Interview with BIRD Bakery founder Elizabeth Chambers about expanding internationally, social media storytelling, and embracing hospitality in every moment.
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00:00 Welcome to Restaurant Influencers presented by Entrepreneur.
00:02 My name is Sean Walsh,
00:04 I'm founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media.
00:07 I wanna give a special shout out to Toast,
00:09 our primary technology partner,
00:11 the sponsor of this show for believing in storytelling,
00:14 for believing in the hospitality business.
00:16 They power not only the technology in our restaurants,
00:19 but so many of the guests that we have on this show.
00:21 In life, in the restaurant business,
00:24 and in the new creator economy,
00:26 we learn through lessons and stories.
00:28 We have a very special guest today.
00:30 She is a TV host and journalist.
00:32 She is the founder and CEO of Bird Bakery, four locations.
00:37 She's a host and judge of Food Network,
00:39 and she is a Today Show contributor.
00:41 We have none other than Elizabeth Chambers.
00:43 Elizabeth, welcome to the show.
00:45 - Oh my God, why does everyone do the dorky waving thing?
00:47 I'm like pretending like I'm in TV, but it's not.
00:50 - That's totally cool. - Hi guys.
00:51 - It's internet TV, right?
00:53 - It is, yes.
00:54 Thank you, Sean.
00:55 I appreciate it, I'm happy to be here.
00:57 - Yeah, we're grateful for Entrepreneur and Toast
00:59 for giving us the stage.
01:01 Since we launched the show,
01:02 we've reached over 22 million people all over the world.
01:05 And we believe deeply that the restaurant business,
01:10 the hospitality business,
01:11 everyone's in the hospitality business,
01:12 but we want to learn more about Bird Bakery,
01:15 wanna learn more about you.
01:17 And in order to do that,
01:19 I'd love for you to answer our favorite random question,
01:21 which is where in the world is your favorite stadium,
01:25 stage or venue?
01:27 - I love that, or all of the above.
01:29 My favorite stadium is Dodger Stadium,
01:31 LA Dodgers for sure.
01:34 Venue, no, venue Bird Bakery, does that count as a venue?
01:40 - That counts as a venue, absolutely as a venue.
01:42 - All my Bird Bakeries, all my locations,
01:45 those are my favorite venues,
01:46 but my favorite stadium is Dodger Stadium.
01:48 - Perfect, we're gonna-
01:49 - Yeah, we're gonna take that if I'm with it.
01:52 - We're taking that and we're going to Dodger Stadium.
01:54 - I love it.
01:54 - We're gonna talk to Toast,
01:56 they put on these regional events
01:59 for hospitality professionals called Spark, Spark events.
02:02 And this year they hosted one
02:03 at the London and West Hollywood.
02:06 And I actually was on stage
02:07 and I told everyone in the audience that I can't wait
02:10 for one day where this is such a big event
02:13 that we're gonna be in Dodger Stadium.
02:14 So this is a very fitting answer.
02:16 So we're going to Dodger Stadium,
02:18 we're gonna fill the entire stadium with people
02:21 that we say are playing the game within the game,
02:23 the people that actually really wanna level up
02:24 their storytelling, their hospitality
02:27 and making an impact in the community.
02:28 And I'm gonna put you on the pitcher's mound.
02:30 I'm gonna say- - I love that.
02:31 - Elizabeth Chambers, it's keynote time, it's TEDx time.
02:35 Please tell everyone here who you are and what you do
02:38 and how did Bird Bakery come to be?
02:40 - I'm gonna hold you to that
02:41 because I played softball for 13 years
02:43 and I was the pitcher. - Perfect.
02:44 - So I'll go on the mound,
02:45 but then also go catch for anyone else.
02:46 - You get first pitch too, perfect.
02:48 - Yes, yes, yes, please.
02:50 Yes, Elizabeth Chambers, nice to see you all.
02:53 Founder and CEO of Bird Bakery.
02:55 I founded my company almost 12 years ago
02:58 in San Antonio, Texas as an homage to my grandmother
03:01 and my mother with all of our family recipes.
03:05 My grandmother was English,
03:06 she was a British culinary entrepreneur.
03:09 My mom founded one of the very first health food stores
03:12 in San Antonio when she was just 26, just out of college.
03:16 And so I opened between my grandmother's bakery,
03:21 a restaurant basically, and my mom's.
03:23 So we have basically like trifecta
03:25 of female powerhouse entrepreneurs.
03:28 And I just felt so right, it's what I wanted to do.
03:31 My background is TV, but I always knew that I would do this.
03:34 And I thought we'd have one location,
03:37 it would just be my little first baby.
03:39 It was before I actually had real children.
03:41 And now we are at four locations
03:43 and growing in a way that I never thought possible,
03:48 but I always knew that we would be successful,
03:50 I just didn't know on what scale.
03:52 So here we are, I'm speaking to Sean
03:55 and in a very different place than we were
03:58 when we opened in 2012.
