We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anthony Leberto. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anthony below.

Hi Anthony, thanks for joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I own and operate a medium-sized bakery/cafe in Upstate, NY. We produce hand crafted pastries, cakes, cookies, artisanal jams/jellies, as well as serve breakfast and lunch. Everything we serve, we make in house from scratch, by hand.

With more than 35 years experience in the culinary industry, and time spent as a writer, editor and food stylist, I know this venture is a culmination of all this experience, and candidly, its the hardest thing I’ve ever done so far.

Prior to opening Brimstone Bakery, I worked many culinary jobs, mostly for large, well-oiled, high-end restaurants in San Francisco and New York. From 2006 to 2020, I was a private chef in the greater New York City area.

During that time, I often felt creatively constrained and frustrated by my clien’ts imposed limitations. Now that I’m the boss, overseeing a staff of 10, I often fantasize about working for someone else.

Here’s my conclusion: Once you’re a cucumber, you can NEVER BE A PICKLE again!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After I graduated from what many call a very prestigious East Coast journalism school in the late 1980s I moved to San Francisco where I worked as a fledgling writer and editor.

While there, I was captivated by the burgeoning farm to table culinary scene led by such luminaries as Alice Waters, Wulfgang Puck and Jeremiah Tower. Much to the chagrin of my family, I soon thereafter quit my newspaper job and began my long career as chef & baker.

After decades working in large-scale, high end restaurants in New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas, I embarked on a career as a food stylist, contributing work to serval major book publishers and magazines, including Food & Wine, Oprah & Martha Stewart Living.

After years of independent catering, in 2006 I began work as private chef in the greater New York City and the Hamptons. It was during this period I met my now-husband, settle down together and married. It was also during this time I battled and overcame testicular cancer.

In 2018–with a new perspective on life–my husband and I bought an 1850’s farmhouse and moved from NYC to the small upstate village of Sharon Springs.

Shortly after, I opened Brimstone Bakery, an artisanal bakery/cafe offering an array of traditional American and European pastries, including breakfast and lunch service.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the greatest lessons I had to unlearn was my sigleness in purpose. I always thought of myself as a creative person, forever avoiding business and financial issues.

When I first opened Brimstone Bakery, my then business partner, was to be the business leader, and I the creative force. As it turned out, my partner, was not a business leader, and we soon parted ways, When I look over the company, I had to learned to be a leader in ALL aspects of the business.

It’s a challenge, but everyday I try not live in financial vagueness.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

When I first conceptualized Brimstone Bakery, I met a woman who was selling her small artisenal jam and jelly making business for $30,000. I used my existing LLC and bought her business, expanding my creative footprint to include small batch production to private label and whole sale a roster of preserves.

The process proved challenging because the seller had an existing roster of clients, and the value of the business was based on this level of business.

We finally came the an agreement and the sale of the business was completed in September of 2018, and hence Brimstone Bakery was born!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brimstonebake.com
• Instagram: @brimstonebakery
• Facebook: @brimstonebakery
• Yelp: Brimstone Bakery

Image Credits
Brimstone Bakery