Accommodating Customer Requests

Interview with Zeynep and Ayca User

With Kathryn Gordon, Food Startup Help

www.antoinetteboulangerie.com

Red Bank, NJ

Kathryn:  Hello again Ayca and Zeynep!  How’s everything at Antoinette Boulangerie, now that you’ve been open 2 months?

Editor’s Note:  Zeynep and Ayca are sister owners of Antoinette Boulangerie; Chef Kathryn met Zeynep when she attended ICE

Ayca:  We absolutely love it.  It’s going really well.

Kathryn:  And Zeynep, everything’s going great with the baking?  All the products look beautiful.  Seriously, this place is just so pretty.

Zeynep:  Everything is great.  Last time you were here we worked on the French macarons – now they’re fabulous.

Kathryn:  Zeynep, do you still have 2 people baking with you?    

Zeynep:  Yes, two full time assistants so far.  I am here every day of the week.  I have my main assistant who you met, Gina and a night baker.  We prepare everything for him to bake off.

Ayca:  In the front, I have 4 assistants to cover all the shifts (Antoinette Boulangerie is open 7 days a week).

Kathryn:  Have you noticed patterns yet in your daily sales?  You have such a central, downtown Red Bank location (32 Monmouth Street -- parking in the municipal lot behind the bakery).

Ayca:  We opened in a snow storm, and then after that – the weather got worse!  And this winter, as you know, there has been many serious storms.  But we had customers even in the snow.  In fact, many of our customers are regulars already – we see them at least once every day.  They tell us that they tell all their friends about us. 

Zeynep:  We have breakfast sales for commuters, lunch, after school, and dinner pastries.  We’re beginning some wholesale baking for a wedding event space, and I do special order cakes.

Kathryn:  What’s your best selling item so far?

Zeynep:  The 21-layer crepe cake.

Kathryn:  When I was here the first month you opened, customers who came in for their morning croissant were asking you to bake additional, specific pastries like Kings Cake.  Is that still happening?  

Ayca:  Yes – we have requests, or suggestions?  All the time!  We're both here and open to talking to our customers, of course.

Zeynep:  And I try to accommodate them.  At the moment, I am running specials of new items on the weekend.  But clearly, the menu is continuously evolving.   But it lets me teach myself new items and expand our menu and I enjoy it.

Kathryn:  How did you two decide to open this operation?  Is this something you always wanted to do?

Ayca:  We had a family meeting at one point regarding what we wanted to do in 2013.  I knew I wanted to leave my job in banking.

Zeynep:  I knew I liked baking.  It all just came together.  I completed the pastry program at ICE in 2011, and interned at La Bergamote in Manhattan. 

Kathryn:  How did you select Red Bank as the location to open?  And did you visit Paris all the time when you were kids or something, to get this vision together?

Ayca:  We wanted to do something high end, and this is a destination town for high end shopping (Tiffany’s, Duxiana, Coco Pari, amongst others).   And we visited a lot of patisseries and boulangeries in Paris, but in recent years!

Zeynep:  Our vision was for a very high end, beautiful bakery.

Kathryn:  Well, you’ve accomplished that!  And the product is delicious as well as gorgeous in appearance (Note:   I’ve so far tasted a baguette and herb butter, a chocolate puff twist, peanut butter sandwich, and an apricot macaron).

Kathryn:  How long did the build out take?

Ayca:  We got the lease last June and opened January 3^rd.  It was a skateboard shop before, so everything in the bakery is new.

Kathryn:  How did you both get into food?  Was your family food oriented?

Ayca:  Our family is from Turkey.  Our father loves cooking; he taught our mother how to cook, and let us help in the kitchen.  But he never really baked.

Zeynep:  I was a nutritionist before I had my twin girls (aged 5 now).  I loved baking, and wanted to learn more about baking science.

Kathryn:  Does your nutritional training come into play much in your baking?

Zeynep:  To accommodate customer requests, I now offer 15 gluten free items.  I’m planning to create some gluten free breads next.

Kathryn:  You’re already growing fast -- yet you've got a good amount of space in the bakery.  Is there anything you wish you had done differently in the design for the bakery?