04:00 I feel like such a grandmother
04:02 when I'm constantly comparing our business practice
04:04 and our digital footprint and everything to when we opened.
04:08 I'm always like, well, in 2012, when we first opened,
04:12 if we had 10 interviews,
04:13 nine out of those 10 people would show up.
04:15 Now, 2023, when apparently no one can find jobs,
04:19 only one person shows up.
04:20 So I love looking at that history and the patterns
04:25 and where we are digitally now.
04:28 Our first location, I didn't even think about Instagram.
04:30 I didn't think about anything visual
04:32 other than the customers in-store experience when we opened.
04:36 All the other locations, we needed a digital wall,
04:38 we need an Instagram wall, we need to have the lighting.
04:41 So I'm really excited.
04:42 I'm looking forward to diving into this
04:44 because it's something that really keeps me up at night
04:47 in the best way possible,
04:49 but nobody ever wants to talk to me about it,
04:51 except for you, so I'm excited.
04:54 - We created a show because we know that,
04:56 at least I'm pretty convinced that I'm not crazy,
04:59 especially after going to
05:00 the National Restaurant Association show.
05:03 People are on the internet.
05:04 It doesn't matter what your hopes and dreams are.
05:06 That's why we started this show,
05:08 was to talk to the best restaurateurs on the planet
05:11 and the best storytellers on the planet
05:13 and realize this is really where entrepreneurs
05:16 are the original creators.
05:18 Business owners are the original creators.
05:20 And then the creator economy came when there was Web 2.0
05:24 and social media came about
05:26 and people started making businesses
05:28 because they were good at telling stories on Instagram
05:31 or telling stories on TikTok or YouTubers or podcasters.
05:34 And now we're at a very interesting place
05:37 where everyone's just trying to really figure it all out.
05:39 Can you bring me back?
05:41 When you were a little girl, did you dream of being on TV?
05:44 - Of course.
05:45 Now, when I was three, I said I was going to be Oprah.
05:47 So my mother is from a very small town in Mississippi
05:51 called Kosciuszko, Mississippi.
05:53 Try to spell that, I dare you.
05:55 I can't.
05:57 But my mom was from there and Oprah's from there.
06:00 And so my mom's family really knew Oprah's family growing up
06:03 and my mom's family had tree farms
06:06 and I just was always inspired by who she was
06:10 and how she told stories.
06:11 And for me, whether it's journalism
06:14 or whether it's being in the bakery
06:16 and serving guests cupcakes or lunch,
06:19 or now we're breakfast, lunch and dinner.
06:20 We are called Bird Bakery, but we do a full service menu.
06:23 It's about stories, right?
06:24 It's about talking and connecting with those guests
06:26 when they walk in the door, hearing how is your day?
06:29 Oh, it's this, it's that, we're going through this.
06:32 And then really just like experiencing
06:34 those joyful milestones with them,
06:35 whether it's baby showers and birthdays
06:38 and weddings and gender reveals.
06:40 So I find a very, very,
06:42 like very, like just such a connection between journalism,
06:47 storytelling, customer service, hospitality.
06:50 And you touched on that right when we opened
06:52 is we're all in hospitality, right?
06:54 And I tell my team that in every meeting, I said,
06:56 if you do not want to joyfully greet somebody
06:59 when they are in your presence, then do not be here.
07:01 I invite you to please walk out the door.
07:03 And you know, it may sound harsh,
07:05 but there is no reason for somebody
07:07 to have to force themselves to be joyful
07:10 when somebody walks through the door.
07:11 And so I think that that is true
07:13 because you have to have that urge to connect with a human.
07:15 You have to have that urge.
07:16 Listen, you don't have to like interview them.
07:18 I'm not saying that,
07:19 but that is what hospitality ultimately comes down to.
07:21 And there's a very, very, you know,
07:23 there's a huge correlation between storytelling
07:27 and between that welcoming hospitality
07:30 that you get in a restaurant or if any time.
07:32 So that's like, what's really important to me.
07:35 That's what's always driven me
07:36 along with my family history.
07:38 And that's what keeps us going every day.
07:41 We have 110 employees now.
07:43 We have four locations and you know,
07:46 it's just myself and my management team.
07:48 We don't have any investors.
07:50 We don't have a board.
07:52 And it's beautiful in the sense
07:54 that we don't have like a lot of red tape
07:55 for people to go through.
07:56 Like I am HR.
07:57 You're looking at it.
07:59 I am digital.
08:00 And it's wild.
08:02 You know, it's wild to kind of balance with everything.
08:05 But at the same time, this was my first baby.
08:09 12 years ago, like I said, I have two children now
08:11 and then four other bird babies.
08:13 But this was like what I put my heart and soul into.
08:17 And it was so meaningful because it was an homage
08:20 to my grandmother, who was my best friend
08:22 and my mother who's taught me everything I know
08:24 in the culinary space.
08:25 So yeah, it's just, it's so deep
08:28 and it's such a cross collaboration
08:33 as to everything else that I do.
