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

April, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

The most important lesson I learned while working in the industry is direct communication and honesty. If you’re not honest with yourself or with others about what you did or how you did something, you will never learn and you will never grow. Also, your chef immediately knows the answer before asking and are judging your character. With direct communication, there is no room for interpretation and in the restaurant industry you do not have time bull sh!t and you do not have time to interpret anything. Also, expectations are clear and there is less room for messing up and starting over. These are two major lessons I learned at my first job out of college working in a French fine dining restaurant in Boston.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I always knew I wanted to bake professionally, since I was four years old in fact. I loved giving joy to people through food and introducing my friends and family to new flavor concepts and texture manipulations. Giving others what I create is one way I show love. I went to culinary school, entered the industry in pastry, learned a lot, and loved it until I didn’t. In my twenties it was wild and fun and creative and unexpected and exciting. Approaching my thirties it became tiresome, abusive, time sucking, unsustainable, so I decided to change careers. I went back to school and now work at a wonderful company with PTO, benefits, 401k, livable salary, bonuses, the works. I did feel that I missed the creativity of the kitchen, so I hopped back in. I initially wanted to write a book, but as I started developing recipes I realized that I hated the finality of it. I always want to tweak something and with a book, you can’t, so I started a food blog to share my love of desserts. However, my desserts are not your normal apple pies, chocolate chip cookies, NY style cheesecakes, etc; my desserts are elevated. I bring those fancy professional desserts to your home kitchen so you can experience what I experience. It’s now a smoked apple pie, sourdough chocolate chip cookies, and goat cheese cheesecake. I believe in always expanding the boundaries of your box and trying new flavors, techniques, and textures. My recipes are all developed from the foundations I learned while working in 12 different kitchens.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson I had to unlearn was that everything was a big deal. In restaurants I would get yelled at for putting 2 celery leaves as a garnish instead of 3. I needed everything 5 minutes ago. I would be shamed if every single one of my pretzels knots didn’t look the same. Ridiculed if my quenelle was just slightly dull instead of super pointy. When I moved to hotels, I had to learn to relax. Not everything needed to fretted about. In fact mostly everything did not need a big blow up. It was okay that I cut something an eighth of an inch longer. It was okay to have a team of A’s, B’s, and C’s instead of striving for everyone to perform 110%. And I carry this unlearnt lesson on. I still get worked up about things, but it will always be a work in progress.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot I experienced (other than a complete 180 changing careers) was adjusting from a professional baker to a home baker. It is WILDLY different between tools, equipment, my oven, everything. I would make something, it would come out awful, and I would have to be like “I promise I do this for a living.” I essentially had to relearn how to bake but at home. It was painful and embarrassing!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://12-kitchens.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/12kitchens/
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/12Kitchens/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@12kitchens

Image Credits
Credit me: April | 12 Kitchens