Zeynep:  Yes, more refrigeration and freezer space.  We’re looking into retrofitting in a walk-in.

What If You Never Planned to Be in the Business?

Interview with Francois Godineau

La Duchesse Anne Patisserie

Saumur, France

www.laduchesseanne.fr

With Kathryn Gordon and Jessie Riley

Editor’s Note:  the location for La Duchesse Anne has been a patisserie since 1842, and became known as La Duchesse Anne in the 1900’s.  Francois Godineau was raised above the pastry shop as a child, but never wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a baker, and left his hometown of Saumur to go into banking.  Chef Kathryn met the Godineau family in 1999, and has been taking groups through ICE to take pastry classes at la Duchesse Anne ever since (www.loirevalleycooking.com).

Jessie:  Hi Francois!  It’s been about 3 years since you took over the bakery after your father Chef Godineau retired.  Can you tell us about that transition?

Francois:  At first, my father tried to sell the business, but the worldwide recession had just hit.  Then he tried to work out a deal for the employees to buy it as a cooperative, but the financing didn’t come together.  But in the end, I left banking and bought him out. 

                      2013 ICE Cuisine Course in France Pastry Class at La Duchesse Anne

Jessie:  A lot of the front of the house (counter staff) seem new, but most of the cooks and chefs in the kitchen seem to be familiar.   Have you had a lot of staff turnover?

Francois:  It was harder to transition with the front of the house than the kitchen.  I promoted one of the sous chefs to the executive pastry chef and he (Chef Florian) got everyone in line.  My mother used to run the shop, but now she runs our second shop in Clisson (where she and my father moved after he retired; my brother assists in Clisson).  Now my wife Celine Petit runs this shop.  We brought in new people because the ones who were there originally were too used to doing what they wanted to do.   

In Saumur, I have 7 employees in the kitchen, 3 students, and 4 employees; in the shop we have 6 including 2 students and 4 full time employees. 

Jessie:  What changes have you implemented?

Francois:  One of my best ideas I think is the 9.50 Euro lunch I introduced last year.  It includes your choice of drink, choice of lunch item and dessert.  And it’s a great way for townspeople to try more of our pastries and it gets them in here. Often they think to buy a cake to take home, and our overall sales increase.

Jessie:  Most of the pastries in the case seem to be the same type as when I worked here with your father and his staff (Easter season 3 years ago).  But I see you have introduced some new ones.

                                Traditional French Wedding Cake:  the Croquembouche

Francois:  I don’t touch the items that were my father’s signature desserts.  However, I think today’s market demands some with less sugar.  So I have created a new line with more subtle flavors, less sugar, and general “lightness” than the petits gateaux and larger gateaux that are my father’s signature items.

The younger market definitely likes more varied fruits, I find.  The older clientele like particularly strong flavors, such as cassis (blackcurrant).  But the cakes I have introduced with less acidic flavors such as raspberries, strawberries and cherries sell very well.

Kathryn:  How many recipes have you modified that were your fathers?

Francois:  I work with the guys to determine what we think could be better, and then we do some R&D until we get the product exactly where we want it.  For example, the croissant dough was a bit hard to work with.  We wanted it to be a bit flakier, as well.  We’ve now added in some powdered milk, decreased the water and mix it on different speeds than my father did.

                                                         Grapefruit-Strawberry Entremet

Kathryn:  Can you describe your process for introducing a new product?

Francois:  Well, it’s a good think we have the shop women in the front of the house.  They keep us in line!  The guys in the back and I think of too many “creative” items that would never sell.  So first we give samples to our front line people – if they say it will sell, we implement it into production.  If they don’t like what they taste, we go back to the drawing board. 

Some of our ideas from the kitchen are probably too sophisticated for the customer base in this town.  Then they offer free samples in our Salon du The, and hopefully the items then start to move.  For example, we introduced a sesame chocolate bon bon that is more contemporary, passed the taste tests and now sells very well.

       

                                  La Duchesse Anne depositor for macarons and other cookies

Kathryn:  You have a full line of products here, including ice creams and macarons.  How do you get your new ideas?

Francois:  Once or twice a year my chef (Florian) and I travel up to Paris and investigate what the competition is up to.  We are always tasting!  Here and everywhere else.