08:34 And I can sense that you feel the same way
08:37 in terms of storytelling and just connecting with people
08:41 and finding out like what makes them tick.
08:43 - Huge news, Toast, our primary technology partner
08:45 at our barbecue restaurants in San Diego
08:48 and the primary technology partner of so many of the guests
08:51 that we have on this show have announced
08:54 they are expanding their business offerings with Google.
08:58 So now if you search on Google Maps
09:01 and you sign up for Toast Tables or Toast Waitlist,
09:05 you will have the opportunity
09:07 to improve the digital hospitality experience of the guest,
09:11 allow them to book through the maps
09:13 into the Toast reservation system.
09:16 One of the biggest difficulties that restaurant guests have
09:19 is when they search for your restaurant
09:21 and they want a table,
09:22 they do not have an easy solution to book a table
09:26 or to get on a waitlist.
09:27 This is huge news for the restaurant industry,
09:30 huge news for guests and huge news for you,
09:33 the restaurant owner.
09:34 Check out Toast Tables today
09:36 and find out the new integrated solution that they have.
09:40 This is something that we've wanted for a long time.
09:42 How do you integrate reservations,
09:44 waitlists into your point of sale?
09:46 Toast has done it, check it out.
09:48 My media mentor, David Meltzer,
09:50 he likes to talk about the stage theory
09:52 that Shakespeare, the world is your stage.
09:55 And for me in the hospitality business,
09:58 the, whether you own a coffee shop, a catering business,
10:02 a restaurant, a bakery, that is our stage.
10:04 That is our pillar,
10:07 that's what we put our roots in the ground
10:09 into the community and we welcome strangers.
10:11 That's what hospitality is, is welcoming strangers
10:13 and having those memorable moments,
10:15 turning a stranger into a friend.
10:18 For me, the reason why I'm so grateful
10:20 for this opportunity to have this show
10:22 is that restaurant owners, hospitality professionals,
10:26 were so good in real life.
10:28 In real life, if you talk to any hospitality professional
10:32 that has the hospitality DNA running through their blood,
10:35 they're just phenomenal at welcoming somebody to the table,
10:38 at making somebody feel at a tailgate, at an event,
10:41 please come in, be like you're part of the family already.
10:45 There's an element of that in media.
10:47 And I'm thinking, you know, I'm talking traditional media,
10:50 but now more importantly, omnichannel media,
10:53 which is internet media, of how do you connect
10:57 with somebody that you're not actually seeing
10:59 on the other side of the screen?
11:00 If you're able to help tell a story
11:03 and you're able to bring somebody into the village,
11:05 then maybe you can have a bigger business
11:08 than just that brick and mortar business.
11:10 That's really why we created this show.
11:12 Can you give me any stories
11:14 of when you start first being on camera,
11:17 where you decided like,
11:18 this is kind of where you found your voice?
11:20 - No, for sure.
11:22 So I studied journalism at University of Texas.
11:25 My goal was always to be on channel one.
11:26 I loved Anderson Cooper and Lisa Ling.
11:30 And I loved the way that that journalism
11:32 was the first journalism I really saw in my classroom.
11:34 So I actually graduated a semester early
11:37 to be on channel one and it became Current TV,
11:40 which was Al Gore's network and Joel Hyatt.
11:43 And I did really cool stories.
11:46 It wasn't international channel,
11:48 but we were really doing like viewer created content
11:51 before YouTube existed.
11:52 So timing wasn't right, but the content was.
11:56 - User generated content, I love it.
11:58 - We called it VCC, viewer created content.
12:00 Like it was great.
12:01 And then we also did really intense stories.
12:04 Like went to Mexico and cross-border with like immigrants
12:07 and kind of like, you know,
12:09 all of those experience that were very hard news
12:11 but in a very rogue way without having, again,
12:15 without having a huge network behind us
12:17 or a lot of red tape and a lot of,
12:20 I mean, it was sign a camera out,
12:22 take two producers and you're on your way,
12:24 which was the coolest.
12:25 Like I had an opportunity out of college
12:27 to go do weather in Houston for an ABC affiliate
12:30 or go to Current and channel one.
12:32 And, you know, that's what I always wanted to do.
12:34 So I would say those stories of speaking to people
12:39 and understanding someone's plight
12:41 that's very different than yours for me is what drives me.
12:45 And I, like my biggest fear is being in a bubble, right?
12:48 Like if I ever am in my bubble, kill me,
12:51 like send me out faster.
12:52 I don't want to be stuck in any bubble
12:54 and it's really easy for us all to get in those patterns
12:57 and those bubbles.
12:57 So that's really what was driving me for so long.
13:03 And then I think to your point about, you know,
13:06 restaurants and hospitality is what I love, love, love.
13:10 And I always tell my team this is I'm like a very,
13:12 I'm very much a person of faith.
13:13 I believe everything happens for a reason.
13:15 And I say every single person who walks through that door
13:17 is meant to walk into your life.
13:20 So are you going to receive that
13:21 or are you going to ignore it?
