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Docê Churros owners and husband-and-wife team Helga Gschwind and Daniel Rivadeneira. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Docê Churros opened over the summer serving made-to-order churros, alfajores, funnel cake and coffee. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
When Helga Gschwind packed a churro extruder in her suitcase while traveling from Argentina to Richmond, she left a handwritten note taped to the stainless-steel cylinder explaining what it was for airport security.
“Just in case,” she says with a laugh.
The machine is the backbone of her family-owned operation, Docê Churros. When their handmade dough is pushed through the churro maker, it comes out in that classic ribbed, slender log shape, with the ubiquitous star-ridged edges destined for the fryer and a dusting of cinnamon sugar.
She and her husband, Daniel Rivadeneira, work with a small staff to churn out fresh churros daily at their Tuckahoe shop, which opened in June at 1412 Starling Drive, Suite D.
The couple and their two children relocated from Argentina in 2014 after Gschwind, an engineer who is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese, landed a job in Richmond. While waiting for Rivadeneira to obtain his green card, the couple bounced around ideas for their own business, something that could allow them to root themselves in their new community, one that spoke to their heritage and that would allow for expansion.
“We wanted to do something on our own, something flexible, and he said, ‘There’s no churros here,’ ” Gschwind says.
Although churros can be spotted on a number of local restaurant menus under the “dessert” section, was there a shop dedicated to the crisp on the outside and soft on the inside sweet treat? Not so much, making Docê Churros one of the first in the region.
Hailing from a small town in Southern Argentina near the Andes Mountains, Gschwind says that she grew up eating the handheld snack, a staple that originated in Spain and Portugal. Argentina is also home to Churros Olleros, a churro factory and household name in that has been making fresh churros to order since 1963 and supplies bakeries around the region.
“People walking in the streets selling churros in my neighborhood is very popular,” Gschwind says. “Also, along the sea coast when going to the beach, you grab churros — it’s very popular.
With family from Germany, Argentina and Spain, Gschwind is also carrying on a bit of a tradition through Docê Churros. Her great-grandmother first made cookies and candies in her kitchen before establishing Lheritier, an Argentinian confectionary known for their lollipops that recently celebrated a century of business.
Rivadeneira, who has been delightfully dubbed “The churro master” by his wife, is a former chemist, and his technical prowess comes into play when producing the dough using a recipe they spent years crafting. Gschwind explains that churro dough can be tricky, requiring fresh oil for ideal flavor.
“Making churros is not so easy,” says Gschwind. “If you have a bakery in your neighborhood, you produce your pastries, but churros, no.”
Docê’s traditional flagship churro is vegan, and their options also include a dulche de leche, a nutella, a peanut butter, a Bavarian cream and strawberry varieties. They also serve funnel cakes and coffee. Churros can be purchased frozen by the dozen to be enjoyed at home, and they require just a few minutes in the oven.
Translating to “12” in Spanish, the name Docê is a nod to the fact the shop sells churros by the dozen. Gschwind shares that in Portuguese, “doce” also translates to “sweet.”
Operating Docê Churros under an umbrella business, Inter Bakery, Gschwind says the vision is eventually to offer an entire line of globally inspired baked goods, with talk of tres leches, alfajores and churro cheesecake, as well as sweet breads in the future. With a wholesale vision in mind, Gschwind says the hope is that the retail space allows the family business to establish a strong foundation to build upon.
“We have two parts to this — our retail, everything fresh, then we have the frozen,” she says, noting that they want to sell their frozen churros to restaurants, markets and grocers. “Here, we get people from everywhere, it’s fascinating. I think Richmond is like that — we have people from all over the world. This is my passion, this is my dream.”
Docê Churros is open from 12:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 12:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.