                                                            Duchesse Anne viennoisserie

Kathryn:  Francois, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since taking over this business from your father?

Francois:  I learned that I have to have responsibility for the whole company, and to do that I had to put my heart into it.   Although it might not have been what I envisioned for my life, I now enjoy it very much.

Jessie:  What’s next for La Duchesse Anne?

Francois:  We’re redoing our website with all new photography.  And I’d like to open more shops!

                                                          Duchesse Anne in history

Chef Denisse Ollier tells her story and shows off her latest recipe

Interview with Denisse Ollier

Skills, Ability and Knowledge

Chef, Entrepreneur, TV Personality and Latin Community Leader

www.Denisseoller.com

By Jessie Riley

(Note: Read through to the bottom for a special recipe from Chef Ollier)

Jessie:  Hi Denisse, I know I’ve known you a very long time from fundraiser events, and then we reconnected at ICE a few years ago.  How did you wind up at ICE, for the culinary and management programs?  

Denisse:  I always loved good food.  As a child, I would spend hours watching and helping Grandma Juana as she created magic in her small, but wondrous kitchen in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  My mother, however, pushed me away from the kitchen. She wanted me to be a career woman, which I became.

As luck would have it, I chose to be an international correspondent, traveling and tasting foods from all over, which, once I got home, I had the urge to recreate.  One cookbook after another led to a pile of recipes, and how to and a need to know more.  In 2005, I enrolled in the Professional Culinary Arts program at ICE…   Life would never be the same. I became hooked, obsessed with learning more.  And I wanted to explore the possibility of having my own restaurant---thus, I also took the Management course.

 Jessie:  Was settling into kitchen life a difficult transition for a TV anchor?

Denisse:  I did both courses at ICE while still a senior female anchor at Univision NY and while doing an externship at Le Bernardin,  and having a weekly morning segment called Riquisimo con Denisse.  It was brutal. Really crazy!!!!

Leaving my TV job was liberating, but at the same time I lost the routine, the stability, the rhythm of a 9-5, well, in this case 2:30-11:30 pm job. I lost the daily feedback of our audience and the working routine with my colleagues.  Most of all, I missed covering breaking news.

In turn, I gained my freedom…  My creative freedom, my freedom from living by a set of rules that tied me down with a lists of do’s and mostly don’ts that extended to my off time.  After more than 20 years of being in a business that rewarded loyalty and discouraged self-expression and creativity, I was ready to see what else was out there.

It was not an easy transition---there were lots of adjustments to be made- but, for the first time, I was able to run my life—to experiment- to see what works and doesn’t work and where I can go with my skills, abilities and knowledge.

Jessie:  I know you issue periodic online newsletters, with beautiful food photography.  How long have you had your marketing newsletter?  How do you find it helpful?  Do you also do Facebook, Twitter, etc.  How do you think most of your fans keep up with you? And do you have a publicist -- or are you your own?

Denisse:  I have had the monthly letter on and off since 2008. I stopped writing for a while because of  health issues.  Now I send my monthly newsletter regularly, plus I am very active on Facebook and Twitter.  I do not have a publicist.

Jessie:  I saw online that you are also selling a line of cook wear.   How did you develop your line of pans -- was it your idea or Fagor's?  How long did it take to develop and what was the process?  Are you planning to sell more kitchen ware type products?  Do you have to travel around and/or do promotions for them? Provide recipes that people can use?  

Denisse:  Fagor is a worldwide leader in cookware. They approached me almost two years ago to develop a line of cookware that was both affordable and of excellent quality.  We even checked the Pantone color wheel to match the exact color that I wanted.  It was a very creative process, stressful at times, but ultimately satisfying. Yes, I do travel to promote my line and my e-store is part of my official website so people have access to my recipes.   www.Denisseoller.com

Jessie:  A while back we were talking about you developing on a line of cookies, and looking for a producer, what happened to that project?  

Denisse:  I started Boca Dulce, my line of delicious cookies with Latin flavors, on September 2008, a week before the financial collapse. It only goes to show that timing is everything. I was able to hang in there and actually, sell my cookies for the next six months. Thanks in part to promotional efforts of my own and to my good chef friends. In the end, I didn’t have the infrastructure to fully establish myself. I had to fold the business. I learned a lot, especially the importance of planning every step. 