13:24 And that's your choice.
13:25 And if you think if you're in New York,
13:29 you're background and you're going right instead of left
13:31 and you run into somebody,
13:33 let me, I don't think that's an accident,
13:34 whether you believe in God or the universe
13:36 or whatever you believe in, I don't think it's an accident.
13:38 And I always tell them if you are behind the counter
13:41 working at a restaurant or you're serving somebody
13:44 table-sided barbie, whatever it is,
13:46 whoever walks to that door,
13:47 whoever's at your table is meant to be there.
13:49 So are you going to absorb it and really connect
13:53 and see why that, what that reason is,
13:55 or are you going to ignore it?
13:57 And I think that that's like how you go through life,
13:59 right? Life is super short.
14:01 For me, I want to absorb every single moment,
14:03 every single interaction, every single happenstance.
14:07 And that's the beauty of not only interviewing somebody
14:12 who's crossing the border or interviewing somebody
14:15 who happens to come into the studio,
14:16 but it's really served on a platter, no pun intended.
14:20 But when somebody comes into your restaurant
14:22 or when someone comes into your space,
14:25 it's like every romantic comedy plus a lot more work,
14:29 but it's just there, it's meant to be.
14:33 And I think we're all doing ourselves a disservice
14:36 if we don't absorb and connect and honor that moment
14:41 and see what that moment might be.
14:44 Obviously when we're super busy,
14:46 I don't expect everyone to have like a 30 minute conversation
14:48 with someone, but whatever your beliefs are,
14:51 I think it's really pretty magical
14:54 that every single person who's in that space
14:57 is meant to be there because you were there
14:59 during those hours.
15:00 And that's why I love, I love, love, love
15:03 working at my locations and it makes me so happy.
15:06 I wish I could clone myself, but it's like, you know,
15:10 just that daily affirmation and connection
15:15 that is so special to me that you don't get anywhere else.
15:19 Yes, you get it if it's not a brick and mortar,
15:21 like yes, you get it in interviews,
15:23 but if you're in a brick and mortar space,
15:25 when people are coming to you,
15:27 maybe they're coming home from school to take their kids
15:30 and then they just like whip in, there's a reason,
15:33 you know, it's destiny.
15:35 - For sure.
15:35 - And so I feel really passionately about that.
15:38 And I think that the same thing applies
15:40 with interviewing and with journalism.
15:44 - When you opened up your first international location,
15:48 can you bring me to the event, to a story that happened?
15:53 - Yes, of course.
15:55 We've always been visiting the Cayman Islands.
15:59 That's where I am now,
16:00 you can see some palm trees in the background.
16:02 We had always visited the Cayman Islands for Christmas
16:04 and for spring break.
16:06 And it's always been just a place where my family
16:07 has spent time.
16:09 Right in the beginning of COVID,
16:11 I was on a little trip with my kids.
16:14 COVID hit, we were advised not to go back to LA
16:16 and we were meant to be in the Cayman in April.
16:18 So we moved here.
16:20 - Wow.
16:21 - They basically shut down the island,
16:22 which was really great at the time
16:24 because there was no online schooling.
16:27 The kids went to school here.
16:31 There were no masks at the time.
16:33 I went through a super public divorce.
16:35 There's no paparazzi on the island.
16:37 So it really ended up being a beautiful sanctuary
16:41 and a place of protection,
16:43 a little cocoon for my children and myself
16:46 and for our whole family.
16:48 And the island gave so much to us.
16:50 It was wild.
16:52 My daughter started horseback riding,
16:53 all of a sudden I had people ringing my doorbell
16:55 with chaps and, you know, 'cause it's really difficult.
16:58 You can't like order Amazon here.
16:59 So they're like, "Here's some chaps,
17:01 "here's some riding boots."
17:02 And people were so kind and so lovely.
17:03 There's an expression here called Cayman kind.
17:06 And we really, really saw that.
17:08 And I wanted to give back as much as I could.
17:10 I did a little pop-up for the bakery here
17:13 to help with the local community when there was no tourism.
17:16 I did a lot of charity.
17:18 I raised $125,000 with a couple of my friends
17:21 for this food pantry here.
17:23 You know, when somebody does something nice
17:25 and when a place welcomes you in a way
17:27 that you've never been welcomed before,
17:28 because I've never been displaced from my country,
17:31 you know, you're in a different country,
17:33 you don't know anyone,
17:34 you wanna give back and you wanna say thank you
17:36 and you show gratitude.
17:37 So I've always wanted to open a bakery here.
17:40 We've been here now three years.
17:42 And I thought people love the cupcakes.
17:45 And because it's a small island in the middle of the sea,
17:48 as an island is, most of the cupcakes that people enjoy
17:52 are from the grocery store.
17:53 And they're frozen or it's, you know, pre-made mixes.
17:57 And so when I did our pop-ups, people could not believe it.
18:01 They're like, "Oh my gosh."
18:02 Like brought to tears.
