Tom & Seton- Deadrise Bagels

Rise to the occasion here! 1410 Forest Drive for REAL New York style bagels right here in Annapolis.

Tom & Seton have decied to offer an abundance of deliciousness. Hear there story in this epsidoe and go see them for a Rosemary Sea Salt bagel. Well, that is what I will be having!! https://www.deadrisebagels.com/ See you there.....

Instagram and Facebook: @deadrise_bagels 

Email them: info@deadrisebagels.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Arbor left, the main street north where the bay runs off and the city shines bright. These are the voices, these are their stories. Voices of Annapolis dive in. Hey, welcome to Voices of Annapolis. This is Kelly Bell from the Bell House Catering. And Gretchen Moran from the Culinary Square.

SPEAKER_04 0:18

Hey Cal. Hey Gretchie Pooh. How you doing? I'm good. All right, so I am so sad because I don't get to come in the kitchen as much as I used to, and I miss you and I miss the girls, but I've really enjoyed our little Facebook live tours with our with our guests that have been on the pod.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Yes, I have too. And you didn't even watch the one with Sarah. I'm gonna go back and watch it. You need to watch it. And I know that there's most of you only watched about three seconds, but I added some stuff in there.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

Do our listeners know that I am not on social, like that I am not a social media person? We'll tell them now I am not a social media person. So Well, I'm not either. I know, because I'm a total tech person. Well, no, you know, it makes perfect sense. The tech people I know know what social media does to you. No one I know who knows tech well is our social media people because we know better.

SPEAKER_03 1:13

Yeah. No, I wouldn't be on social media if it wasn't for well, this podcast. And our businesses. And the businesses.

SPEAKER_04 1:19

I'm I know I'm gonna get sucked into it. But anyway, speaking of food businesses. Food businesses, the most amazing couple with us today from Dead Rise Bagels. We've got Steen Rossini and Tom Rossini. Welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Oh, thank you. Yeah, we're excited to be here.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

They're so cute, these two in person. 100%.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

So I've I mean, yes, we're gonna we're can't not talk about bagels. Oh my god, I can't wait. Um, and I can't wait to talk about you as a working couple, too, because my husband and I work together for 27 years, so there's that's a thing. Yeah, yeah, we're gonna get there. But first, Seaton, I it is Seaton, yeah. Yes, I loved you from the first email. We we hit it off right away. But then AI told me about you. And I was like, what? This girl is a designer, a baker, a cookbook author, the author of Sweet MV Deceptively Easy Desserts Designed to Steal the Show. Hell yeah, we gotta get the book. Let's Google that. Former design director at Food and Wine magazine. What what is this just like is just is this just like par for the course from a New Yorker, which is where you all hail from? Well, I'm actually from Annapolis. Okay, yeah so but you was Food and Wine when you were in New York?

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Yes, so yes. I I grew up in Annapolis, moved to New York as soon as I possibly could, which was after I graduated high school, and um went to art school there and became a designer and kind of always wanted to have one foot in the food world and was so lucky to land a job at Food and Wine magazine.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

Because people are the best.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

The best still some of my best friends, the best job.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

Kelly, remember we said we get the best guests ever? Like here is the here's the now where we're being lumped into. Seton has appeared on Food Network, NBC Today Show, ABC's the Chew. I was on ABC's the Chew, sort of. And her pastry work's been featured in Macy's windows, and now she's on Voices of Annapolis. Like we are all the stuff. I'm definitely we are good about ourselves today. And Tom, you're no slouch. So Tom and I actually have a history. Yep. See, and he's okay with this. Because Tom, Tom was the person who you know what I remember most about our time together. So Tom was the admissions director at Key School, which is the school that my children attend. And that the most poignant time that I can tell you you're married to an amazing man is my family was well established at Key School. We had been there a few years, and then we had moved away. We went overseas. And most schools would be like, well, there goes the tuition. And so good luck, folks. You know, we were at an international school in Abuja, Nigeria. And I called up Tom and I said, Tom, the kids are in Nigeria, we're not going to be here forever, so we want to make sure they can come back to Key and you know hit the ground running, even though we've been in this other school for two years. Don't you know that Tom, Tom was pivotal in making sure that my children's curriculum was sent to the international school and they were informed as to what my children needed to know when they were brought back to the United States. And I can't, I mean, I can't say enough good things about Key School for that, but also the person who facilitated making that happen.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Making sacrifices too, being there, the work you were doing.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

But that doesn't matter to a lot of schools or a lot of administrators. So Tom's already a hero in Maya's. But you also are now in photography as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

I used to be. I went to film school. So my dad was a photographer. Both of you have like deep creative roots. Lots of chemicals.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

Is this how you like fell for her, the deep creative?

SPEAKER_01 4:48

That's a whole other we we met working at summer camp.

SPEAKER_04 4:51

No.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Her brothers were sailors, and my best friend taught me how to sail the day before I was a counselor. Um may have lied in my resume that one time. But it worked out great. It was the one and only time. But um, yeah, that we met working at summer camp uh when we were like few, you were like late.

unknown 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:12

So we're gonna let you two introduce yourselves beyond what we've talked about here because we want to know a little bit about you before we jump into what everybody wants to know about, which is Dead Rise bagels as a food truck, and where this is all going. So, first, just like Tom seeing whoever wants to start. Tell us your favorite things that that the listeners will want to know about you. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Um about two three truths and a lie. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Oh, I like this game. Do it, yeah, do it. Um I mean that's always fun. Uh well, one of the things that that wasn't mentioned is that you know, we're parents. We have two boys and you know, two black labs, and I think um that dictates a lot of our labs too, being parents. It does. How that was nice.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

12 and 8. Yeah, oh, yeah. And one of the reasons I think not to jump into the bagels right away, but I think when it's time to talk about the bagels, why we chose bagels over other areas.

SPEAKER_05 6:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

They played a big role in that, just being on their timeline.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Actually, it was kind of funny. One of our kids the other day was like, What was your dream when you were my age? And I was like, I am literally doing it. I wanted to to have a bakery or use my hands and bake and run a cash register.

SPEAKER_04 6:25

I just have to ask you, how did that make you feel being able to say that to them? And Tom, being coming from the school environment, like how many parents can say that to their kids? That had to have been like a special moment.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Yeah, I've been very lucky to be able to make a career out of the things that I'm that I've always really liked and that I'm good at. And um, I mean, it's not been easy, and there are times when I'm, you know, why did I choose this path? And I'm still both kind of like one foot in design and one foot in baking. I even today I had design calls and was doing design work while I was rolling bagels at the same time, and it's you know, a lot of um doing both, but Cal, I think the moral of the story is see, you can do it, and then there's some hustle to it, right?

SPEAKER_04 7:11

I think if we can promote anything, it should be critical thinking and hustle. I don't think they need anything else.

SPEAKER_03 7:17

There's never life is not easy, period. So it's just how you do you do you use it as a band-aid or a crutch, or do you, you know, do you go full force and be like I'm gonna get it done.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

It's coming from the the chief hustler over there herself.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

I've hustled a lot.

SPEAKER_04 7:33

A lot.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

I like a good hustle, it keeps me it keeps me alive, even if it has broken my body.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Uh so what a joy!