Jessie:   When you do your TV demos, like your weekly Hispanic cooking and nutrition segment for the AARP, who decides what you will cover?  You and producers?  Any words of advice to another entrepreneur who might have a TV gig that would be helpful to share, since this is your field???

Denisse:  The producer and I consult to see what would be a good fit. Sometimes it depends on the air time available and others, on the time of the year (Christmas, spring and Mother’s Day). It is a collaborative effort. My best advice to anyone who wants to be on TV is to be yourself and to communicate in a friendly fashion. 

Jessie:  And recently, you’ve taken on a position at Seton Hall University.  

How is the transition to an academic environment?  

Denisse:  When I’m not cooking, I am the Executive Director of the Unanue Latino Institute at Seton Hall University.  In its essence, this job is also about communicating, which is my calling in life.  I thoroughly enjoy all aspects of this position, from event planning to fundraisers to being in touch with our students on a daily basis.  As a matter of fact, they enrich my life.

Jessie:  What's next for Denisse?  What else would you like to be doing?   

Denisse:  I have a great food business at Denisseoller.com, I am a top collaborator for AARP, and I work as executive director of the Latino Institute at Seton Hall University, plus I am a spokesperson for several entities whose message of health and fitness and empowerment I embrace. I make a great living and I decide when to go on vacations and for how long!! What more can I ask for? 


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sautéed Spicy Chicken Breasts with Fresh Mango Salsa

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken breasts, lightly pounded

4 ounces smoked bacon

1 garlic clove, minced

8 ounces baby spinach, washed and rinsed

4 ounces soft goat cheese 

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons salt

Freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons canola oil

Mango Salsa 

2 fresh mangoes, finely chopped

1 red pepper, small dice

½ medium red onion, small dice

3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, leaves only, finely chopped

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375ºF

1.      Mix all ingredients for the mango salsa in a bowl, cover and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

2.      Place bacon in skillet and fry at medium heat until crisp. Place on paper towels and proceed to chop in small bits. Set aside.

3.      Remove all but one tablespoon of fat from the skillet and sauté the garlic and spinach. Set aside to cool.

4.      In a bowl, combine the spinach mix with the goat cheese and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add bacon.

5.      Into the thickest part of each chicken breast cut a 3-inch pocket. Stuff with the spinach-cheese mixture. Close with a toothpick.

6.      Mix the cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Season each breast with the mixture. You may cover and refrigerate for one hour or up to a day ahead.

7.      Heat a large oven proof skillet at medium high, add canola oil and once it is hot, place the chicken breasts and sauté 4-5 minutes until golden brown. Turnover and cook 3-4 minutes.

8.      Transfer to oven and roast for 10-12 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 165ºF. Remove from oven and keep warm until ready to serve. 

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Interview with Zeke Mandel, The Savory Pie Guy

Creating Barriers to Prevent Competitors

Interview with Zeke Mandel

www.savorypieguy.com

The Savory Pie Guy

Yonkers, NY

Interview by Jeff Yoskowitz, Jessie Riley and Kathryn Gordon

 Jessie:  Can you give us some information on your background and how you started producing “artisanal hand held savory pies?”

Zeke:  I had completed 2 MBAs, at Columbia and the London Business School and I knew I wanted to have a food related business.  I originally started in raw chocolate, but kept hitting a wall with investors because I didn’t have a “food background.”  So I enrolled at ICE (Institute of Culinary Education) in the pastry program to get that credential.

In the process, I realized there was an opening in the market for savory pies.  I believe that if you can identify a vacuum in the market you should run in to fill up that gap. Essentially, for me pies are “a widget.”  I hope to make this business profitable and sell it within 5 years.  

Kathryn:  Zeke, we’re surrounded by flip chart papers in your office area, with your competitors, brainstorming business names, etc.  Can you tell us about that process, before we go tour the plant?

Zeke:  I worked with 2 branding people.  The charts are from the second person – she made me put down on paper what was in my head.  It was a 2 day process.  But I decided not to work with her anymore because she was rather downcast.  I’m more upbeat and we weren’t compatible.