18:03 This is bad, this tastes like my grandmother's cupcake.
18:06 And so we ended up doing,
18:10 I'm doing a Hulu show now
18:11 about opening the restaurant here.
18:14 - Really? - Yeah.
18:14 - Amazing.
18:15 When is that gonna be live?
18:18 - It'll be in the fall.
18:19 Yeah, it'll be in the fall. - The fall, very cool.
18:21 - We're doing our, we're in our fourth month.
18:23 We have a few more days.
18:25 But it's fun because, you know, there's so much red tape.
18:29 Like I said, I'm not Comanian.
18:31 You have to find a Comanian partner.
18:33 You have to do a full build out.
18:34 And for me, I'm just like,
18:35 I just wanna bring homemade from scratch desserts
18:39 to this place that has done so much for me.
18:41 Like it shouldn't be that complicated,
18:42 but you know, as anything is, it really is.
18:45 And I have an amazing partner.
18:47 And so I was really stressed out to answer your question
18:51 about like, what does this look like?
18:52 I was really stressed out 'cause I wanted to have,
18:54 we have 33 flavors in total of cupcakes.
18:56 We have seven cookies, we have, you know, nine sandwiches.
19:00 And I was like, I wanted to do a bridge menu,
19:02 but also knew that it had to be something
19:05 that was very doable because a lot like golden raisins,
19:08 who knew, not super available in the Cayman Islands.
19:10 So there are certain items that we couldn't get
19:14 and certain items that were legitimately 12 times the price.
19:18 But, you know, with everything that we've done,
19:20 I've never wanted to compromise our quality.
19:21 I never wanted to change the recipes.
19:23 So I basically did like a highlight reel of our menu.
19:27 And we, but I couldn't do all at the same time
19:31 because we were missing a piece for our bread maker.
19:33 And it was stuck in customs.
19:35 And I was so nervous about having everything perfect
19:37 on our opening day.
19:38 And it was just such a life lesson.
19:40 People are just so grateful for anything.
19:42 We started with like five cupcakes, three cookies.
19:45 We still don't have sandwiches.
19:46 We opened two and a half weeks ago.
19:48 The piece is still in customs.
19:49 And people are just like every day,
19:50 hi, are the sandwiches here?
19:52 And, you know, people are just grateful.
19:54 And I think that, I don't know if COVID taught us that.
19:57 I don't know.
19:59 I just don't think it's shift
20:00 because I do feel like if I'd opened four years ago,
20:02 there wherever I'm opening, right?
20:04 There are very high expectations
20:05 and you have to come out all at once.
20:07 But again, it's like how you frame things
20:09 and how you communicate and store online
20:12 and marrying those two forms of communication are key.
20:17 But people are just so grateful.
20:19 I mean, people have literally been brought to tears
20:21 because they're so happy to have these from scratch recipes.
20:24 And I never compromised quality of the Flugra butter,
20:28 just peanut butter for my cookies
20:30 because that's what my mom always used
20:31 when we were growing up.
20:32 I like, I do not mess around with changing my ingredients.
20:36 Quaker oats for my oatmeal cookies.
20:37 Like I'm not taking your generic oats.
20:39 And it's crazy.
20:42 We're here, you know, 3000 miles from our original location
20:45 and everything tastes exactly the same.
20:47 We have Texans here every day.
20:49 I met this beautiful family from Dallas yesterday
20:51 and they're like, it all tastes the same.
20:53 It's bringing us home.
20:54 So it's wild.
20:57 It's wild to have our first international location
21:00 so far away from original
21:02 and have it all feel the exact same.
21:05 Like it doesn't have to be expansive
21:07 but it does have to be right
21:09 in terms of the things that we are doing.
21:11 - Yeah, I think it's super interesting for me
21:14 'cause we started a barbecue restaurant in 2008
21:19 at the height of the economic recession
21:20 in a difficult location in San Diego
21:23 and basically got ignored by all the local media.
21:26 So we ended up creating our own media company.
21:30 So when we talk to restaurant owners
21:32 usually that's the story that most people have yet.
21:35 The reason we have this show
21:37 is back to what I was talking about
21:38 which was the creator economy of people
21:40 like my friend, Sam, the cooking guy
21:42 who has 3 million YouTube subscribers
21:45 because he's incredible at content.
21:47 He was phenomenal on TV.
21:48 Now he does content, he does cookbooks
21:51 but he's also in restaurants.
21:53 So for him, I'm fascinated
21:55 when somebody has a strong following
21:58 such as yourself on Instagram and all the platforms
22:01 and then you have a brand that is also strong
22:04 on all the platforms like Bird Bakery.
22:07 How do you judge content?
22:09 How do you judge where am I gonna post?
22:11 What am I gonna post?
22:12 How am I gonna post?
22:14 - That's a really good question.
22:14 And I am probably gonna give you an answer
22:17 that you don't love
22:17 because I used to be obsessed with judging the content.
22:21 There was a time in my life
22:22 when I was checking it nonstop
22:26 and seeing how many followers and engagement
22:28 and all those things.
