Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Bergen County
Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Ep. # 112 Gluten-Free Baking: Eleanor Bradley's Journey from Classroom to Kitchen
What happens when a 31-year teaching career meets a husband's dietary diagnosis and a passion for baking? Eleanor Bradley's unexpected journey from classroom to kitchen reveals how life's challenges can inspire remarkable entrepreneurial ventures.
Eleanor, owner of Bradley Bake Shop in Bogota, NJ, joins us to share how her stress-relieving baking hobby transformed into a flourishing business specializing in gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and keto desserts. The catalyst? Her husband's discovery that gluten was making him sick, prompting Eleanor to experiment with alternative recipes that didn't sacrifice flavor or texture.
The most surprising revelation? Bradley Bake Shop's products are so delicious that customers consistently express disbelief when learning they're allergen-friendly. "People think gluten-free is dry, crumbly and gross," Eleanor explains, "but it's moist, it's like a regular cake and delicious." This commitment to quality has built a loyal following for their birthday cakes, empanadas, ice cream, and more unexpected gluten-free offerings.
Eleanor's entrepreneurial journey wasn't without challenges. She candidly discusses the difficult decision to leave teaching, the financial uncertainties of starting a business, and the reality of running a family operation where she remains the sole baker nearly a decade later. While not the path to instant fortune, her story illustrates how passion, quality, and filling an underserved market niche can create sustainable success.
Whether you're navigating dietary restrictions, contemplating a career change, or simply appreciate artisanal food craftsmanship, Eleanor's story offers inspiration and practical insights. Plus, with nationwide shipping available, her exceptional treats are accessible no matter where you live.
Visit bradleybakeshop.com or call 201-343-0444 to experience these remarkable allergen-friendly desserts that prove dietary restrictions don't have to mean sacrificing celebration or satisfaction.
Bradley Bake Shop
Eleanor Bradley
55B River Road
Bogota, NJ 07603
201-343-0444
bradleybakeshop.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast brought to you by the Bergen Neighbors Media Group. Coming to you live from the Bergen Neighbors Media Studio in Harrington Park, new Jersey, bergen County at its best. We today are joined by Eleanor Bradley, the owner of Bradley Bake Shop in Bogota not Bogota, but Bogota, new Jersey. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Hi, thank you.
Speaker 2:So Bradley Bake Shop. Where'd you come up with that name?
Speaker 3:You know, yes, it's really unique. Well, my daughter and I were kicking around names and young people always have a clear focus but I wanted something cutesy, and everything I suggested she vetoed immediately. It's like no no everything's lame when you're old. So she said well, you know, we were running out of time because I wanted to go to this market to sell. She says, well, just call it Bradley Bake Shop, and that was it.
Speaker 2:So what is Bradley Bake Shop? So it's a bakery. You sell cakes, you sell muffins.
Speaker 3:Okay, so Bradley Bake Shop yeah, we're gluten-free, Everything is gluten-free, but we have options. We offer dairy free, we offer vegan and we offer keto, which is sugar free. So we make everything from ice cream to bread and everything in between. Our biggest sell is our birthday cakes. Yes, we do tiered cakes, you know the stacked ones like for a wedding, and we do just regular cakes for kids' birthday parties, adults, you name it. So we're pretty popular when it comes to cake.
Speaker 2:Wow, and I mean, if you told me I'm going to gonna you know I'm bringing a gluten-free cake to your birthday party I'd be like no thanks. But uh, do people, can they tell that it's, you know, gluten-free or sugar-free, or uh, is it really because we have five stars?
Speaker 3:because you can't tell you know? Listen if you use quality products, you're going to get a cheap quality taste and so our product is good because we use quality products.
Speaker 3:So you can't tell You'll eat one of my cakes and say this is gluten-free, and that's the reaction we get from most people what this is gluten-free? Because you know, yeah, the reputation for gluten-free is not stellar. People think it's dry, fumbly and gross, but it is not. It's moist, it's like a regular cake and delicious. As a matter of fact, it's probably better than most cakes on the market.
Speaker 2:What about a sugar-free cake?