SPEAKER_03 7:42

I know, gosh. I know. Um, so you were talking about the wait to get into the bagels. Let's let's go ahead and just get into it, because why, why, why return? You you said your kids had a big thing with you starting the bagels.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Well, for two reasons. Um we had talked for years, maybe even during COVID, we were like, oh, we want to start a pizza place or ice cream. My grandfather had a restaurant in Massachusetts from like the late 30s to the late 80s, and it was ice cream, picture like friendliest, but before franchise.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Yeah, the goal was always to have like a family business.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yes, something where and I was seeing AI and its impact and what the uncertainty looked like, and I'm like, you can automate a lot of things, but someone still needs to make you food, right? And the food can't, the food can't be, well, we can 3D print food, but they're gonna figure that out. They will. But there was an element of like, I want my kids may not choose, just like my father didn't choose to continue taking on Walter's dairy, but I want my kids to have a fallback. But then as we talked about it, it was actually the kids in a car ride that were like, you guys always talk about it, but you never do it. And so much of what we teach, so much of what we teach. That must have been your middle school. Getting out of that comfort zone. I we had we had both, again, scene's been, you just listed all the things that she's done. She's far more accomplished in her profession than I ever was in admissions. And but like you get to that age, the midlife crisis. I was like, you could either get like a girlfriend, a sports car, or you which is way more expensive, too much work.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

Not a lot of turns.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Or like, or like re like redefine yourself. And so my kids were giving me a hard time. Like you always talk about it, but you never do it. And I was like, you know what? I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

And but also I think you had this urge to sort of like work with your hands, get out from behind a desk. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

There's a lot of emotional load. I was gonna say that all the things that she does, working as a designer still and doing this and dealing with all the things that happen in families, like not to sound like a huge feminist, but I'm saying is that that emotional load is an additional stressor that I didn't fully appreciate until I left my nine to five and started working with her at home.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

And just the fact that he knows what emotional load is seeing that, I read that article, and I forwarded it to a lot of dudes.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

So it's I just think that that's that was it was like a perfect time to try something new, and also, you know, we had been together what 20 years before we made this trip. Like, we've known each other for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

It was like you guys are mirroring me and Michael, like for a show. So it was just time to do something different, and you have to be willing to take the risk. And the what's the worst that could happen? Okay, you'll go get a job next year. Like it's not if you're lucky enough to just.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

You could have hated me and we could have gotten divorced.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Sure, but I was willing to take that risk.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

That's worse than getting a new job, I think.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

I but first of all, how can you hate how can she hate you when you literally are like, I realized the emotional load? Like you you could have come home and just like done a thing.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

I 100% was not pulling my weight. Um, when you work in education, especially if you care about the families, you feel every ounce of emotion. Scene would come back and be like, I'm you knew you weren't getting the best of me. I was coming home tired. I wasn't really, I was present but not really present with the kids. And it was just, I don't know if it was the thousands of emails or just constantly counseling other people and not having the energy to do that with my own family. And so that I knew, I mean, I knew six months before I announced it that I needed to do this. But the bagel thing was fun because I'm like, the thing that we want to do, if we had a pizza shop or an ice cream shop, we're up late at night, the kids are too young to work for us, so that we wouldn't really be with them, we wouldn't be able to coach them or be around them for their events. So I'm like, but we always we thought about the things that we thought Annapolis needed, um, and we thought really authentic New York bagels was one of them. We're like, you have someone that knows.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

Oh no, I didn't know how to make them. I was actually adamantly. But I knew you could figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

She also didn't know how to do what she did at Macy's and figured it out. She also didn't know like she always figures it out.

SPEAKER_05 11:56

Big T Make it.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

The part about being able to adapt and be resourceful, yeah, are the people that we're talking about how that skill in the future, especially with AI, those I knew C could figure it out. And so that and she could design a fun brand. I mean, the brand is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

We wanted a job where we could be able to pick up our kids from school and not be up. I mean, I think that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

They'll be waiting for us when we're done the podcast. Like we can do that.

SPEAKER_04 12:18

Yeah, let me just first thank you, Tom, for that narrative because we preach this. You can go back and listen to episodes we've had with, we've had a lot of mental health counselors on the pod, we've had folks that uh do ADHD uh uh executive function coach, like everything you're saying weighs into the work of the mother or the sister or the mom. And it it I think it hits it hits uh more on target coming from you than it does from us. So thank you for that narrative.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Yeah, from coming from a man's point of view. I mean, that's you when you said you can either hate me or not, but it's like you, but you already went into it thinking you already knew that you had to shift and pivot your own self-thinking, which to me is a good partnership. You know, when you can recognize, okay, this is how we're doing it.

SPEAKER_04 13:09

Yeah, we can we can adapt. And and we're the the I mean, I'm sorry, every entrepreneur has fear. I'm an entrepreneur, I've been been through several companies where we could have, we every company we started, we did not take a paycheck for nine months. That could have been disastrous for our family. But you do it because you know you can adapt. I think that's a wonderful message. Everyone says, sure you can do the thing, but follow it up with because you can adapt. Don't be afraid to say it may not work, it may not work.

SPEAKER_05 13:36

Right.

SPEAKER_04 13:37

Because that's an important piece of getting to success is knowing I might have to pivot because succeed as if success is inevitable. That's right. So, you know, you your first your first idea may not succeed, but you're gonna pivot and the next one's gonna succeed. So yeah, I love your guys'.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Well, I also want to I'm nowhere near perfect. The whole just mentioning the emotional load stuff. I feel like now though, she like she's filling out the medical forms for our kid to go to Cooperstown. I wasn't doing it, but I knew that maybe I could pick up some something else that she would have done. So just I don't want anyone to get the wrong message that somehow I'm like you're a superhero. Yeah, I'm not a superhero. I didn't know we got that. Nobody got that. Okay, good. But also acknowledging and then not doing anything is kind of pointless. But yeah, I just there's I don't yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

I don't want to you come across as you're acknowledging and you are helping, like you're not just letting it happen.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

But you know, it's fun now that we're working together, is that I don't think either of us ever fully appreciated how hard our respective jobs were, and then now that we're working together, we're both like, holy crap, you're like really a hard worker. Like you don't stop, and she now sees that too. And so again, I think it's it's it's great for many reasons, but it's also good when you've been together 20 years, it's nice to all of a sudden you know, and it would you reappreciate each other all over again. It's nice.

SPEAKER_04 15:01

So you picked the concept based on what was gonna work for your life and what would work for Annapolis. So, how then did you master the bagel?

SPEAKER_01 15:11

This is I'll let you do that one.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Yeah, there's a um great organization called YouTube that you can we literally. My son's gonna love that. We had gotten into making pizzas during COVID. We had the the Uni, we loved it, and I was like, we gotta get pizzas in Annapolis like I mean, and now I think Annapolis does have much better pizzas, but at the time I was like, let's open a pizza place, the margins are super high in pizza restaurants, you can serve alcohol, the ingredients are cheap, and they seem reception proof compared to other pizza. Right, and everybody loves pizza. Um, but ours, you know, we would have to work nighttime and weekends, and and we have young children. And you know, Tom and I said, What about bagels? Like, there's not a lot of bagel options, especially down where we live. And I Googled I YouTube how to make a bagel, and I was like, Oh no, this is way too hard. It's a scientist, I can't do this. And for a few months, I was like, I can't do this. And then I said, All right, well, I I can fit. I mean, I taught I'm a self-taught baker to begin with, so I managed to get this far by trial and error and experience, and um, and so I tried it and I was like, okay, I think I I think I can do this if I if I study enough and I watch enough and I actually actually do it and by trial and error, and I figured it out, and we're still making mistakes and learning every day. Is it really is um I I've been baking for a long time, and bagels are definitely the hardest. Um you really have to get it right. The temperature, the affinity product basically.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Even the moisture outside.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Yeah, you have to change the recipe based on the the temperature outside, the temperature inside. Your refrigerator has to be uh consistently uh cold enough for it to proof overnight.

