We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrea Pérez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andrea below.
Andrea, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?
Connection and customer focus are two of my favorite company values. Those two values in particular guide me as I am preparing orders, setting up my booth at the farmers market, and interacting with customers. I intentionally chose “customer focus” instead of “customer service.” I desire the satisfaction of my customers. I want them to count on my products being consistent in their quality and taste. I want them to know that I take their thoughts and feedback into consideration. My business could not exist without the farmers market community and I make it a point to remember that.
Connection is just as important as customer focus for me. Connection is one of my personal core values—connection with God, friends, my community, and those I interact with. For me, customer focus is not possible without connection. As much as I can, I make it a point to have a meaningful interaction with each customer—addressing them by name, following up on things they previously shared with me, asking how their kids or parents are, and celebrating the goods news they share. I absolutely love when my customers share good news with me. I had a regular at the farmers market named Emma who excitedly came up to my booth one Saturday and told me she had gotten into grad school in England. I felt honored that she would trust that I cared to hear that. I was so glad to celebrate with her! For me, it’s never simply a business transaction, and I am doing my best to keep that mindset as my business grows.
Showing my customers I appreciate them is deeply important to me. I am grateful that they would spend their hard-earned dollars buying baked goods from me. I am grateful for the ones who bring me souvenirs from their vacations and the ones who are disappointed when I am away for a weekend. It means a lot to know that I am thought of along with my products. At the farmers market, it’s not just about the goods, but about the community.
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.
I founded Andrea’s Bakehouse in 2022, but my love for baking and hospitality started sixteen years earlier when I was in high school. After-school time was filled with more Food Network than homework. I had friends over all the time and my parents graciously welcomed us and our kitchen experiments. My plans to go to culinary school changed when I realized my love for research and writing in college, so I happily studied English instead. My 20s were filled with all kinds of adventures—two years overseas, various jobs, and grad school. When I was 30 and halfway through grad school, I finally started a modest baking business in my home kitchen. I called it my “graduate debt-free” business and I was hoping to make just enough to help me pay the bills during school. My friends and family who had been watching me bake since I was young cheered me on as I began selling at small farmers markets and pop-ups.
Somehow over the course of two years, this little business grew into my full-time job. It’s still a small operation, but has grown more than I ever thought it would.
I sell at the Orange Home Grown Farmers and Artisans Market every Saturday. I absolutely love it! I sell baked goods like sourdough banana bread, chocolate zucchini bread, chocolate chip cookies, and more. I also sell handmade baking ingredients (vanilla extract, brown sugar, and sourdough starter). I prioritize quality ingredients by using several organic staples—flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, molasses, espresso beans, and vanilla. It’s important to me that my baked goods are both delicious and wholesome. I love the Orange Farmers Market because it is very community oriented and so am I. There is a sense of belonging for so many people there, including me. A strong community spirit is important to me and I hope my customers sense that when they approach my booth and chat with me.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I learned a lot about company culture, management, and maintaining morale while I was the HR director at my family’s business. It turns out that people aren’t equally incentivized by money. There are many other things that contribute to a person’s desire to work hard and remain loyal to a company. Company culture became incredibly important to me when I was in that role. I learned that respect will make or break a company’s culture. It’s important to me to respect my employees, vendors, contractors, and guests. Respect can be shown in many ways. One significant way is to be communicative with people and trust them with appropriate information. Another way to show respect is to apologize when necessary. I have learned that a sincere and humble apology goes a long way. A person who shows respect gains respect.
Another part of my company’s culture that I am always working toward is an environment where my employees feel the freedom to learn. I have had several instances where an employee has messed up while doing a new task. Many of those instances have been due to unclear or incomplete directions on my part. I make a concerted effort to not get frustrated at the employee, but to own the fact that I was not clear. I want to set my employees up for success and part of that is giving them the confidence to try new things, fail, and try again. Being a micromanager or freaking out when someone messes up only guarantees that they won’t take risks, won’t be creative, and won’t be eager to take on more responsibility. I don’t want that kind of culture in my company.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
I partner with a woman named Andrea Collins for the sourdough classes I teach. I am very grateful to be working with her, though it is confusing for our customers that we have the same first name. Collins came to my booth at the farmers market in late 2023 and bought one of my sourdough starters. She then asked me if I would be interested in teaching a sourdough class at her business, Higher Ground Wellness. Collins is passionate about health and wellness and has a desire to help people learn the ancient practice of sourdough. I wasn’t sure that people would sign up for this class, but eventually I decided to give it a shot and I’m so glad I did. In January 2024, we started offering a Sourdough 101 class at her storefront in Old Towne Orange. We have now been doing these classes for eight months and have outgrown the room in the back of her studio. Now we rent out rooms at various businesses around the Orange area and teach classes to up to 25 people at a time. Collins and I enjoy working together and we make a good team. We both bring ideas to the table and we have plans to announce a variety of new classes over the next few months.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.andreasbakehouse.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasbakehouse/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/andreas-bakehouse-orange
Image Credits
Product images taken by Bailey Captain