We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Romina Rasmussen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Romina, thanks for joining us today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?

I definitely take vacations. traveling is what inspires me most often.

It’s so important to recharge so that you can do your best when you’re back at work. No one can run on empty for too long. I take them two different ways and for one I keep my shop opening and running and the other we close down for 2-3 weeks every summer which encourages everyone to recharge.

For the times I keep the shop going, there are processes in place so that things can keep going without my presence. I’m lucky that several of my employees have been with me for years, so they know what to do. Having documented standard operating procedures make things run more smoothly when I’m here as well.

Trust your team to do what you’ve trained them to do, and let go a little so that you can recharge or be inspired.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

In 2002, I decided to give up corporate life and go to culinary school. After culinary school, I worked at the Mandarin Oriental Miami before returning to Utah to open my first pastry shop, Les Madeleines. I brought many new products to this market, including the Kouign Amann, during the 19 years Les Madeleines was open. For many reasons, primarily health and work-life balance, I decided to close Les Madeleines at the end of 2022.

After some improvements to my health and well being I embarked on two new adventures: Xiao Bao Bao, which had already been in the works, and Chez Nibs, a chocolate shop. Xiao Bao Bao brings to SLC a beloved Hong Kong snack food with elevated ingredients, and Chez Nibs is a chocolate and pastry shop serving bonbons and some of my more popular pastries from Les Madeleines, including Kouign Amann. Both use the highest quality ingredients we can get and everything is made on-site.

Have you ever had to pivot?

As for many of us, I had to pivot more than once since the beginning of the pandemic. The first was to eliminate seating in my restaurant as social distance would have reduced my seating from 32 to 8 seats. The benefits were at least two-fold. I was able to simplify how we did service, and the more significant in the long run was that it gave me a large air-conditioned space in which to make chocolate bonbons.

Other pivots included adding a small market section to the shop which brought in revenue without adding labor significant amounts of labor.

As the pandemic wore on and it was clear that foot traffic wasn’t going to return to previous levels, I eliminated breakfast and significantly reduced out lunch offerings. Customers didn’t love this, but staffing was also driving those decisions. In the meantime my health was suffering which led to the biggest pivot of all, to close in order to take care of my own needs.

The chocolates had been a proven concept so they factored into my decision to focus on chocolate when I returned to business as a new brand.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think my use of high quality ingredients contributed to my reputation as did my consistency. It’s so important to be consistent in everything your business does. Product quality, innovation, service all contribute to your reputation, but I think being consistent from visit to visit builds longevity from an excellent reputation.

Contact Info:

• Website: cheznibs.com/ xiaobaobaoslc.com / les madeleines.com
• Instagram: @cheznibs, @rominaras @lesmadeleinesslc @xiaobaobaoslc

Image Credits
Adam Finkle, AJF Photography