SPEAKER_04 16:52

So, how long before you got the first really like delightful bake on the road?

SPEAKER_02 16:57

So we started baking in our house and were like just kind of baking on weekends, and I would post on to the front.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

February 25, maybe?

SPEAKER_02 17:08

What?

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Like February.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Oh, this was spring of last year. So April. April.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

I feel like that's when we first started doing our first pre-orders.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

She would never, it's so funny, for her expectation versus like everyone else's. Yeah, we wouldn't do a pre-order until Seton was like, this is the bagel. And I remember our first pre-order, it was at the Well, you only get one chance to impress.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Yeah, you only get one first impression.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

No, 100%. But by the time our first pre-order came, I I got to eat a lot of the variations leading up to that. You've survived a lot of time. A lot of those bagels would have been very successful anywhere, not just in Apple, it's anywhere. But she got it to the point where it's like, oh my gosh, this is like this is the one. Yeah, this is it. Actually, um it does change based on other stuff now.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

I can remember because I think it was St. Patrick's Day. We were going to watch the parade last year. Oh yeah. And we went to our friend's house and I brought a box of bagels, and this was probably the first time that we presented our bagels to St. Patrick. And that was March of you know last year, and everybody loved them. And cut to this year, we were in the St. Patrick's Day with our truck, throwing bagels with our team, having the time of our lives. We were throwing bagels one year.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Well, we were handing them. We were throwing so we were throwing. There were people on the second floor on West Street who were like, can we get it up there yet? We had we did bagel balls instead of full bagels because we always see people don't eat the whole thing and we're like, give more out. So but we were we were trying to throw them up to the second floor on some of the fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

So did you do multiple flavors right out of the gate? Um, no, so I watched so many videos from existing bagel makers. I spoke with um algorithm. Fred, it is my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

So her algorithm is so boring, it's all bagel.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

I watched pretty much every video from every bagel maker, specifically New York bagel makers, because that's you know my the goal is to make a traditional New York bagel. Um I spoke with bakers, uh pizza makers up in New York, and a lot of the recommendations were to keep it very simple, keep the dough simple. Like a lot of uh bagel places that you can have um a French chose bagel, an egg bagel, bagels that have big memories and lots of additions into the dough, but that means you have to clean out your mixer, put like make a different batch for each blueberry. Everything has to be um separate, and that takes a lot of time and tweaking of recipe. So I was like, okay, if I can just make one really good basic dough and focus on the toppings, then um and I always knew that I didn't want to have too many options because that's when you start to lose control, right? You gotta keep it simple and just do it really well.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

I I but I also it's kind of like the the like the double tea diner, or you go to the cheesecake factory, and so it's like how good can everything be when you've got a Bible that comes and plops down on your table in front of you. You know what I mean? Now it's hard when you have a one-page menu and you're like, oh god, because I could even like I want one of that and I want one of that and I want one of that. But it is simpler, and I think simple is the key. Your profits will stay regular, you know, right where you want them to be. You won't have a lot of waste. Um, so I think that's a solid way for certain to look at it. Um, did you you call it dead rise? Um, you want to explain, elaborate, say more?

SPEAKER_01 20:32

We have to take a while to get there. Some are not allowed. They were not appropriate.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

I always loved dead rise. Please, please share.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

I'll do off the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

We know it's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Yeah, I don't. Tom always comes up.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Okay, here's the explicit uh glory hole bagels. I feel like the hole never gets enough appreciation. I feel like it, anyways. That was the one I kept um threatening her with.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

I always have loved um anything death-related or gothic.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Oh my god, there's some but your brand isn't that.

SPEAKER_04 21:13

Your brand's very chess feet big.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

So and it's inspired that's where we ended up landing on it. We um we're very fortunate to see these boats in the mornings. Um, and the one we all agree, I think it was maybe last year was on Sundays or Saturdays, the this one particular old school dead rise, like the silhouette that is our logo, um just looks so pretty when the sun's rising. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

So it's and the name that resonates with bagels because it's like go rises, yeah. It's cut you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

It's in the morning.

SPEAKER_04 21:46

I'm basically dead in the morning when I'm dead. Yeah, I didn't know. But did did the kids have any input on the naming process? I think they all voted for it at the end.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

We oh we went oh it took months, it felt like.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Yeah, but we knew we wanted it to be very um Annapolis centric or not just Annapolis Chesapeake. Yeah. And um I mean we for months Tom was like, we gotta have bagels sold on a boat. Let's yeah, not a cold bagel home. Have you met the boat baker?

SPEAKER_04 22:16

Um the ones over near over near um the closet I've bought them a bunch of yeah it's really cute. And they have a dead rise and they do have a well and she's uh she is cottage right now. Yeah she doesn't have a kitchen either.

SPEAKER_05 22:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:30

There you go. There's a lot of talent you guys should should collaborate for sure. Yeah because she's I just talked to her so if you've heard of One Million Cups you should be at One Million Cups too. It is um Anna Anna Rundle Community College sponsors one version of it but there are meetings that are held all over the country where small businesses come and they talk about their business and what their current challenges are and the rooms full of business people that can help you. And she's there she's one of the advisors Hannah Hannah I can't think of her last name. Anyway you guys should collaborate with her she's she's a she's in maybe like two steps ahead of you. She's still cottage but she's gotten like distribution channels that she figured out by hustling down one channel and it didn't work and pivoting.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

So she could tell you a lot about where she's operating and if that would be an avenue for yeah and our thing is volume so those kind of fun ideas of whether being on a boat or having multiple trucks or different locations all is predicated on having more product like we can't we can't do that without right so I'd love to do we had these ideas for we called boat day bundles there's a lot of people boating that want to pack up a lunch when you go out and I always think about like the deli sandwiches on bagels when I was growing up it's like that's so good and it also it it tastes good coming out of a cooler you know like you pull that out the bagel the bread is stable enough it's not gonna get soggy so good. And so we're we have all those fun ideas but again scene's the one that keeps us grounded like not until we master this not until we get there and in reality when we're selling out every day at the truck there's really no way for us to have a second truck yet or a boat and have those other yeah so the kitchen is really the next step.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Where where are you where are you located now?

SPEAKER_02 24:23

We have a commissary kitchen yes but you're the commissary kitchen but where are you selling yeah yeah where's your um the truck is at the um clock tower place and that's on Forest Drive. 1410 Forest Drive it's a great shopping center it's amazing you can go there yep it's a big parking lot in the nice great isn't great which we love and there's a light to get out tastings um sweethearts batisserie there's so many and it's it's and they've been really sweet to us.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Right wine cellars yeah they've all been so kind and um when you look at any bagel shop in New Jersey or New York it's always on the side of the road for commuters going to work. Oh yeah and when we were thinking about we knew that we wanted uh Annapolis Neck to have we want to be a we want to be a staple in Annapolis Neck have the best bagel and we also want it to be easy to get in and out of without getting killed crossing Forest Drive. Yeah so we knew that we wanted on that location location and so it took us a while to get in there and we're so glad to be it's been it's been great and that the Abrams the group that owns it has also been so great to work with me and Gretchen has when we looking for buildings and we I can't tell you how many times I'm like we got to drive it you got to drive it and let's see if it works and then you go and like nope that's not gonna work because you can't well and I also think like because there's other there's been other spaces open some pretty well known ones on West Street things like that I'm like bagels in order for it to be successful there's volume. Yep because we're not selling $150 dinner we're send we're selling a three dollar bagel right and you add cream cheese it's a d it's $470 the tax. So you have to have enough people coming and so parking being on the right side of the street all that stuff so we've been slow rolling it same with finding a different kitchen and commissary that will be big enough for us to grow like we're sticking to our guns and making sure well this other space is available now it's not the right fit. And it's it's it's why do it twice so we're we're trying to be smart about that stuff.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