Speaker 3:cake. Sugar-free cakes are generally made from gluten-free flours like almond or coconut flour. You wouldn't traditionally use for baked goods, but it's amazing. It has the same mouthfeel and texture as a cake. It's awesome.
Speaker 2:But without the sugar. You can't tell the difference.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well listen, sugar is sugar and I tell people that all the time. My diabetic customers we have many. You're not going to get the same taste as sugar. Sugar is unique, but I get it so close that people are like, oh my gosh, this is sugar-free.
Speaker 2:So, we always get the same reaction yeah, this is gluten-free oh my gosh, this is sugar free, so we always get the same reaction. Yeah, right now can you taste instead of before I order a full cake? Can I get like a cupcake to see if I like it?
Speaker 3:yep, and that's what someone did yesterday. As a matter of fact, they'll buy a small item like a cupcake. They like it, they come back wow, that's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so how did you get into this business? Like what? What prompted you to want to start a bakery?
Speaker 3:total number of years teaching English, about 31 years, and but just to decompress, when I got home it was very cathartic for me to go into the kitchen and make stuff. So you know, just to get over the craziness of the day of the week, I'd bake, I think, brownies and cupcakes and stuff like that for the fam. And my husband came home one day and he says every time I eat bread I get sick. Every time I have something related to bread it makes me sick. He said I went to Whole Foods when Whole Foods was Whole Foods, you know, a real store where you can get quality. Once upon a time he brought home a book, I think it was called Wheat Belly and it had recipes in it. So he asked me to make the bread from the book. It was a base bread. So I made the bread. He loved it. And then I started making cookies and I started making muffins for him and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 3:And then the summer was coming and I said all right, I'm going to sell at farmer's markets, because someone had suggested that. That I know. And we went to a farmer's market and to my surprise people were buying my cookies. Like you know, there was no tomorrow. So I said, oh, I can actually make money doing this. So I went back to teaching when the summer was over, to teaching when the summer was over. But I had my side hustle. I would make the cookies and sell them to a restaurant, and then stores like King's Supermarkets and Market Basket, which is located in Franklin Lakes area, and a store in North Hilton, were buying my cookies wholesale. So I said I could get a business going.
Speaker 3:So I contemplated how I was going to do this and then I decided I had to retire. I have to retire and do this full time or I'm not going to have a business, because this store had opened in 2016, but I was never here. I was only here after three o'clock when school closed, which is absurd. That's how I did my business after work. So people weren't coming by to get brownies after work at three o'clock or four o'clock in the afternoon. So I had to open up in 2017. I retired, so that September I opened up full time and, to my surprise, people were coming in and actually buying a lot of people with a lot of dietary issues which I did not know about until I started. So, yeah, my husband is the one who was the impetus for me getting started.
Speaker 2:Wow. So when you say people are coming by your big shop, where is your big shop?
Speaker 3:55 River Road in Bogota, Unit B, as in Bradley. And yeah, we're. You know, if you're near, if you're near Teaneck or Hackensack or Lodi, we're right in the area. Fort Lee's not too far from us, Leonia. So these are the surrounding towns that come and shop in my store.
Speaker 2:I lived in Hackensack for about a year on Prospect and I used to go to the driving range. It used to be a driving range right there in Bogota, near those stacks I don't know, that's gone, yeah. Stacks near the river, that's gone. Yeah, it's gone, okay. Yeah, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:So what took its place? These storage units for, like, if you have a business, you want to store your product. Hey, listen it's needed.
Speaker 2:It's needed, I guess it's. It's more profitable than a driving range If you own that land. Um, and actually you know, if you live in new Milford, you're not too far because my uh, my wife is from new Milford, so it's not too far from it. So what if I? What if I do live? You know, I live in Harrington Park or I'm in Montvale, or if I'm in Ridgewood or Wyckoff and I'm not driving to Pagoda, is there any other way to get your?
Speaker 3:cakes delivery through DoorDash and we do have delivery, local delivery so we could make arrangements for towns that are, you know, further than five miles, you know from us. But we ship UPS overnight, especially to towns like that. So if you need a cake for Friday, you order it for me today. If it's available, you'll get it tomorrow afternoon. So pack there you go, yeah.
Speaker 2:So one day is probably the best. If you still want a fresh cake, you'd order it the day before.