Jeff:  How was her approach different from the first marketing people you worked with? 

Zeke:  The first were very methodical, and slow.  We used color boards and swatches.

Kathryn:  I know that Jeff helped you formulate your dough, so it would still be flaky after being produced, frozen, shipped, pressed, crimped, fully baked, packaged and frozen!   And it is, remarkably flaky and an all butter, natural ingredient dough.  What have been your other biggest challenges?

Zeke:  Figuring out the production.  For example, with the business growth I needed to outsource the dough production.  The first co-packer never called me back after making 1,200 pounds of dough.  I had warned him it was significantly heavier than the cookie dough he was used to running on his machines, but they didn’t listen and one of their carts went sideways and they lost about 500 pounds of the dough on the floor.  I’ve since found another co-packer who is able to make my pre-portioned dough to my specifications and ship it to me.   They had to have the right die to portion exactly how many grams I need for each pie.

 Kathryn:  Why is it so particularly heavy, as doughs go?

Jeff:  It has to perform a lot of functions, and it has a lot of eggs, water and butter.

Zeke:  It’s an amazing dough and gets rave reviews, and has lots of flavors from the herbs and spices in it. 

Preportioned frozen dough from the copacker

Jessie:  Who were your first customers?

Zeke:  I started working with soccer bars.  Their customers “know savory pies” and this fit the demand. At the same time I also had to be able to make an all-natural product that would appeal to the American market, with the dough “less doughy,” easy to eat, flaky, and good tasting.

 I currently package up units of 4 and deliver in 2 refrigerated trucks to about 15 bars.

Jeff:  And your current production level?

Zeke:  It’s been about 1,500 pies in a week.  It only takes me about 3 hours to produce and package 600 pies. 

But that’s about to change, since I am opening in D’Agostinos this Monday.  So that’s why I’m working with a co-packer in Pennsylvania, who can produce 1,000 pounds of my dough at a time and portion it correctly for the size of the tops versus the bottoms of the pies

Kathryn:  How many flavors of gourmet pot pies to you sell now?

Zeke:  6 flavors.

Jessie:  And how did you get into D’Agostinos? 

Zeke:  It was a long process.  Last February, I met with my brother’s future father-in-law’s contact who’s a principle in a food brokerage company.  They’re the ones who brought Stonyfield yogurt to the market, and have a regional New England focus.  They liked the pies and said we can do something together.  They wanted to work with a big enough store to generate volume and get some cash flow. 

Jeff:   Are you working with other stores, now that you’re production logistics have been worked out?

Zeke:  Yes, last summer I got 2 leads at Whole Foods.  They were also looking for a savory pie program with “prescribed meat” meaning humanely treated animals and produced meat. 

Kathryn:  That must have a higher price point!

Zeke:  Yes.  The mark up on the beef is ok but the chicken is 2 times the price.  But I want to work with Whole Foods because it’s a great marketing strategy, generates steady volume and is frankly, an entree for getting into other outlets.   I’m also talking to Fresh Direct now on another project.

Jeff:  What are the numbers you think you can produce here given this kitchen facility?

Zeke:  I’m expecting to do 15,000 pies a week with 2 people per shift, and we could go to 2 production shifts a day if necessary.

If it goes over that, I’m also looking to outsource my meat production.  A co-packer can cook 500 pounds of filling at a time, vacuum seal it in useable production units and deliver it frozen to me.

Kathryn:  Overall, this is a very big facility. Why did you choose one so large?

Zeke:  You have to look at your production location and ask:   can you scale it to survive your own growth?   Because if you get the demand once you get going, and you can't produce, it will kill the business.   

At first, my business partner was a savory pie guy in Brooklyn who also wasn’t a baker, and was really holding together his business with paperclips and bubblegum with very little space.  Now, I am working with someone who had extra space in his Irish meat production USDA regulated facility.   He has helped me tremendously, even with sourcing my equipment.

Jeff:  What’s been your biggest learning curve?