22:30 And then I just went to a place of like,
22:32 it reminded me when everybody,
22:34 like people who read books
22:36 about how to be the most interesting person in the room
22:38 and they're just not the most interesting person
22:41 in the room.
22:42 - Yeah, sure.
22:43 - And then they're trying to do weird, kitschy things.
22:46 They're like, "Oh my God,
22:47 "you've read too many self-help books."
22:48 - Trying to hack the algorithm.
22:50 - Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
22:51 And then I just,
22:52 I felt like there was this beauty and authenticity
22:55 of stepping back a little bit,
22:56 not necessarily because it was a decision
23:00 that I felt like I wanted to make,
23:02 but just because of what was happening in my personal life
23:04 and because I do, obviously do my own social
23:07 and I do the bird social.
23:09 And for me, I just needed to take a step back
23:13 authentically for myself.
23:14 And I could have brought other people on,
23:16 I could have had other people do content.
23:19 And listen, did we lose followers?
23:22 Personally, for sure.
23:24 But I also feel like I didn't wanna force something
23:26 that wasn't authentic to where I was
23:28 at that point in my life.
23:30 And my bakery is where,
23:32 it reflects where I am at my point in my life.
23:34 And maybe in five years, I will bring on a team
23:38 and have investors and somebody else who's running it,
23:41 who can do something independent
23:43 of whether I'm having a personal crisis or not.
23:46 But right now, bird is me, I am bird.
23:49 And if I need to go into a little moment of hibernation
23:53 with my children for five days,
23:55 then we won't be posting content.
23:57 So I don't think that's probably the answer that you want,
24:02 but I also think we have to go back to authenticity,
24:05 whatever it is, and true followers and true community,
24:10 I think feel the same way.
24:14 People don't always wanna, nobody wants to,
24:18 I still have the most beautiful,
24:20 precious Mother's Day photos that I,
24:23 what are we now, 10 days from Mother's Day?
24:25 And I'm like, I will post those in my own time.
24:27 And I think that there's something to be said
24:29 for not always being on this crazy deadline.
24:32 I didn't wanna wake up on Mother's Day
24:34 and ignore my kids while I'm trying to get a photo
24:37 and then get the right filter on it.
24:40 And then that's not Mother's Day.
24:42 And for me, Mother's Day was leaving my phone at home
24:46 and going to the beach with them and being super present.
24:48 And so I think it's honoring where we are in our space
24:51 and then also communicating that to our communities as well
24:55 because people do feel the same.
24:57 And I think there has to be a little bit of correction
25:00 on this intensity to always be posting content.
25:04 But yeah, I don't think that that's probably the answer
25:08 that you wanted, and I hope that-
25:10 - That's 100, the truth vibrates the fastest.
25:13 - Yeah.
25:14 - And as much as I talk about content and publishing
25:17 and telling your story to business owners,
25:20 sometimes it's important to not.
25:24 Sometimes it's important to be in airplane mode.
25:26 As somebody that literally spent,
25:30 I have an inherent belief in the internet
25:32 because it kept our business alive.
25:34 It launched this show,
25:35 it allowed us to do all the things that we do.
25:37 Sometimes it's okay to not, to not post.
25:40 And I think that is a strong message.
25:42 And I think it's a very important message.
25:45 When you look at your brand today in 2023,
25:50 what kind of hopes do you have for it into the future?
25:54 - I have so many hopes for our brand.
25:57 I hope that we remain authentically who we are
26:01 in terms of, like I said, our ingredients, our story,
26:05 our mantra, our internal communications
26:09 and our internal operations.
26:11 And then I would really love just to bring Bird
26:15 to as many people as possible.
26:16 Whether that's our granola on the shelves of Whole Foods
26:19 or whatever, like really figuring out our e-commerce
26:26 in a more strategic way and figuring out our shipping.
26:30 I always say whenever it's Christmas or my birthday,
26:33 I'm like, what do you want?
26:34 I'm like, I would like a How It's Made factory.
26:37 I have 110 people creating our product from scratch,
26:40 which is so beautiful, which is why it is the way it is.
26:43 And it's very rare and unique.
26:44 I mean, we do not cut any corners
26:47 despite how many food suppliers are always trying
26:49 to get me to save money with this product
26:51 or this ingredient, but I love what we're doing
26:54 and it's so rare, but like our granola could probably
26:56 be made in a co-packing facility.
26:58 So scaling e-commerce, bringing on a larger team.
27:04 Like I said, we are doing things,
27:06 it's a mom and mom company that's been run
27:08 the same way for 12 years.
27:10 I've done everything I can.
27:12 I really do feel like I'm doing the best I can do every day
27:15 and I'm doing all that I can every day,
27:17 but there are people who are more qualified than I am.
27:19 And as long as they have the heart for the company
27:23 and care about my baby, like I would care about it,
27:26 then that will be the right fit.