Speaker 3:Yeah, now, our cakes are always fresh. People don't understand, though. Cakes have a lifespan of one month in your refrigerator and anywhere from three to six months in your freezer.
Speaker 2:I know that because if we have a party and that cake is, we got plenty of leftovers. It definitely lasts about a week in my fridge, unfortunately, because I keep eating it.
Speaker 3:It's like breakfast.
Speaker 2:So if you're planning a party you can obviously order ahead, and then you guys just bake it the day before and then ship it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we cater too, so we make all kinds of things. We make ice cream cakes. We make all kinds of ice cream cakes. Yeah, In addition to pies apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, you name it Blueberry.
Speaker 2:I'll make. I'll make one suggestion. When I go on your website, oh, I see our cakes and cupcakes. And if I go on, if I go on um order, now again store view, all again all I see are cakes and cupcakes. So I had no idea you also do cookies or you do pies or you do breads, because on your website you show one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and obviously you offer more than seven different options. So just a little, you know business, business advice. You may want to update your store, because I would. I would not know, you know, without talking to you guys.
Speaker 3:We used to have sell everything on our website everything, but it was really chaotic doing it that way. So now we all offer most of those things like our empanadas. We make the most amazing. Who's making gluten like our empanadas? We make the most amazing. Who's making gluten-free empanadas?
Speaker 2:Nobody but we do.
Speaker 3:Muffins, corn muffins oh my gosh. Buttermilk biscuits those things can be purchased in store. We can also ship them if you buy them in bulk. Bulk means a dozen, a half a dozen or more, so it's just easier, more streamlined for the business to offer cakes and cupcakes online only, and if you want anything else, you order it directly from the store and we ship it out from here instead of doing it online.
Speaker 2:OK, so your store looks like a typical bakery when you walk in.
Speaker 3:Yes, exactly, we have things that most bakeries don't have. You know the savory as well as sweet.
Speaker 2:So you're no longer a teacher.
Speaker 3:No, I had to give that up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what was it like to say to your family, to your husband? Listen, I got, you know, 31 years of teaching. I have a pension, but I am going to walk away from the benefits, I'm going to walk away from the steady paycheck and I'm going to open a bakery in Bogota. What was there? I mean, I know you said you had the support of your husband and your daughter, so, but you know, from one entrepreneur to another and I speak to so many you are now flying without a net, right, you are? Basically, you eat what you kill. So what has that been like for you? And you know, since you decided to do this full time, what has that been like?
Speaker 3:Well, that decision was met with silence Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Okay, and then this is okay. We need to, we need to pray about this and then we need to. You know, just look at everything. Let's let's look at our finances. Let's look at the. Let's look at our finances, let's look at the. Let's look if we can do this, and we did. And the first few years, oh my gosh, you're spending more than you're making, absolutely.
Speaker 3:The fortunate thing is I had full medical insurance, so our health insurance was covered, my husband still working, so he has health insurance as well. But when I worked in New York's teacher, after 10 years I was fully vested. So I received health insurance after my tenth year because I was tenured. So all I had to do was to go apply for that pension along with my New Jersey pension, and I got my health insurance work New Jersey copped out. Under Christie we no longer are eligible for health insurance if we came in after a certain time, a certain year. I was one of the people who was ineligible. But it didn't matter because I have it from New York. So health insurance was covered. That was fine. As far as money is concerned, well, we had to jump through a lot of hoops to pay these bills. Yeah, it was hard, it was very hard. We were starting out. The new business knows that.
Speaker 2:How many years has it been now?
Speaker 3:It will be the business We've had 10 years.
Speaker 2:We've had the store for time?
Speaker 3:Yeah, For okay. Nine years full time. Next year will be our 10th year wow, yeah, wow, that's great.
Speaker 2:So you know, it's kind of like shark tank questions, right, I'm asking you, uh the questions you might hear mark cuban or damon johns ask or the other guys you know, mr, wonderful. So so now you're profitable, right, your business is is uh in the black yeah, our business is, uh is holding on, okay, holding on for dear life we are.