Zeke:  How to work within the federal regulations.  All USDA rules are “interpreted.”  All the inspectors know how to do production, but they are not lawyers.  I’ve learned to “call Nebraska,” their  headquarters.  They want to know if I’m an attorney, because of the questions I’ve been asking!  There are two phases of getting started with USDA oversight.  The first step is experimental, and if you’re only giving out samples, you have to follow the USDA procedures but you can’t sell them.  Once you start selling, then you’re in full production and have daily USDA Inspector visits.

Jessie:  Can you talk more about the USDA oversight process?

Zeke:  My inspector comes whenever he wants to come.  I provide him an office, and that is required.  So is the strict cleaning regimen and food safety assessment.  My inspector was really helpful, and although it wasn’t his job – he really helped me with the paperwork and led me in the right direction, tweaking stuff I hadn’t yet thought of and making production suggestions.  It was a huge learning curve.  And legally – anyone selling anything with meat has to be USDA certified, even if it’s food for pets and not humans. There are very severe penalties if you do not adhere to the guidelines.

Jeff:  What do you think is good advice for other entrepreneurs?

Zeke:  Once you identify a vacuum in the market, the key to success is creating a barrier to prevent competitors.  Here, my barriers are:  USDA certification/oversight, the cost of the speciality and custom equipment, and funding.  Otherwise, once you’re successful, everyone else will notice and want to also compete within that vacuum, and you do not want them to be able to do what you’re doing.

Jessie:  Thank you Zeke, and thanks for showing us around the facility!

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Something New: Pushcart Cafe

Look back periodically and realize where you are now.  

Interview with Jamie Rodgers (owner) and Maggie Rodgers (sister)

Pushcart Café, 221 East Broadway, NYC

www.pushcartcoffee.com

by Jeff Yoskowitz and Kathryn Gordon

Kathryn:  Hi Maggie, I know Jeff has seen your very appealing, very neighborhood-oriented space here before.  Pushcart is all new to me – can you tell us how you started baking here?

Maggie:  I graduated ICE (Institute of Culinary Education) in May 2012, and finished my externship at Dominique Ansel Bakery.  After college and before I started at ICE, I lived across the street from this coffee shop that wasn’t particularly well run.   I got a job there, but I also “kind of knew” the owner would want to sell. 

Jeff :  Jamie, you then decided to get into the coffee/café business?

Jamie:  I was living in this neighborhood and working downtown in corporate law.  I wasn’t happy and wanted something more entrepreneurial. I just wasn’t fulfilled by my profession.   I approached the owner of the coffee shop and then Maggie decided to join forces with me.

Kathryn:  So Maggie, where do you bake?  The coffee shop seems to be mostly retail counters with tables for customers?

Maggie:  We built a production kitchen in the basement of the building. It was a long process, because we did the build out from scratch.

Jamie:  It was actually a little frightening because working in a basement, there are many health code issues to be aware of.  I had the entire facility sealed. It’s very “buttoned up.”  We have instituted very strict policies to keep it sealed against any possible pests.

Jeff:  Are there venting issues?  How hot did it get in the summer, doing production in a closed facility in a basement?

Jamie:  We installed very good air conditioning.  The ovens are electric, so there is no need for a hood and there is simple in and out venting. 

Jeff:  How did you find contractors to get the work done?

Jamie:  I talk to other business owners in the neighborhood, and through word of mouth used their contractors.  I mostly just showed the contractors what I had and what I needed. 

Kathryn:  How many people do you work with, Maggie?

Maggie:  It’s often just been me baking, but wholesale has been picking up.  Before Christmas I started to bring in some of the guys from Cowboy Pizza after their shift to help shape cookies!  (Cowboy Pizza is also owned by Jamie and just around the corner from Pushcart).   

Jeff:  How many locations are there of Pushcart?

Jamie:  I have 2 Pushcart locations, and we are also in the New Amsterdam market and covering events on weekends.  I opened the second location in mid October, near 21^st street and 2^nd Avenue. 

I make impromptu visits there throughout the day; I can get there by bike in 11 minutes.

Kathryn: How do you get the baked goods to the other locations? 

Jamie:  We use our mom’s old station wagon for our delivery truck.  The system works pretty well.  Maggie plans the production and preps.  Some Cowboy pizza guys do the bake off, and some bring the product uptown, boxed up in health-code safe boxes.  They unpack and the process begins again.

