We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bianca Fernandez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bianca below.
Alright, Bianca thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
When I was a sophomore in high school, I kept seeing pictures of macarons floating around on Instagram. I never ate one before, but really wanted to try one since they looked SO delicious. I didn’t know where to buy them either, so I decided I would make them from scratch. So, I went on Google and tried the first recipe that popped up.
What I didn’t know at that time was that macarons are one of the finickiest cookies to make! People usually make them with an electric/stand mixer, piping bags, and other fancy-ish equipment. And there I was at 15, using old Tupperware as mixing bowls, a hand whisk, and an overflowing Ziploc bag trying to pipe my far too runny macaron batter. As expected, the macarons came out super flat, cracked, and under baked. I was pretty surprised at how bad they came out, so I was determined to try the recipe again until I made the perfect batch.
Baking macarons introduced me to the trials and errors of baking, what food science is, and a bunch of baking techniques I had never heard of. I loved learning different techniques, such as trying to make meringue the Italian vs French vs Swiss methods. I didn’t realize how big the world of baking was and how fun it could be.
Fast forward to one year later, I was making macarons almost every day after high school. I had SO many macarons to give away because I was developing my own recipes nonstop. I was making flavors inspired by my own culture, such as ube, durian, and pandan. I barely saw these recipes online, so I had a LOT of fun doing trial and error for my own recipe development. But, these recipes were just for myself, and something I would showcase on my old—now deleted—Instagram, @macaronsbybianca through iPhone photography.
Despite the countless hours poured into Macarons by Bianca, I still only considered it as a hobby. So I put baking on pause when I left for SUNY Oswego to study biology and chemistry. After graduating college, I moved to Boston, MA in 2019 by myself, just for work. I had no friends or any more homework, so I went back to my main hobby: baking. I started branching out by making sourdoughs + other breads, cupcakes, cakes, croissants, cookies, donuts, and more. Baking consumed my thoughts before work, during work, and after work. It felt like I was handling two full-time jobs, but felt way more passionate towards the second one.
Since baking was always on my mind, I thought about one of my dreams, which was to start my own food blog. I always thought it would be cool to share my recipes with people from around the world, since I loved following other bloggers myself. So after doing a bunch of research, I made the decision to start a food blog through WordPress.
I asked my friends on Instagram what I should call my blog, and one person said “Bites by Bianca”. And in 2020, Bites by Bianca became a new part of me. It started solely as a hobby, but grew into something more. I was receiving attention from brands and followers from around the world. It brought me into the creator space of social media, which opened so many new doors for me. Bites by Bianca didn’t become full-time work for me until 2023, and I’m so grateful for where I am today.
Bianca, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Bianca Fernandez, a first-generation Filipina American currently living on Long island, NY!
People are pretty surprised when I tell them my background in baking. It was a hobby of mine back in high school, but I put it aside when I attended SUNY Oswego to study Biology and Chemistry. After college, I moved to Boston, MA to work in cell biology research and did that for about 3 years.
Since I no longer had homework to do, I spent my time outside of work in the kitchen. I developed my own recipes, baked a bunch of new things I never tried before, and spent a LOT of time consuming food media. I noticed the lack of Filipino + Asian desert recipes online and wanted to be part of the change.
So when I started my food blog, I focused my creations to have some sort of Asian aspect to it, whether it was flavor or design. I put up recipes like chunky ube cookies, matcha frog cookies, and cute bear-shaped leche flan. I loved sharing a part of my culture with the world and seeing other people recreate them at home.
As a blogger, I develop recipes for my own website and for other brands. I’ve worked with companies like Hamilton Beach, Nutella, and Walmart to promote their products. I’ve even worked with Paramount+ to promote their movie, Love in Taipei, by making macarons that represented the food in the film! And through my platform, I’ve been able to raise thousands of dollars for non-profits, such as St. Jude, Pakainin ang buong Barangay (Feed a Whole Village), and more. I have been so grateful for these opportunities and look forward to where my blogging career takes me!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I was working in Boston, MA as a cellular biology researcher, I was applying for medical school. I applied for two different cycles and didn’t get accepted into any schools. This was a very difficult time in my life because of the time and money I had spent preparing for medical school. It felt like the accomplishments, grades, extra curricular activities, and jobs over the past 6 years were not good enough for me to get into a program, and I was devastated.
After two application cycles, I was so beaten down and knew that I didn’t want to apply for a third time. I also knew that I didn’t want to continue working in research or pursue a PhD. What I did know, is that I loved baking and it had remained a constant passion in my life. But, I wasn’t even sure if I was cut out to pursue this field. I didn’t go to pastry school, I never worked a food service job… I just baked from my own kitchen for fun. I didn’t even know if I wanted my own bakery because I had NO idea what it would be like behind the scenes.
After a few months of thinking about it, I decided to pick up a weekend part-time job as a pastry cook in a cafe/restaurant, while also still doing research full-time. I thought this would give me the answers to all the questions I had. I had nothing to lose, plus it would be nice to get income on the side. In the beginning, working in a commercial kitchen was definitely intimidating and there was a lot to learn. But, through it all, I had such a fun time and it soon became like second nature to me. After about half a year, I decided to make the switch from full-time research to full-time baking.
Over the course of one year, I worked at various bakeries. I quickly realized that high-volume baking and high-paced environments were not for me. I learned the difficulties, long endless nights, and struggles of owning one’s own bakery. Even though working as a baker was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had, I could not see myself doing it long-term. At the end of 2022, I decided that being a pastry cook was not my path, and wasn’t sure where to turn.
In 2023, I took a huge risk and pursued my blog full-time. It was a big gamble because in 2022, I barely had sponsorships and didn’t make profit from the work I had done. However, I had the luxury of moving back home with my family and I put my all into Bites by Bianca. I am extremely grateful for this privilege and know that if I didn’t have this opportunity, Bites by Bianca would have taken much longer.
And to be honest, the first few months felt like a horrible decision. I wasn’t getting brand deals and I felt like an imposter playing pretend. However, as time passed, some of my work went viral and I began receiving attention from larger companies, like Walmart, Nutella, Pringles, and more. This opened doors for me and gave me the chance to continue blogging full-time.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
The most effective strategy has been listening to my audience! I didn’t gain traction in my following until Spring of 2022. I posted a picture of pig cookies (https://www.instagram.com/p/CYrACQqLB93/?img_index=1), and that was my first post to reach over 1K likes. I realized that people liked really cute, simple recipes, and went all in on that subject. Now, most of my recipes have that cute element, while also being super easy! Because I listened to my audience, I gained over 88K followers across platforms in 1.5 years.
Contact Info:
- Website: bitesbybianca.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/bitesbybianca
- Facebook: facebook.com/bitesbybianca
- Other: tiktok.com/@bitesbybianca
Image Credits
Image credits: Bianca Fernandez @bitesbybianca