Speaker 3:Listen, we are definitely able to sustain ourselves. But that's, that's basically it and that's good. You know I love what I do. That's the only reason I'm still here. But opening, you know, just thinking, contemplating opening a business, it's work, it's tough. You have something very, very unique. Chances are you're not going to be a millionaire, you know, in 10 years. But we're fine, we're good, we're stable.
Speaker 2:So you have you, but you've grown. I mean, who's baking? Is it you? You have other bakers in the shop. I'm the sole baker, You're the sole baker, and then who's or who's working the front of the store?
Speaker 3:Well, we have Naomi, who's awesome, so she does the um, the meet and greet, and she's also my assistant in the bank. It's a lot of work.
Speaker 2:And who's packing the cakes to ship them?
Speaker 3:Well, she does that too, so that's you know, my husband helps, so all hands on deck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, it's a family.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, and I again, I talked to a lot of family owned businesses and you know, sometimes things can get a little hairy and if you watch any of those, like you know, kitchen nightmares or bar rescue shows, when there's family involved in running a business, sometimes people have different, different opinions on how things should run, different work ethics which is the real problem when people, you know, when partners have issues is one's working harder than the other. But obviously you guys are making it work. You're doing this from a place of love and passion and you know, and you're helping people because there are, you know, from a dietary issue, whether it's diabetics or people that can't handle gluten. It's great to have that option, it's great to know that you exist and if you don't live near Bogota, it's awesome to know that. Hey, if I want to have a sugar-free or gluten-free cake and in fact, my father-in-law is a type two diabetic or pre-diabetic, so he's really careful about his sugar, so this is something good to uh, to consider, um, for you know, for those parties, and you know it's, it's, um, it's.
Speaker 2:It's always interesting on my end to meet people that are from different walks of life, different types of businesses, but the you know there's a common thread is that they're doing something that they love. A lot of businesses were born out of either necessity or out of something that happened during, let's say, covid. But to make that change in your life, to say you know what I'm not happy with what I'm doing and this is something that I think I can make a go out of it, and the great American, you know, the American dream is that, yeah, you said he's not a millionaire yet, but who knows? You know you could grow this to be, maybe open up a second shop, and then all of a sudden you're franchising it and then, next thing you know, you're on shark tank looking for extra funding to make this a national.
Speaker 2:You know you know, like a milk bar, you know, like the milk bar, you know, or, or you know somebody, let's just say famous Amos, or you know all these other people that just started off making cookies in their garage and turned into a national franchise. So you know, keep at it. I think you know you're again coming from a place of love and a place of passion, and it's not just a cookie or a cake, it's. You know you're helping people have an enjoyable dessert experience with you could either say without the guilt or without. You know, it's not about being guilty about eating this, it's about, hey, I can't have gluten or I can't have sugar, and you're able to, you know, deliver something that is enjoyable and tasty, which is the most important thing when it comes to baked goods, right?
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:So, eleanor, let's recap how do people find you if they're going to go to your store? You're at 55B River Road in Bogota, new Jersey. River Road is like the main street that runs. You can go from Bogota, you can go into Hackensack right, it runs along a lot of different towns street that runs. You know you can go from Bogota, you can go into Hackensack right, it runs along a lot of different towns. So River Road is a is kind of a main main thoroughfare there and if they wanted to buy online or call you, how do they get in touch with you?
Speaker 3:All they need to do is call me at 201-343-04444 or they can email me at thebradleybakeshop at gmailcom and many people do that and place an order. I call them back. You know, we confirm on the phone, you pay and then receive a receipt online and then you get your product within a day or two right, and it's as simple as that and they can order online as well.
Speaker 2:Right, they don't have to call you, they can go to your website. You don't?
Speaker 3:have to talk to me. They don't have to have any communication whatsoever. They can simply type everything in and have a cake ready. I think it's set two days out. Yes, your cake will be ready Friday.
Speaker 2:Nice BradleyBakeshop. com.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, no, yes, exactly, I don't even know my own bradleybakeshop. com, exactly, that's it there you go.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for joining the show and you know we'll definitely gonna, you know, get this word out. The podcast will be available on all podcast platforms and you and I will be right back, so just hang on while Chuck takes us out, okay.
Speaker 3:Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen. com. That's gnpbergen. com, or call 201-298-8325.