our FOOD, DRINK & FARM issue
RISE & SHINE
Longtime breakfast restaurant Breadman’s enters a new day By M at t h ew L ard i e | P h o to g rap hy by Jo h n M ichael Si m pson
or decades, Omar CastroJuarez and his family have been
ABOVE Luz Castro-Lopez, Cristina CastroJuarez, Omar Castro-Juarez, Yesenia CastroJuarez and Francisco Juarez-Vazquez. BELOW Dane Hupman has been working at Breadman’s for 35 years.
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as important to Breadmen’s as the restaurant has been to Chapel Hill. In 2020, Omar stepped out from behind the scenes to take over as owner. The restaurant has a new location (261 S. Elliott Rd., near Whole Foods) and a slightly new name (Breadman’s, instead of Breadmen’s), but other than that, longtime customers will find little has changed. “We have really tried to keep things the same as much as we can,” Omar says. There were some changes to accommodate the new space, but the Breadman’s experience will be familiar to regulars, from the all-day breakfast menu to the UNC sports photos adorning the walls. “People come to Breadman’s because it’s a place where they feel comfortable,” Omar explains. “I can say that most of my customers know the menu very well and know what they are having by the time they pull up to the parking lot.” Omar moved to Chapel Hill with his family in 2000, when he was 10 years old, and got his start at the original Rosemary Street location working weekends after he graduated from Southern Alamance High School. “I really didn’t have a lot of background in the restaurant industry [when] I started working at Breadmen’s,” he says. But he stayed, eventually leaving other jobs at Fearrington Village and Subway. “I can say that I did every job at Breadmen’s from washing dishes to working the line and worked my way up to manager,” he says. Today the new Breadman’s is a family affair. “My family plays a big part of this journey,” Omar insists. “I get a lot of credit