Heir to a saga of two generations of bakers, Francesc Pomar Mir was born in Campos on 17 May 1942. His grandfather, Francesc Pomar Aguiló, founded the family business after training in the trade in Barcelona. In 1902, together with his wife, Francisca Pomar, he set up a small bakery making bread and ensaimadas (a type of spiral pastry) in Plaça street. After his premature death, his son, Joan Pomar Pomar, together with his mother and his wife, Magdalena Mir Cladera, continued with the family business. This marriage produced three children: Francesc, Jaume and Joan.
Francesc grew up in the post-war period surrounded by the work and atmosphere of the Can Pomaret bakery, located in the heart of the village. He completed his schooling in Campos up to baccalaureate level, excelling in mathematics and aspiring to become a teacher. His love of chess and Sudoku reflected his analytical mind and his ability to solve problems. However, family circumstances led him to follow the family tradition and he became a baker, like his grandfather: both named Francesc and with the same entrepreneurial spirit. In 1962, at the age of 20, he married Francisca Oliver Roig, with whom he had five children: Magdalena, Joan, Matías, Catalina and Fátima. Today, his children and grandchildren represent the fifth generation of Pastelerías Pomar, with shops in Campos and Palma, and an online presence that would have been unimaginable in the past.
In 1964, at the age of just 22, Francesc travelled to Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, to study pastry making with renowned masters such as Jaume Sàbat Aumasqué, Antoni Escribà and Francesc Baixas, among others. On 30 April of that same year he obtained his professional pastry chef’s licence issued by the Professional School of Confectionery and Pastry of Sant Cugat. From that moment on, Francesc never stopped acquiring knowledge and establishing relationships with the most outstanding professionals on the island, such as the pastry chefs Ramis from Llucmajor, Segura from Muro and Moranta from sa Pobla, as well as with great figures from the sector at a national and European level.
The year 1965 marked a turning point in his career, as he and his wife took over the family business. From then on, the Campos bakery began to gain recognition throughout Mallorca. Francesc introduced many baking concepts to the island, the result of his training, with the aim of offering the highest quality products. Furthermore, as a student and later as a teacher, he shared his experience at the SAPER Professional Pastry School in León, run by the master Santiago Pérez García, where he taught students from Castile, Galicia, Asturias and Portugal how to make the ensaimada.
Everything he learned on his travels and training courses on the peninsula he later applied in his pastry shop in Campos. Far from the image of the pastry chef who is jealous of his recipes, Francesc wanted to share his knowledge to raise the level of the sector and get the public to appreciate the quality of good baking. Driven by his entrepreneurial spirit and his desire to share, Francesc founded the Academia Profesional Pastelera de Campos in 1968. In this case, sharing meant both teaching and learning. The aim of the school was to train young pastry chefs from Mallorca and Spain, to fill the large gap in professional schools in the sector and to bring the art of pastry making to Mallorcan professionals, modernising and professionalising Mallorcan and Spanish pastry making. This academy was the first in Mallorca, it remained open for more than twenty years and trained more than 400 students. The academy later came under the direction of the Pastry Chefs’ Guild in collaboration with the Regional Ministry of Tourism.
Without renouncing the traditional recipes of his ancestors such as gató (a type of cake), coca (a type of bread) or ensaimada (a type of pastry), Pomar introduced new creations to Mallorca that he learnt in his courses, on his travels and through exchanges, and applied them in his workshop. For example, he was a pioneer on the island in introducing croissants, Roscón de Reyes (a type of cake), the capuchina sponge nougat from the workshop of León de Santiago Pérez, the artisan chocolates learnt from Antoni Escribà, the mousses, the tea biscuits, the Queen’s cake, the Cardinal cake of Viennese origin, the Sacher cake from Austria, the English Plum Cake, the candied orange peel with chocolate coating from France, the cold buffets, the long loaves of stuffed bread, the carnival masks or the Easter cakes.
As a creator, he invented now-iconic cakes such as truffles and the Músico. He also revived traditional Mallorcan products such as enterullat, an ancient recipe over 200 years old, thanks to Cayetano Forteza’s oral transmission from the Santa Eulàlia bakery in Palma. Throughout his career he participated in different fairs in Barcelona and in the cooking exhibitions in Palma and, in addition to having the Master Craftsman Charter. Both he and the pastry shops have received numerous recognitions such as the Medal of Honour and Gratitude of the Island of Mallorca, the Pastry Chef of the Year award or the Tribute from the Association of Bakers and Pastry Chefs of the Balearic Islands.
Francesc Pomar Mir is, without doubt, a very important figure in the world of Mallorcan pastry-making. He was a master of masters and demonstrated this throughout his life. Not only for preserving and innovating the art of pastry-making, but also for having promoted the sector with unparalleled dedication, sharing his knowledge with new generations and introducing new techniques and products that have enriched our gastronomic tradition. This generosity within the pastry-making culture has made Francesc Pomar a master craftsman of tradition, innovation, passion for his work, vision for the future, transmission of knowledge and one of the greatest exponents in the introduction of modern pastry-making in the Balearic Islands. With all this he has placed the name of Campos and Mallorca on the map of quality pastry-making.
Now that he has left us, our commitment is to keep his legacy alive and follow his example by working with the same love and professionalism that he taught us.
Victòria Mayans Pomar is Francesc’s granddaughter and is currently in charge of the Pastelería Pomar de Campos bakery.