27:29 I've been taking meetings and entertaining
27:30 those thoughts for years and I haven't met that person yet,
27:35 so, or that company yet.
27:37 So I'm very much open to it.
27:39 I'm really looking forward to this Hulu show
27:41 in terms of a global platform for the brand
27:45 and for the company and for people to really see
27:48 who we are because we have a huge following
27:50 in Texas and Colorado.
27:52 But to really put this out there,
27:56 it's gonna be interesting and I'm excited,
27:58 but it's also something I hold so close to my heart
28:03 and I will never compromise if it doesn't feel right.
28:07 And no amount of money in the world is worth giving away.
28:11 People are like, "Divorce yourself from the emotion.
28:14 Divorce yourself from the emotion."
28:16 I cannot tell you how many times I've heard that
28:18 from other entrepreneurs and from mentors
28:20 whom I really, really respect.
28:22 You can't tell someone to divorce yourself from the emotion.
28:25 It was my greatest joy to create this company
28:28 other than raising my children.
28:31 And so while that is probably smart financially
28:36 and doable for some people,
28:39 it's just not something that resonates with me
28:42 at this juncture of my life.
28:43 Like Bird will always be my baby
28:45 and until I find somebody that I can co-parent with,
28:48 then that will remain the same.
28:52 - As someone, we have so many amazing fathers and mothers
28:57 that listen to the show that are in hospitality.
29:00 And one of the discussions we like to talk about
29:02 is because we're in hospitality,
29:05 we spend all of our time taking care of others.
29:08 We take care of our guests, we take care of our village,
29:10 we take care of our team.
29:11 Very rarely do we take care of ourselves.
29:13 And for me, watching, having the opportunity
29:17 to have a son and a daughter growing up
29:19 and it's their restaurant.
29:22 They're like, "We love Cali BBQ, Daddy.
29:24 When are we going to the restaurant?"
29:25 And as someone that grew up in the restaurant business,
29:28 I too, I was at a point when I was a teenager
29:30 that I didn't love the restaurant business.
29:32 It took me later on in life.
29:34 You as a mother, how do you balance
29:37 between letting your kids know
29:39 this is the bakery business,
29:40 that we're in the hospitality business
29:42 versus we're going to let them do what they do?
29:47 - No, I think you hit the nail on the head.
29:48 They take so much pride.
29:50 They see what I'm doing every day.
29:52 And listen, I could be a lawyer
29:53 who's in the office every day
29:55 and they don't know what I'm doing.
29:56 I could be gone for 11 hours a day in finance.
30:01 They hear my conversations, they see my meetings,
30:05 they know our whole team,
30:06 they come to our in-person meetings.
30:09 They wanna say hi when I'm doing our manager Zoom.
30:14 They know my team.
30:15 And I think that's really beautiful.
30:17 And on a much lighter note,
30:19 they loved physically being in the space.
30:21 I mean, it's basically a birthday party
30:23 for them every day, right?
30:23 They have cake, they have cookies
30:25 and they have their friends.
30:26 And then they're like,
30:28 Ford is like his power move.
30:30 He has these little girlfriends in Dallas.
30:32 He's like, "Let me show you where the graveyard is.
30:34 Like all the broken cookies."
30:35 I'm not sure that's gonna get them there.
30:37 And he comes and shows them like all the decorated,
30:39 like undecorated cookies,
30:40 like takes all the girls in the kitchen.
30:42 And then Harper loves to have her friends in the kitchen too
30:45 and show them all around.
30:46 And that pride that they take knowing
30:49 that they see me every day create and sustain,
30:52 this is, it's immeasurable.
30:55 It's the greatest gift for me.
30:56 And it gives them a sense of understanding,
30:58 hard work and purpose.
31:00 And like, I couldn't ask for anything more.
31:03 And I feel grateful to be in a position
31:06 that I do have the privilege of working from my phone.
31:09 Like both of my kids have been sick the last three days
31:12 and they are the kind of kids,
31:13 like they do not want you away from their side.
31:17 Like, "Mama, mama, mama."
31:18 And, you know, but I'm doing it off my phone
31:20 and I don't take that for granted.
31:22 I know that that is a privilege.
31:23 And I also know that they understand what I'm doing
31:26 and they have a context for that.
31:28 Like they know who I'm speaking to.
31:30 They know when I'm doing my annoying voice texts
31:32 over their movie that they're watching
31:34 when they have like 103 degree fever.
31:35 Like it works.
31:36 It works in a way that gives them
31:40 like a visual sense of what's happening virtually
31:46 and also physically.
31:48 And I love that.
31:49 Yeah.
31:50 - So every single Wednesday and Friday
31:52 on the social audio app Clubhouse,
31:53 if you guys are listening to the show,
31:55 we created a room called Digital Hospitality for you,
31:58 the listener, the viewer to come on stage,
32:01 raise your hand, tell us about your restaurant.
32:03 Tell us about if you're in sales, if you're in marketing,
32:05 if you're a content creator.
32:08 This is a place that we build community.