One of the things when I first started the catering company my sister because I was like it was right before COVID so like I survived COVID and we got here and I'm still doing making like $9,000 a year. My lights are on I'm working by myself I'm dishwasher I'm deliverer I'm everything and and I'm just like where is it when is this going? I can't afford anybody yet you know and it's like when is this gonna happen? I'm like I I was like people are telling me that they love it. Like what is going on? She was like slow down. She's like because if you get it too fast she was like you won't be able to sustain it. She was like you will lose it. She was like you will lose quality you will lose all the things everything.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

She was like so slow and slow and slow and low low and slow low and slow and figure out where you can and how you can sort of tick it up and I think and that actually has worked but there also is that tipping point you probably know when this is and you've had other businesses where when you are the person doing all the steps there isn't time to do the business development to get that higher volume. So C and I aren't spending as much time and I say I I never tell like she had to show me how to use Instagram so I don't do it. But Caton won't post when she wants to because she's the baker she's you know making the I'm I'm running to the truck so we we're at that point where it's like either we get smaller and just do it ourselves and stay just be open two days a week and be happy that people get good bagels twice a week and they love us and we make just enough to squeak by or we have to grow and I it's not maybe a lost leader but you you have to we have to you need today was the first time she let me roll bagel she had no choice she was on a call because she's an art director for a spice company in New York and so she's on that call and I'm like these bagels are gonna go bad unless I do it so I did it she needs to let go of some of that that you or we're not gonna we're not gonna grow that is Gretchen will control freak yeah like I'm a control freak.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

Like where are you I keep telling I keep telling her she needs to take this kitchen find a lead and she's already got an amazing team here. Like we could talk for two episodes about what Kelly's done in terms of leadership and the women that like the team that follows her they feel ownership here. We all come in like this is our kitchen. Yeah and we all would take a take a bullet for Kelly like that is a good leader. But she needs to get a lead in here and then she needs to find her next step which is she's looking but every time I say well Kell what's gonna happen when you open the restaurant she's like I don't know we're worried about it when we get there because she's not ready to let go of this one I love being in here and that's what you're gonna find like the reason why you did this is because you love doing it.

SPEAKER_03 29:05

And it's like to let it go right it's like no like I can't it it it's almost but I think you're gonna you're gonna find it and I know like when I had like I just had somebody walk through my door one day and say hey I need a job and I was and it was this adorable little old lady and and I'm like who has zero culinary experience but I'm like you know what I can use some help doing dishes I can definitely teach you how to prep you know what I mean because that's most of what has to happen in the catering kitchen. I'm like we can teach you that and then it was like then somebody else came through my door and oddly enough the timing just was right. Just like how you knew the timing was right for you to leave you're gonna that's gonna come like if you keep going and it's good and it might be a year two years three years but it's going to come and you're gonna know it. It's just gonna be a light bulb and it's exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

I think I'm waiting for the next light bulb yeah so that I can yeah we've had light bulbs come on and then somebody's got a BB gun and they've like popped the bulb on the it's been an interesting year for both of us. But Kelly I think you can all right are you guys open to just a little bit of old lady wisdom from a couple of old ladies so I can tell you Win Software we call this an inflection point and Kelly will agree with me when I say as long as you you will have growing pains and as long as you don't step away from those pains feeling like they're a failure or feeling like that is a sign that you're not supposed to move forward and you use it as a catalyst to move forward you're gonna kill it right the pain is going to happen at the inflection point no matter what and find that person not each other.

SPEAKER_03 30:37

Find the person like I sometimes I'll I'll call Gretchen I need five minutes. You know or Monica I'll call Monica the bread and butter like oh my god I can't believe this she's awesome you know so you gotta find the people in the industry and feel free. Yeah I'm sure Gretchen same thing you're like I I even if you're just like I don't need advice I just need to be like this customer came in today and threw a bagel at my head okay can I can I call it 330 when I'm boiling and melting my face off a thousand percent I may not answer but you can at least leave a message I am just so frustrated right now.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

So Tom you do get to boil the bagels you just don't get to roll the bagels. Correct. Okay yeah she looks like certain things see in the a part of the process then he makes a cream cheese too so my hands are too fat. Yeah you've got sausage finger I see that they're Italian they're Italian so the talk about the bagel making process then like you you you said that you you cold rise them.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

Yeah what does that change and and what did everything it's like a uh a you have with a lot of baking you um you know you mix it you put it in the oven and it comes out and it's great whatever bagels it's a patient you have to be patient it's like you you can't rush the process which sometimes is frustrating right um which is why we don't have bagels today yeah but I totally understand we will tomorrow um they they're finicky and they they take time and and for example if the if your fridge is too hot which we've had our fridge broke one time over the summer and um and they overproofed and then it's like and you have no product the next day and that's terrible we did we I I worked at Einstein bagels not New York style bagels but I worked at Einstein bagels like 2000 years ago and we would take the overproof dough and pinch the middle and sort of make like toppings on top of it in the bag so we didn't usually we didn't get rid of them we use them and just turn it into something else. Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

Well they turn into like Vialys if they overproof they become very flat flag flagles yeah yeah yeah which can still be delicious yeah and they always taste good and that that kind of is brings me to the other thing which is the importance of using in good ingredients so we don't like sacrifice you know anything like we use good King Arthur high gluten flour we like make sure there are only four ingredients um you know malt water salt yeast and flour and I love the fact that you even said you use high quality because like especially with now that Cisco has taken over restaurant depot and like of course it's like you every restaurant tastes the same now and a lot of people are getting away from actually doing the stuff because it they they Cisco sold everybody on the they don't cut labor costs.

SPEAKER_03 33:21

And it's just like well you know I mean yeah well also cuts cuts cuts taste.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

It does well it also and all the preservatives and everything I was just gonna say people that don't have a gluten allergy if they eat there I won't mention which chain pizza places but if I eat it I know that my joints are gonna hurt uh and then if you go to a place that uses good flour so it's not sometimes people like flour and gluten get a bad name the reality is it's just when it's bleached or unbleached flourishing bromated so and non-bromated we we're very I mean right down to we use spring water for our ice cubes. Like when I say like we people order bacon egg and cheese those are free range eggs they get two of them. The bacon is nitrate free because my kid loves bacon humanely I think they probably read them nighttime like bedtime stories. They're well taken care of but my children eat that bacon literally every day when we have leftover bacon that's super crispy. I'm like I don't want to serve anyone else's kids nitrates. Yeah yeah so it's like so making those decisions and sticking to we had non-negotiables when we started we're like if we can't make money doing it this way then we won't do it.

SPEAKER_04 34:36

So I want to say and and this might just be my own passion bias but I want to say that I think people are getting smart about why they're sick. I think they're getting smart about the fact that our food gets produced here and then it has to leave the state we pay to have it sent out of state to be processed and then it comes back we pay for it to be brought back in and by the way now it's got a bunch of stuff in it to preserve it crossing straight like all of the food chain issues which is why culinary square exists I think people are getting smart to that. And we you know we need policy support to make it affordable for people to make the choices they want to make anyway.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

Right because I mean think about it it's like you have you know sure I can go to Safeway and buy bagels that have been sitting on a shelf for two weeks and probably and God knows no no that's crazy because I did I because so I think a thing came out not too long ago and it was like the gloss of fate.

