From Barcelona with Love; The story of Alex Olmos Axelson
Alex Olmos Axelson, 32, grew up in Barcelona, Spain, his family has lived there for generations. He was set on leaving and starting something for himself.
“All I wanted to do was live in the states, that was my number one goal,” Axelson said.
After three years of pastry school in Barcelona, Alex was lucky enough to stage under Oriol Balaguer, one of the world’s most famous pastry chefs. The stage lasted for a long six months, after which Oriol offered him a job. He parlayed that six months into six years.
“It was a long six years— Sixteen hour days, every day,” Alex said. “[It was] Nothing short of perfection.” This is when Alex first started working with chocolate (FORESHADOWING).
It was here that he learned the importance of detail in the kitchen. Every day the staff uniforms and personal grooming would be inspected. If any of it didn’t meet Oriol standards, you wouldn’t work. “We would do uniform line up every day before our shift. Make sure it is clean, ironed, sleeves rolled right, haircut is clean. Details were important.”
“I learned a lot during my time under Oriol, it was the best education I could’ve ever received. But six years of 16 hour days … drained me,” Alex said. “It was at this time I started dreaming of living in the states. I was burnt out.”
To Alex, the states were a symbol of something different, something exciting.
So where would a young pastry chef want to live in the United States? New York? Chicago? San Francisco? Los Angeles? LA was the answer.
Putting his days of perfectionistic pastry behind him, Alex was ready for his next challenge: learning how to become the world’s best tattoo artist.
Working as a tattoo apprentice in LA for a month or two at a time, Alex would have to fly back to Barcelona to work at a place called Satan’s Coffee Corner for a month or two. Then he would FLY back to LA. He did this for a little over a year.
The sad fact is, becoming a tattoo artist in LA is time-consuming. Some of the best tattoo artists in the world flock to Los Angeles. The tighter the competition, the tighter the money.
When the lofty tattoo goals evolved, pastries once again ruled supreme.
Alex got his first kitchen job in the states at a place called Smoke.Oil.Salt, this allowed him to make a living in the city he lived in (rather than having to fly back to Spain to earn some extra money). During this time, Alex was still trying to get all of his paperwork done. Technically speaking, he was working illegally.
(I could rant for pages about the struggles of immigrants trying to make a living in the states, but this is a blog post, not a book.)
Life as an immigrant isn’t easy. The paperwork is a long, drawn-out process, with little to no end in sight.
After Smoke.Oil.Salt closed, Alex started to work at a restaurant called Republique. There he joined their pastry team.
“I worked at Republique for a year, the team was great, I learned a lot,” Alex said. “This was the most professional team I have worked with.”
After Republique, Alex was getting ready to move back to Spain. Before he left, however, he met a beautiful young lady named Brittany (on an app some of you might have heard of, Tinder).
Alex was pretty crazy for this girl from the get-go, but what was he going to do? Not move? The plan was already in motion. So they dated for a month before he had to fly back home … a couple of months went by before Brittany followed him and also moved to Spain. what a couple of love birds.
There was a lot of traveling back and forth from Spain to LA, both separately and as a couple. Shit, they did it so much they lost track of the number of trips. It was draining.
Then the move from LA to Phoenix happened, Brittany’s mom and sister lived here, plus there was work opportunity. They were over the LA traffic and hustle.
Alex got a job at Essence Bakery right when he got his work permit. He was still waiting for his green card at the time, the man couldn’t wait for his green card. He is a go, go, go kind of guy.
Later he was approached by the owner of Phoenix Public Market Cafe to assist with their pastry program, and later, help launch Good Things Coming, an edible cannabis brand.
Alex helped create the recipes for the launch of the Good Things Coming Brand. He developed the entire product line. After that, he was fired. His recipes are still in use today.
It was a learning experience; he didn’t have a contract discussing the future use of the recipes. Next time … he will.
After that, Noi Cacao was born.
Now Alex is his own boss, growing and scaling his business on his terms.
Very excited to see what the future holds for him.
