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They came to Canada the way most people do — hope in one hand, uncertainty in the other. Halifax wasn't the original plan. The immigration process shifted, the way it often does, and Halifax appeared. They looked at this city, decided it was beautiful, and chose to begin here.
Neither Gerardo nor Cecilia was a chef. He spent thirteen years working at an airport and she spent twenty as a nutritionist. What they had was something more elemental: a culture where making food at home is not a hobby but a habit. In Mexico, you bake. You make candy. You share it. That's simply what you do.
Building La Potosina has meant learning a new country from the ground up — food safety regulations, certified kitchens, the particular ways Canadian customers receive unfamiliar flavours. It has meant failing gently and adjusting without bitterness. Fitting production into early mornings and late evenings, between full-time jobs and raising children, becoming very good at using every hour with intention.
What drives them is quiet and clear: they want Halifax to know what Mexican sweets actually taste like. Not the spicy version people expect — the sweet one. The one that tastes like a grandmother's kitchen, like a celebration, like home. They want to close the small distance between cultures by putting something delicious in someone's hands and saying: this is ours, and we want to share it with you.
Their joy lives in the market moments. The customer who looks surprised. The one who comes back every week. The woman who tasted a buñuelo and cried. Those are the moments that remind them why they packed everything up and started over.
A Journey sweetened by Love, Courage, and Home
Sugary, Crunchy, and Memory
Buñuelo arrived in Halifax on a small, uncertain morning — just eight pieces, handed out with samples and hope. It never left.
Crisp, golden, dusted and warm, it's the kind of thing that belongs to almost everyone. Eat it plain. Crown it with whipped cream or ice cream. Pair it with whatever the afternoon calls for. But for many customers it becomes something else entirely — a trigger for memory, a grandmother's kitchen suddenly close, a home that doesn't feel so far away. Gerardo and his wife brought this recipe from Mexico and watched Halifax fall for it one bite at a time. The response was immediate. It has never stopped.
Camote was the first thing they made. The first thing they offered. The first yes Halifax gave them.
Soft, slow-cooked sweet potato steeped in syrup — quiet in flavour, deep in meaning. There is nothing rushed about it. You taste the patience in every piece. For Gerardo and his wife, that first small batch was less a product launch and more a question: will this city reach for something it has never tried before? Halifax answered clearly. It did.
Carlota arrives like a pause in the day — creamy, layered, the kind of dessert that asks you to sit down and stay a while.
Built from Maria cookies, lime, and a cream filling that sets overnight, it carries the quiet richness of something made with patience rather than speed. Gerardo and his wife added it to the menu as their customers grew more curious — each new product a quiet question: here is something we love, something from home. Will you try it? More and more, Halifax has said yes.
Rice pudding, seasonal and rotating candy selections, traditional Mexican-style candies.
Pecan & Chocolate Cookies
Cranberries Milk Candy Bar
Energy-Bites-n-Chocolate
Cookies & Cream Candy Bar
Pecan Milk Candy Bar
Pistachio Milk Candy Bar
Dates & Almond Cookies
Guava & Pecan Milk Candy Bar
A Heartfelt Note
When we left Mexico, we didn't know exactly what we were carrying. We knew we had our family, our savings, and a willingness to work hard. What we didn't realise until we arrived is that we were also carrying something that can't be packed in a suitcase: the sweetness of home.
Halifax welcomed us in ways we didn't expect. When we first set up our table at Alderney Landing, we weren't sure anyone would stop. They did. They tried something unfamiliar, and sometimes they came back the next week with someone new. That still amazes us.
Everything we make is prepared with the best ingredients we can find and as much care as we can give. Small batches. A certified kitchen. Nothing rushed. This is not a product line to us — it is a piece of who we are, handed across a table to a stranger, with the hope that it becomes something they recognise as good.
We are still growing. A shop someday, a wider menu, more people who know our name. We are patient with that. What matters now is that we show up, bring our best, and that every person who tries something from La Potosina leaves knowing that Mexico has a very sweet side.
Thank you for letting us share it with you.
— Gerardo & Cecilia, La Potosina