Kathryn:  And Maggie, do you have enough kitchen and storage space here to sustain production growth like that?

Maggie:  We’re still getting to know how much to bake:  the uptown location does 2 ½ times the volume of baked good sales.  Production space is tight; I am often rearranging the equipment to fit in more tables, storage, etc.

Jeff:  Can you talk about the New Amsterdam market?

Jamie:  It’s near the old Fulton Street fish market, and focuses on locally sourced and artisanal food purveyors.  I find it to be good exposure for us to bring new people to us directly, as well as a good sales outlet.

A lot of our employees will ride the pushcarts there, since it’s only 1 ½ miles away!

Kathryn:  What’s next for you guys?

Jamie:  We’re focusing on wholesale accounts and delivery.  Schools, hospitals etc. 

Maggie:  I would like to grow the bulk order pastry business.  Holiday cookie boxes sold well; I am working on a Valentine’s selection now.   About 25% of sales are currently wholesale.

Kathryn: Jamie, how helpful is it that you were a lawyer before this career turn?

Jamie:  I find the law degree a good asset.  I’m basically in practice now for this business.  Running a business is to a large extent figuring out the regulatory (for the health code, permits, etc.) and negotiating leases.   It takes hours to navigate, even with the skills.

I find it really exciting to put everything you have into something to make it successful. 

Kathryn: Maggie, how much of the menu does your brother let you decide? 

Maggie:  It’s up to me.   I developed the menu to maximize on the roots of this neighborhood; the pushcart itself evokes nostalgia.  The baked goods are along the same lines.  Everything is the best it can be, but they are products the customers know and love.  Chocolate chip cookies is sometimes all one wants.  I think chili powder and cumin are fun ingredients to bake with, but I sell classic brownies.

Kathryn:  Does everything sell equally, and do you know what your ingredients cost for each product?

Maggie:  I have a background in statistics so I do my own excel analysis of sales and cost of goods sold, and I tweak the margin on each product given my recipe formulas.  But some products have surprised me – peanut butter doesn’t sell.  Gingersnaps won’t sell, but molasses cookies will!

Presentation details count:  if I sprinkle confectioners’ sugar on the almond croissants, more sell.

Jeff:  Do you have a standard profit margin you try to meet?

Jamie:  It’s a moving target.  The growth in our outlets and our wholesale accounts has meant that we’ve had to shift our labor schemes.  Probably it’s 200 percent of the labor cost, not including labor and other overhead.

Jeff:  How did you name the business?

Maggie:  We threw out names for months amongst the family, but Jamie came up with Pushcart – and knew it the moment he’d said it.

Jeff:  What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since you opened Pushcart?

Jamie:  I have 3 outlets now.  It’s really hard in NYC to “make it small” here.  You’re encouraged to go big because rents are too high.  So are wages and cost of goods.   Each week, whatever was challenging last week is now behind you.  I like facing the new challenges, but being “in food” in this city – it’s easy to get discouraged.  Something will always go wrong.  You need strength.  Look behind you periodically and realize where you are now.  

Kathryn:  And what’s the biggest secret for success you’d share?

Jamie:  If you’re the guy in charge, always let your employees know they can always get a hold of you.  It’s key for morale and good business culture.  For example, last night I got a call at 3 am from the guy making up the cream cheese packets for the bagels.  I’m always available via phone to answer questions.

Kathryn:  Can you talk about the phone apps you’ve implemented at Pushcart?  They’re technical – but they actual seem to foster community.

Jamie:  We utilize a lot of apps.   Our POS is “Lavu” which is a very versatile Ipad system that facilitates modifying menu items.  We allow customers to use “LevelUp” to pay for their purchases with a tap of the phone.  I was the first shop in NY to implement “Perka,” which works as a multi-coffee shop punchcard app.  The latest app is a tip system; customers dip their card in a “DipJar” cylinder; $1 is put via direct deposit on a debit card for the employee on duty for that shift, or pro-rates the dollar for every employee on the shift.   With these user-friendly trends, I think we might be getting rid of the cash register in a few years! 

Jeff:  Thank you. Great seeing you again. Make sure to let us know about your next location!

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