We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Daniela Varela a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Daniela, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
The story behind the mission of Ruby’s Bagels is to provide a safe space for everyone in our community. I’ve created an environment for my team as well as customers to feel like they are always welcomed and deserve to take up space. There are some businesses that may be a little intimidating by either the environment, esthetic or even a complicated menu, at Ruby’s Bagels we make sure that when you wake up and you want to get a tasty bagel breakfast the thought is seamless, and comfortable and a good experince. Everyone is waking up working on their own dreams, and having a great morning experience at a food truck or coffee shop which is a first stop, can add to a positive day for anyone. My mission is to help others work on their dreams, even if it’s by proving them a positive experience.
Daniela, 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?
I am Daniela Varela, owner of Ruby’s Bagels. Ruby’s Bagels was started in 2019, however the idea of making bagels started to brew in 2017 when I realized a local bagel shop was needed in Milwaukee that was not a chain. At the time I was a microbiology student and I had many jobs, I was a nanny, worked at a hospital and I also was a personal chef for a military family. Since a young age I knew that I would be a business owner that would be specifically in the food industry. I always thought it would come after I graduated college. My passion for food started very young, I would watch my mother, aunts and my dad make huge feasts during the holidays and summer get-togethers. By age 15 I was making Thanksgiving Dinners on my own for my family, that also included my aunts, uncles and cousins. I loved showing off new recipes and watching everyone enjoy my meals. When the idea of teaching myself to make bagels popped in my head I had no idea how difficult it would actually be, but also would be come so rewarding in all ways. By 2018 I had perfected my bagel recipe and needed to find a commercial kitchen to rent to be able to sell my product but I was turned down by so many. By 2019 I was able to get into a commercial kitchen and started to do pop-ups that lead to me being offered a spot in a food truck park that I ended up taking. I realized how so many people in my community really loved our bagels, how a simple and delicious menu was all that they ever wanted. The support from the day we started to do pop-ups has not been unnoticed. I always make sure to remain as transparent on social media and in person with our customers, the person running our social media is Ruby, I am also the person they see when they come pick up their orders. Real humans work at Ruby’s Bagels, especially with Covid I had to make sure to keep everyone updated as to what would be changing in order to keep our staff safe as well as our customers. Our journey has been difficult since we officially launched in 2019, but we always learn and pivot when needed, we made it through the pandemic, we recently had a fire at our shared commercial kitchen and currently looking for our own brick and mortar. Nothing is stop me from taking my business further. I understand most businesses have partners, more capital, and possibly more resources, and in our case it is one person looking to make the moves to take the whole business somewhere we deserve, which is our own kitchen and grow our sales and wholesale. We have a small but amazing and dedicated baking/food truck team that is a daily reminder why I work so hard. I am proud of what I have created, the amazing team that is made up of great and hard working people who mean the world to me.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Recently, our shared commercial kitchen was in a fire ( June ) and right before that took place I was looking for a place to lease or purchase to make it into Ruby’s Bagels Shop, when I heard that devastating news that everything we worked hard for was destroyed in the fire (thankfully no one was injured) I was crushed. I truly felt defeated, I was appreciative no one was hurt in the fire and yes material things always can be replaced but I’ve felt like nothing was really working out for us. I had no luck finding a building for my business and now I was left without a kitchen at all. I immediately posted on our social media if anyone had leads for a commercial kitchen we could use, my first thought was our employees that depend on this job. Thankfully they community came together, we had many leads, many kitchens would work because of the equipment we needed, and our customers were so kind to raise funds for a new mixer, and a local church offer their kitchen to us temporarily and that is where we are now. Thankfully we closed our food truck for two weeks before we moved to the local church kitchen. We kept moving forward, we have an amazing community, and before I know it we will have our own space to call our own. Resilient is about accepting the reality and working with what is in front of you.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I started Ruby’s Bagels social media back in 2018 right before I did my first pop up, I shared a countdown for my first bagel delivery. I think that is what got so many people interested to follow my journey, making videos on where I get my supplies, the process of making our product, and keeping everyone engaged by making polls and asking questions. Also making post and stories about things that matter to me that are going on in present time. A lot of the time people are not interested in looking at graphic post, they want to engage with businesses and want to see that business owners care about them, that there is not a robot running the social media but people with feelings, sense of humor and character.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rubysbagels.com
- Instagram: rubysbagelsmke
- Facebook: rubysbagelsmke
- Twitter: rubysbagelsmke
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ruby-s-bagels-milwaukee-3
Image Credits
Karen Oliva Photography