SPEAKER_05 35:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:34

Like the store bought bread and and I will tell you like I did buy store pepperage farm store bought bread because it's like my kids whatever and I'm like it sometimes when you are running a business it gets a little tight and if I'm gonna buy a bag salad I it's because I don't have time right but I need a vegetable. Well I haven't made dinner in months yeah yeah exact yeah so you know so it's like whatever is going to be as easy as possible at some times um and you have to cut corners but you know I like to think that I would like to see more of the costs come down for people who are actually doing the right thing for food. My my bread was not on the glossophate list the puff fridge farm bread was not thank god but at that point I was like I'm done and I started baking bread for the house and it's in the freezer and pull it out when I need it. But the bread we I found a little bread in the pantry and I looked at the date it was like from February 26 not it was as fresh as a daisy. Oh it was literally like it that was the sell by date was February 27.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

This was like two weeks government agencies that are supposed to protect us that just don't do the jobs. Well like all that stuff we shouldn't have to sit there and stare at the label and then also make decisions based on well this one I can afford and that one I can't like it should just and it should be more local.

SPEAKER_04 36:45

I mean it doesn't need it doesn't need to be mass produced and well and the way you know it doesn't have to be that way is we are literally the only developed country on the planet that has this problem. Like you go to Italy and you can eat dough and pasta all day long.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

We travel all the time and it's like you can eat any kind of gluten you want when you're traveling like not get sick.

SPEAKER_04 37:05

Yeah yeah yeah it's so I think we're all and I think to your point about like AI and and how it affects jobs I I do believe people want their food scratch prepared. I mean 90% of Kelly's business they understand her food's a whole different level because it's scratch prepared and and you look for that for your for your family and and yourself.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Well our bagels are like snowflakes like literally we if you think about none are the same no no they can't be she hand rolled them when I boil them I have a method of making sure that they're all in there at least by a certain amount of time. But there's 12 to 24 boiling at the same time the first ones come out the last one's coming out got an extra 15 20 seconds of boil the skin on that's gonna be a little thicker a little crispier like every bagel is different people can tell when it's being rolled by a machine. Yeah there's a big difference yeah um and I don't know why but the when you hand roll and they just taste better.

SPEAKER_03 38:04

Look at your look at your pie crust when you go when they say it's baked in house and I was tricked on this like 20 years ago and I used to work at this place and and I and and I love you know the family loved the pie. I thought it was a little sugary but it's fine. And then we would go and I started to work there just to for extra hours and then I was like you're kidding me it comes out of a box like so whenever I had to say fresh baked daily I had to be like fresh baked daily semi-homemade fresh baked somewhere yeah exactly so and hair quotes happen in the we did bake they're like well do you make it in house I'm like well yeah we bake them in house yeah yeah so it was but you do just look at the this is Kelly just making me feel good about how awful my pie crust look when she makes me make the quicha I love a I love a I don't want a fan ugly a good ugly homemade pie crust.

SPEAKER_04 38:53

Good ugly homemade pie crust the next time you assign me to pie crust is because again you're getting parceled for me.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Thick yep and some of them are under over and if you like Christmas for sure. Alright you guys so let's talk about this like this have you worked together before kind of um well yet we met at a summer camp at summer we were both volleyball instructors this summer camp were the teenagers I I mean I just I still had a year of college left. Yeah her siblings didn't let me date her for like four years so I had to work hard.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

It's a different person because I was I was a couple years well I'm only two and a half years older but when someone's like in high school and you're like a bro out of yeah you know yeah you're sketchy dude yeah they're like you're not dating my sister we I mean listen it's not all sunflowers and roses but we the uh many years ago scared of sunflowers many years ago we went on this TV show together like a competition a cooking competition it was awful we failed miserably that was our first anniversary actually it was terrible wait was it was it was it what you created or was it the dynamic oh no so this is where I was what we created was horrific.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

No no just preface this with so we did a dry run because as Cine does she does a dry run and it was wonderful on the East Coast it was an extreme cake show.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

And I and I can say that because no one can find it anymore in Prime it's like finally off deep in the we then the show is filmed in Colorado and I will then let you take it out Colorado's only reason why we failed miserably I I just wasn't dry I was still sort of like a newbie into baking and I had started a cake business and um was doing well but it was just a whole different you know bigger elevation it was honestly it was so wasteful and so gross to see like this amount of cake just being like thrown around and thrown in the trash and it was all whatever. But because you were a young baker I was so excited and most people bring their sous chefs with them well well I didn't really have a sous chef so I brought my husband who was working in admissions at a he didn't know what flour or he didn't know what fondant was he didn't know how to make a buttercream um so we went out you know dough eyed to Colorado and you were exactly what those movie those production people were looking at.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Well they always have one team they know they're gonna be horrible and they don't tell you like no one told us hey Colorado's super dry and the studio lights are 100 degrees right everything you have is going to dry out your modeling chocolate is going to be like sand you need everything in hand and will go wrong or they don't tell you that and while it's all not working it's you're you're making a cake for eight hours under these hot lights and elevation is different nothing cooks.

SPEAKER_02 41:33

The wheels are falling off of us and Tom just looks at me and he's like though yeah he was like okay this can go two ways we can be like that couple that gets into a fight on screen and probably is great for your preemptive or we can we can keep it together and like be on the same team and laugh at ourselves and laugh at ourselves and just get out of here and and I was like okay I I don't want to you know I've already embarrassed myself here already but we really he was like let's do this as a team and not turn against each other basically I still think about that there's some serious emotional intelligence right there I don't think that's where I would have been in that place.

SPEAKER_04 42:10

Because he could have been mad at me like why did you bring it up because I knew I couldn't help her.

SPEAKER_01 42:14

Like I wouldn't have known the cornsear thing I wouldn't have known a lot of that stuff. No something I was in charge of the ants that ended up looking like little poops. It was all they were that were they were on a they were on a picnic picnic blanket and the judges are like oh I'm like yeah I know I know but it felt like I was laying down I can't believe I'm talking about it because anytime we bring it up I always think too soon.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

And that was what 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

That was our first inverse 16 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 42:38

I have to ask you would you do it again today?

SPEAKER_01 42:40

No not so much now I would I would you would crush it honestly you get more airtime when you're disaster like we stole the show the whole show is about the whole time I'm like you know when they do those interviews after it's already happened they're interviewing me and I'm like I have no idea what's happening it was so bad. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

I was gonna say you're a producer's dream you're like yeah that is a great story.

SPEAKER_04 43:05

So Kelly if if you if you like didn't know you were gonna be ambushed like that would you do it?

SPEAKER_03 43:11

Me and Michael is actually shockingly enough the one thing I will say about my husband is he for never having to work in the hospitality industry ever when I was first starting and doing personal chef dinners and of course I needed a sous chef and I'm like well you need a cop on this job. I know you're leaving your job now but I need you to come to work with me here oddly enough we work very well he knows exactly what to do to stay out of my way and you know like I don't have to be like honey can you please do the dishes like so I will I will I will give you my observations about Michael in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_04 43:46

Michael's very happy in the kitchen he's super happy in the kitchen he wants to be in the kitchen he wants to irritate here's what the entire team wants to like educate Michael on or at least encourage him to do better. He Pokes the bear all the time. But that's that's that's never dynamic.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

I was gonna say if he stopped doing that, you'd be worried, right? I would oh 100%.

SPEAKER_04 44:06

Well, but all the rest of us are like, Michael, did you really have to say that to Kelly? We're trying to get the job out the door, and now you've got her yelling. I mean, one side he's different because he knows better.