32:10 So this is an open invite every Wednesday,
32:12 every Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
32:14 We also do a social shout out.
32:16 So this week social shout out is going to Aaron Roberts
32:19 of Rising Tides Creative.
32:21 So this is my media team.
32:23 I just put them through, I guess,
32:25 the content ringer
32:27 at the National Restaurant Association show.
32:29 Aaron, his wife, Michonne and Tony,
32:33 the cameraman, Tony Angotto.
32:35 I can't thank them enough for what they did from going,
32:39 I mean, we probably hit 70 different brands,
32:42 hospitality partners, content partners, influencers,
32:45 people that have been on this show.
32:47 Chicago was an absolute blast,
32:49 but this is a shout out to Rising Tides Creative.
32:51 Give them a follow.
32:53 Elizabeth, who on your team,
32:55 this is going on entrepreneur.com.
32:57 I know everyone always wants to say the whole team,
32:59 but I need you to single out one individual,
33:02 somebody that's gone above and beyond
33:04 for your brand, for Bird Bakery.
33:07 - No, Christina Gandy.
33:09 She is extraordinary.
33:10 She's a twin sister, four girls in their family.
33:13 They've all worked at my company at some point.
33:15 Her sister, Melissa, was my manager before she was.
33:18 The Gandy sisters are immeasurable.
33:23 Christina, I couldn't do without her.
33:25 If she's ever like, "Hi, we need to talk right away."
33:28 I'm like, "What's going on?"
33:29 I'm always afraid she's gonna leave me
33:30 at every moment of my life.
33:31 No, she is as good as they come,
33:35 and their parents raised them all right,
33:37 because those girls have played a huge part
33:42 in growing our company.
33:43 - That's awesome.
33:44 So if you guys wanna interact with me,
33:46 it's @SeanPWalchef, S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F,
33:51 and that's on all the socials.
33:53 I look forward to learning about you, following you.
33:56 We believe a rising tide lifts all ships.
33:58 And if you're listening to this, watching this,
34:00 then you're part of our community,
34:02 and we can't wait to meet you in real life
34:04 and also see what you build.
34:07 Elizabeth, what's the best way for people
34:09 to interact with you and Bird Bakery?
34:11 We'll put links in the show notes.
34:14 Check out the article that accompanies the interview
34:17 on entrepreneur.com.
34:18 Where's the best way, place for people to interact?
34:20 - Thank you.
34:21 Elizabeth Chambers is my Instagram.
34:23 Bird Bakery is our Instagram.
34:25 I'm great on DM.
34:26 Like slide into my DM.
34:28 - There you go.
34:29 - Let's talk restaurant.
34:30 - There you go.
34:31 - Let's talk slower.
34:32 Yeah, no, honestly, I love the community.
34:34 I love everybody sort of sharing their own experiences.
34:38 And exactly as you said, we're all better together.
34:42 - And any parting words of wisdom
34:44 for the entrepreneur, would-be entrepreneur out there
34:47 that's just waiting?
34:50 - On the edge of the cliff.
34:52 - The only way-
34:53 - Knowing that there's something bigger calling them.
34:55 - Yes, the only way to fail is by not trying.
34:58 But that's the, it's so simple.
35:00 It's obviously the Wayne Grodzki.
35:01 You miss a hundred percent of the shots.
35:02 You don't take it.
35:03 So cliche, but I tell my kids this every day.
35:06 You, the only way that you can ensure
35:08 that you're going to fail is by giving up now.
35:10 And don't give up.
35:13 You will always find a way.
35:14 No, it's just the jumping off point
35:16 and you will find your guest.
35:19 All of those things that are so cliche, hold true.
35:23 And they are saying to reason
35:25 and just don't question yourself.
35:27 I feel like, you know, self-doubt is just,
35:31 it's just the nail in the coffin.
35:32 So talk yourself up, positive self-talk and push forward.
35:37 - That's awesome.
35:38 Yeah, I teach my kid the Batman saying,
35:40 and that's why do we fall?
35:42 So we can learn how to get back up.
35:44 So you gotta have the courage.
35:45 You gotta have the courage to fall.
35:47 Thank you guys for listening to the show.
35:48 Elizabeth, thank you for coming on the show.
35:51 Bird Bakery, please check them out
35:53 and we will follow up with you guys next week.
35:56 Thank you for listening to Restaurant Influencers.
35:58 The best way that you can help us with the show
36:01 is to subscribe and write a review.
36:04 We love the opportunity to connect with you
36:06 no matter where you are on the globe,
36:08 no matter what restaurant you are running.
36:10 Please send us a DM on social @SeanPWalcheff.
36:15 If you are interested in toast,
36:17 if you wanna improve your digital hospitality,
36:19 please send me a DM.
36:20 I will get you in touch with a local toast representative.
36:24 We appreciate you listening to the show.
36:26 The best way that you can help the show
36:28 is share it with a friend
36:29 and we will catch you all next week
36:31 or we will see you on one of the digital playgrounds
36:34 that we call social media.