CHARLOTTE — It’s 10 miles from Manolo’s Latin Bakery in east Charlotte to Quail Hollow Club, one of the city’s most exclusive golf clubs and home of the Wells Fargo Championship.
On Tuesday, Manolo Betancur, the bakery’s owner, stood behind a gleaming counter near the golf club’s driving range, where title sponsor Wells Fargo & Co. has provided Manolo’s Latin Bakery and eight other area small businesses with display and sales space throughout tournament week. Betancur, between glances at displays of freshly made gelato and churros, made clear that traversing the 10 miles from Central Avenue to one of Charlotte’s highest-profile, see-and-be-seen events required a decades-spanning journey stretching from Colombia to Miami to Charlotte, learning a foreign language, building a bakery from scratch, plenty of tears — and, lastly, an unexpected boost from one of the nation’s largest banks.
“I’ve been waiting 23 years for an opportunity like this,” Betancur told CBJ, minutes after he stood next to Mayor Vi Lyles and delivered opening remarks at the small business area added for this year’s tournament.
“It’s so hard,” he added. “And it pisses me off: Too many times big businesses in Charlotte, big CEOs, have told me, ‘You’re not big enough for us,’ ‘When you reach this level of sales, come back to us,’ ‘Your products look different.’ Too many excuses. … So, to be able to be in a big place like this and a big bank is giving me an opportunity, Wells Fargo told me, ‘You are good enough for us.’”
VIDEO: Wells Fargo Championship returns to Charlotte
Wells Fargo Championship returns to Charlotte
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