SPEAKER_03 44:16

But you know, no, getting out of the kitchen, he loves to poke the bear. It is I it's good though. It's literally of my life. He knows that's probably the best way to get things, you know. No, he just likes to see the rise out of me, that's all.

SPEAKER_04 44:28

He just like I have a point, and I'm like, honestly, if we hadn't seen that, we would think Scary Kelly was scary, but we've seen Scary Kelly with Michael, and we're like, oh, this is just Michael and Kelly. So Kelly's not scary Kelly isn't as scary as she thinks she is.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

We all get scary when there's a deadline.

SPEAKER_04 44:45

Oh a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_03 44:46

And and when oh, like when Gretchen decides to drop uh uh 25 people's worth of packages. Oh god, loading the trucks before we're supposed to. As they're loading the truck.

SPEAKER_04 44:57

It wasn't a decision, Kelly. Let's be clear. Oh, it wasn't a decision.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

That's it.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

So she allows me in the kitchen, like this, and this is where it goes wrong. I was in the kitchen a lot when Kelly first met me because I just showed up on her doorstep, much like the first lady she hired, and I was like, I don't know anything, let me do your dishes because I just wanted to be in a kitchen. So I was in here a lot and I was terrible at it, and then I got a little better at it, and then I had a groove. And then she doesn't have me come in for a month. And then it's everything's a brand new day, Gretchen. And so I'm terrible again because I haven't been in the kitchen for a month. That's what happened to the macaroni and cheese, is Kelly didn't let me heat in the kitchen enough, and we had an accident.

SPEAKER_03 45:35

And it and you know it wasn't a decision. We it and accidents happened, and thank God I had some macaroni and cheese still in the freezer. Yeah. So as opposed to being scratch made, you know, it's like because I had to sit back, I was in the front when I heard it go down. I was in the I was like, what was that? And then it was like Kelly.

SPEAKER_04 45:54

So it's like in that vein, like when something goes sideways during when you're on the truck, like who handles it? Like you got you've got a customer.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

It depends on what kind of disaster it is.

SPEAKER_03 46:04

What is your reason most recent or the most memorable disaster? Let's start there.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

Something that happened. Well, we we do have some, we like we haven't had it recently, knock on wood, but it's like if the bagels overproof or if we're um Yeah, we have to make decisions if we're willing to s to roll it out as well. Oh, like a few weekends ago, my cinnamon crunch bagels is a really good. It's the only dough that I actually put something into the go uh integrated into the dough, which is these like King Arthur um cinnamon bits that are really good. But um they they didn't rise properly. There was either something in the yeast that we were using. We we don't use sourdough, we use like active dry yeast.

SPEAKER_01 46:41

Oh, I remember that was three, it was one batch, yeah, a small thing of yeast that it must have just not been.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

And so it's Saturday morning, there's like a line of people who were like, We're here to buy the cinnamon bagel, and it just didn't look great. And it and and it we kind we kind of looked at each other on the truck, and I was like, should I just pull these? Like, I'd rather not sell them to anybody than to sell a crappy herb versus. We did, we pulled them. So we pulled them. But I mean that kind of stuff happens all the time, and we sort of like look at each other like, how are we gonna do this?

SPEAKER_01 47:09

So she makes those decisions on the baking and like if it's not up to the case.

SPEAKER_04 47:13

You can't really, you don't really have the opportunity. Like, we do a we do some inventory. We were able to bake ahead or do sauces ahead, a little bit of inventory as caterers, but you don't really have that that luxury, right? You are you are fresh baked.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

We are fresh baked, and even our cream cheese is like pretty much the day, the night before, like tonight I'll be making yeah, we'll be making the cream cheese tomorrow morning.

SPEAKER_04 47:33

So it's so if you ever need a helper, like cream cheese is my weakness. I would I don't even need to put it on anything. I need it right off the spoon.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

We can't give out all the secrets, but it's I never used to eat cream cheese. Now I do. It's a because you've come waste.

SPEAKER_03 47:48

The deli style whipped cream cheese.

SPEAKER_01 47:49

It's super whipped, it's so good.

SPEAKER_03 47:51

Oh, it's seltzer water. Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense. Nice, okay, all right. Yeah, like because I whipped the shit out of it, and it never comes out like airy, but there you go.

SPEAKER_04 48:02

But also, it's the right amount, and but a lot of times there were scenic magic.

SPEAKER_01 48:08

How fast on the Hobart? Yeah, there's there's things that she doesn't like me doing, and I do it when she's not looking, and it turns out.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

He's teaching himself all this stuff. It's interesting. If something happens on the truck, like we like if let's say somebody comes and they complain, uh, we haven't really had this, but we run out of bagels and there's a long line. I am petrified. I'm like, I can't deliver the bad news to these people. Tom has been delivering bad news to families for years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

Um, and he's very good at it.

SPEAKER_01 48:35

And this is much easier than talking about your children.

SPEAKER_04 48:36

Oh, 100%. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. People get people get people. Tell me what it was like getting your truck uh through the the the health department got. Oh wow. We I I They were great.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

They were they were great, but it yes, it was actually the fire thing that was it's about being so prepared that you can laugh at how overprepared you are, and then you still need to be more prepared than we although they kind of laughed at us, they're like, oh, this would be easy.

SPEAKER_01 49:03

I think when we came in with like color-coded binders, they're like, this one's gonna be easy. They even said that.

SPEAKER_02 49:09

Because every single person we have in Annapolis said it was a very difficult process. Yeah, so we were over. So we were very much ready to be denied and scrutinized over so it was like I've never studied so hard for a test.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

There was one thing, and uh we've we've emailed people, so hopefully it doesn't happen to others, but um there was one thing missing on the fire marshal's PDF that the county has on their side of the website. It was um an alarm horn on the outside that the people in line can see that's connected to your suppression system. So if I if I were to pull the handle and all the fire retardant like spray comes out, it would also trigger the alarm out front. So people in line would know to get away from the truck, even though you would see and hear all the else.

SPEAKER_02 49:57

It was not on the list.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

So we like like everything, we did all of this. That's something that's semi-expensive if you do it when you're building your truck. It's really expensive if you have to put it in after the factory.

SPEAKER_04 50:08

So you have to put it in after the factory. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

And then we delayed opening by a couple weeks because obviously it has to be done right, it has to then get reinspected. So fortunately, we saw it. We didn't go to the inspection because the um before you go for your fire marshal visit, they send you a PDF. And I noticed that the PDFs were not the same. And I was like, hey, this is not on the original list. He's like, Oh, that's important. So we just delayed by two weeks, which you know it's it's money, but also it's it's frustrating. But um, they couldn't be nicer. The folks from the health department have been also super nice. Anytime we've changed something, I email them, they send us what is it, the H A, C, whatever. They sent us the update. Everyone's been great. So I think it was nice being scared going in because all the extra prep that we did actually was just good for us to know what we're doing. Like, I know that truck so much better because I had to like work with someone to take it apart, put it back together.

SPEAKER_04 51:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

Um, was it annoying? Was it expensive? Yes. But in a weird way, like we I mean, we know that thing.

SPEAKER_04 51:11

We could Yeah, I want you guys to think about one of the things that um my goal for the future is to put together. There's a there's a kitchen called Hudson Kitchen out in New Jersey, and and I I I model myself after her because she does what she does so well. And she wrote a it's a PDF, but it's a book that is how to open a food operation in Hudson, New Jersey. Yeah, not New Jersey, not not the country, because no place is like your place. So we need to think about what we can do to encourage future food entrepreneurs in Ana Runda County to come forward.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

It's a consulting firm.

