pereira can be found working alongside his staff, making sure each and every baguette, rustic loaf or specialty roll meets his exacting standards. Bon Breads boasts an unsurpassed client list comprising the city’s most exceptional restaurants and hotels and has, without a doubt, cemented its position as the most well-regarded artisanal bread bakery in Las Vegas. .