SPEAKER_03 51:45

Absolutely cool. We've talked, we've definitely talked about this tons. It's like we're there's no checklist, there's no, and or it look like it's not complete checklist. Like, even when I started this, I'm like, I don't know where to go.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

Well, the best is it you're like, here's the list. You click on it, and it brings you it brings you back to the original page. Yeah, like there's these, I call them like the desk spiral. Like, so you you think you're getting to the information you need, you click on it, brings you back to the original information, which says, see here on this list, and then you click, brings it right back. I'm like, holy crap, I'm like, I cannot, yeah, I can't be the only person that's frustrated by outdated websites and links that don't work. You're not, yeah. Yeah, no, you're not. So that but the people, the humans, were great. It's making sure that those websites are up to date, that sheets, because I don't think it's fair to small business to be like that would have cost you 500, maybe 600 bucks to do. And then that would cost you five thousand. That's right. Because someone didn't update a PDF a year and a half ago. Yeah, that's a good thing. That's the thing that killed me. When I was like, what? Yeah, that was updated a year and like that that means there's probably 20 of me that have done this and no one's changed that PDF.

SPEAKER_03 52:54

Doesn't that make you think about conspiracies?

SPEAKER_01 52:57

About you know, the people that do the fire suppression systems in Annapolis. Actually, I I can't I have a friend who does and hooked me up and helped us do it immediately and was great. But if I didn't know him, yeah, 100%. Yeah, 100% because it makes you wonder. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:15

Kind of makes yeah, and it and it is in it's it's not for the week of week of heart, week of mind, week of stomach to start a business. You do have to go into it though with your all, and I love your energy. Yeah, I I'm so there's a lot, I see a lot of you guys, like and me and Michael, you know, in in in terms of this, and I think you guys are gonna do amazing. And I cannot wait till we do our pop-in for the live show with you guys.

SPEAKER_04 53:42

So come in for it.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

I want to know what you're gonna order so I can.

SPEAKER_04 53:44

Oh, everything. Think about it. I want one. I want one of everything. Yeah, I've got a you know, Jack's a senior now. He can eat seven bagel sandwiches. So we'll just order, I'll get one bite and give it to him. But coming from two ladies who also are working with their husbands, like your your dynamic is just it's gonna come through, even though we're audio and not video. You guys, as a couple, I could see this is this is really a great team, but you've got the Bruno and Bean and the two boys. So you built this around work-life balance. Is it balancing?

SPEAKER_01 54:16

Not yet.

SPEAKER_04 54:17

No.

SPEAKER_01 54:17

Oh, we know that. We know that we're in that.

SPEAKER_04 54:19

Yeah, we and all moments.

SPEAKER_01 54:21

Not even a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 54:22

Uh, my everyone keeps saying it must be great for your kids to see you working. It's it's they they they probably hate us for all the work that we there's a reason they're not gonna get into the family business.

SPEAKER_01 54:33

It must be like that's probably what my dad saw my grandfather so busy and invested that he's like, let it go. We don't need that anymore. So, but no, but yeah, like I didn't even know I have Nolan's on uh the Patuxent uh outdoor ed trip this week. I had no idea. And I'm his baseball coach, and so I'm like, now you're missing two practices, a game, and you're getting there, like so. Then like I'm like a B plus or B minus coach, I'm like a B minus dad. Yeah, and like so you feel like you're not able to.

SPEAKER_04 55:03

Listen, you can't grade on you can't grade on the daily, but we also know that's grade on the quarterly.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

So to go back to your thing, it's until if we can get bigger and we can hire people and we actually trust them to do it, that is when you can carve out time. And the government's oh you're adorable!

SPEAKER_03 55:20

You're adorable, because that's not necessarily true. And I will even like Saturday or Thursday night, and I and I my kids are in the same thing, and we're doing this, you know. And again, this is a catering business. You're gonna end up working Saturdays, you have to work this evening.

SPEAKER_05 55:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 55:36

Same thing with me. So, you know, my daughter the other day, I I I actually had an hour. The church that she was doing the play with wanted someone to come staple like 300 programs. Thank you. And so I told her, I was like, I'm gonna walk up with you, and she was like, Oh my god, you're gonna volunteer? And I was like, They did that on purpose. Right.

SPEAKER_01 55:55

I was like, I always like she knew that was.

SPEAKER_03 55:58

She did. She was she was like, All you do is make food. I said, Well, make food is not only time, but money. I was like, This is just my time.

SPEAKER_01 56:06

You like your shoes?

SPEAKER_03 56:06

Right. Yeah, the house you live in.

SPEAKER_01 56:08

Yeah, that was the macaroni.

SPEAKER_03 56:09

So trust me, it doesn't matter even if you even if all communication. I said, Girl, I do a lot for you.

SPEAKER_01 56:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:15

Let's go over the list.

SPEAKER_01 56:16

I think they observe they they observe that you're working. And and kids are supposed to they're gonna make you feel bad.

SPEAKER_02 56:22

Yeah, they August is the one who's always our youngest one, is like well, I make you know the hundreds and hundreds of bagels and come home and he's like, I I said I have bagels from every goes, I want pancakes.

SPEAKER_03 56:33

Yeah. So that's great. Well, they'll tell me you don't ever bring anything home, and then I'll bring it home, and then it doesn't get eaten. I'm like, okay. Well, okay.

SPEAKER_05 56:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:43

That's a brand. So I I love you guys, I think it's great. One more question, and then we're gonna lightning round.

SPEAKER_04 56:48

Are you guys familiar with the lightning round? Oh, that is a good one. All right, one question before we get there.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

She listened to it to know what to expect. I did not, as a typical male, totally just showing up.

SPEAKER_04 57:00

We're gonna we're gonna show you how what how to do. But before we get there, what's next for Dead Rise bagels? What's your what's I know like it can go a hundred different ways and we hustle and we pivot, but like what where do you want to go with Dead Rise Bagels?

SPEAKER_02 57:15

You want to answer that? I don't know. It's uh I ideally we would have a brick and mortar, that would be the ultimate goal. Um pretty hard here in Annapolis to find a brick and mortar. Yeah, it's a lot there's there's stuff gonna be steps to get there. Yeah. Um, I mean, we love our little truck, it's great. We we get asked a lot to to bring our truck to events, and we're like, no, we're not going anywhere. Like to leave it in our little book there.

SPEAKER_03 57:38

Well, see that then you get a little toe behind trailer for to go to events. Right.

SPEAKER_01 57:43

Oh, like knowing, so there's been spaces that have opened and have either not had the correct parking, yeah, didn't have the grease trap, it was gonna be eight-month window, all the things, or six to eight hundred thousand dollar build out, all the things that come up, and you're like, this is crazy. I think hopefully things work out this week. But you find a kitchen you can scale for us to go from making six to seven hundred bagels to twelve hundred, now you can have a second trailer. Now, with two trailers, it justifies like I think about the kitchen expands the right. Like how much of a pay cut did I take, and how long can I do that for before it's not sustainable? Multiple trucks or little trailers, things like that is another model. If a brick and mortar doesn't open, having a shared kitchen or maybe building out a flex space, um, more of like a catering style sort of space, um, or other really good options because the business, like the business plan behind those, the numbers work if you scale correctly going that way. Doing a brick and mortar, obviously it works, but in a different way. So we we're trying to keep our options open again so we can be thoughtful. If we pull the trigger, it's not because, oh, it's it's available. We had something very close to where we were parked that was very available and would have been so great from a location standpoint, but the numbers just weren't the math wasn't out there.

SPEAKER_04 59:14

I've gone through that at least a dozen times.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

If we were emotional, we would have done it, and it I'm glad we didn't.

SPEAKER_04 59:20

Yeah, you can you can fail day one by not paying attention to your pro your pro forma. Yeah. Yeah. Well, okay. So lightning round, Tom, we're gonna ask you a question. Uh-oh. Um, both of you get to answer, but you it's just a quick answer. Okay, quick. Quick question, quick answer.

SPEAKER_03 59:35

We're hard with it too. Yeah, we can get lightning round.

SPEAKER_04 59:39

Yeah, yeah. Really? That's so interesting. All right. Uh, you want to start them?

SPEAKER_03 59:44

Sure. Okay, okay. Let's see if we can answer it as quick as you can. Toasted, not toasted.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

Oh, toasted. Toasted. Uh wait, are we talking about what she likes? What you looked at me, but I felt like I was answering.

SPEAKER_03 59:56

You both like too.

SPEAKER_01 59:57

So our bagels out of the oven. Untoasted. Untoasted, okay. If you get a bagel that's been that's no longer warm to the touch, toast it.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:05

Okay, all right. Love it. Bagel you're most proud of on your menu.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:10

Rosemary sea salt. Jalapane or cheddar.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:12

Oh, you have a rosemary? Yeah, it's a big thing. I've only ever had one rosemary bagel in Texas, and it was screamy. Wait till we show up with our little Facebook Live.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

We're gonna eat like you've never eaten before.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:25

Yeah, oh, I I have been on the hunt for a rosemary bagel. I'm so excited. Okay. Um, your website calls you s'mores fanatic. Uh-huh. Defend that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:37

Uh nothing to defend. I just like the we we used to go camping.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:42

He wanted to open a business called S'more's Fanny. More than a feeling.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

Yeah. And it was gonna be like um like uh what are those fondue kind of things? Yeah. So it'd be like first daty. I had like, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:54

So you're good with like uh the the the twists on a s'more. It doesn't have to be just chocolate and marshmallows.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:59

Oh no, I I I yeah, I also don't like milk chocolate.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:02

With the on a s'more?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:03

I don't like milk chocolate with my s'mores. And I know everyone, I you do dark chocolate, the right percentage. I like somewhere between 65. Totally. But that yes, so s'more than a feeling. I love s'mores.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:16

Love it, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

But when I make them.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:18

Alright, the this is for yeah, Tavio left answer this winter. Maybe uh Seaton will we'll take the the the show, but cream cheese flavor that should exist but doesn't yet. S'mores.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:29

I really want to do a pimento, a pimento cream cheese. Oh, yeah. It's not been on my list of today's.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:35

A little spice.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:36

Yeah, yeah. Like, I just love cheddar cheese. I love spice, I love things from the south. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:41

Well, I'm gonna have to share the share this recipe that I just found got from this lady that I delivered a catering job to, and I was like, she had it on the menu, beautifully written, and it was like this jalapeno pickle dip. Yeah, and I asked her about it, she's like, Do you want to try? And I'm like, okay. And I was going in and I was like, Can I have another one? That was so good. It was so good. I'll have to share it with you because I'm like sharing with everybody. Like, everybody has to make this. It would be good on a bagel. Or even one like on that rosemary bagel.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:07

Or bagel chips, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:08

Bagel chips, oh, so good. Okay, uh, and is it my turn? Okay, best thing about living and working in Annapolis that no one talks enough about the people.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:17

We I I am blown away with the other business owners that we have met, and like above and beyond kind and general.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:28

People you would think that they're like, well, you're not gonna go get a dozen bagels and then go to black market bakers because like how many baked goods can you eat in one day? Brendan and Steve, like they've been so sweet to us. Rita's has been sweet to us.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:40

Um, they all started out where you are. Monica has spent time with us.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:45

People have been really great about when we were first starting, like, what do we do about the truck? Like, we met with Brendan because Black Market started in a truck. He he didn't need to spend the time he spent with us.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:55

He spent Sam and Claire forward, like the whole process of going through the health department, um, Hillary at Leo, like all these business owners are just so sweet, and yeah. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:05

And so in New York, you're not expecting people to give you that kind of time. Yeah, I don't like people at all. And it's so funny because she's normally like she's like, what's your angle? Why are you so nice? Yeah. Because she's she's wired, even though I'm from the north and she's from like she's wired that way. Like people have been so nice. I was gonna say being near the water.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:22

But I but yes, but I don't think Annapolis utilizes its water from potential.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:27

No, I don't think it does.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:29

I mean, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:30

Well, there's a lot of sailing stuff, but I don't think it's quite I know what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:34

Wait for the Potomac sludge to work its way out. Well, never utilize it.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:37

Let's hope that come on, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, let's get it going. All right, last question. Um What do you want people to know about dead rice bagels that we haven't covered?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:51

Um that we really care about the product and you should be able to taste that. And um we uh have really big ideas that we can't wait to do, but you just have to be patient because we're we're growing and we don't want to overdo it.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:09

And if you don't think it's the best we have in your head, let us know. People have been great. Uh we love your feedback giving us feedback because it's so like uh an everything seasoning for one person, it can be too salty, the other person's not salty enough. So you kind of want it to be the right for the most people, right? And so just any kind of feedback because obviously, but I feel like we've gotten our systems down for where we are right now. When we uh hopefully expand, we're gonna have to redo those systems to make sure that every bagel is the best you've had.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:41

And also the you know, the naysayers who say you can't compete with like black market bakers or wives, don't even think because first off, Brandon and Steve know exactly there's enough competition in this area. There's enough for everybody. Yeah, yeah. You know, so I mean, yeah just keep going and doing what you're doing. And and the naysayers are just people who they have crappy jobs. Haters be haters, though. But haters be haters, yeah. We have crappy jobs, they hate their wife. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:08

Oh, you mean like Yelp?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:09

Also, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:11

We didn't have a Yelp account, but we had one Yelp, our first Yelp was someone that you know wrote like four pages about how like cheddar cheese needs to be more sharp, whatever it was. And I was like, well, that's you know, and Satan takes that like you know to heart. That takes a minute to the next 15 were five out of fives, you're killing like everything was so positive. And I was like, you can't let that one because there's always gonna be that.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:34

And yeah, that person may not have actually eaten at your place, right? You know what I'm saying? Like so, and it is, and I know like I I've had my people come back and it's just like, but I know that it's good, like I know that it's good. I you know, and you can't please everybody, and I know it is or did you eat it three days later? Oh or that, yeah. There's no way, yeah, right, yeah, or that, yeah, definitely. So, you know, just keep rocking it. I love it, you guys. I can't wait to come see you guys. Aren't they delightful, galley? I told you they would be.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:59

And thank you for our t-shirts. Yes, friends. Yes, more gifts for the girls.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:04

Like the sizes, just let us know.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:05

We're gonna don't let us don't let us let you leave with before we take a picture with our t-shirts.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:11

So, thank you guys. Please go see Dead Rise Bagels over off of Forest Drive, next to where Grapes is and Sweet Life T3, the Clock Tower Pavilion, something or other. Clock tower place. Clocktower pavilions. They do call it a place. So go to the place to get your Dead Rise bagels and coffee. Anything else on the on the on the truck?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:32

Yeah, uh, cold brew.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:33

Um cold brew, yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:35

Again, the springwater ice cubes. Those are good ice cubes.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:40

He this man loves his ice a small talk.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:43

Lots of small talk if you want to. And I can do some school advising too.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:48

Oh, there you go. And if you're looking for colleges, Tom can help you. Yeah, uh, Tom and Seaton, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for tuning in to Voices of Annapolis, where every voice tells our story, Kelly. Keep the conversation going, Neptown.