We recently connected with Bobby & Janice Jucker and have shared our conversation below.
Bobby & Janice, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?
In 2009 while recovering from Hurricane Ike (we were closed for 9 months) we hired a business coach which did cost quite a bit of money. It was the best money we ever spent. We learned to “work on, not in, your business” and the two of us were terrible managers. So we took the money we were paying the coach and put it into a full time General Manager. The person we hired said he would pay for himself and anyone he hired, and he made good on that promise. We went from 1 store and production facility to 4 stores and production facility and looking to add more.
Bobby & Janice, 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?
About Three Brothers Bakery
The traditions of Three Brothers Bakery began in Chrzanow, Poland circa 1825, and were preserved despite the Jucker family’s concentration camp imprisonment during the Holocaust. Their liberation and subsequent move to Houston, brought Eastern European scratch baking traditions to 4036 S Braeswood Blvd, 12393 Kingsride Lane, 4606 Washington Ave.,574 Chimney Rock Rd., where we are now proud to call ourselves “memory makers who happen to be bakers®.” Perfecting the process for almost 200 years, each day the fifth generation scratch bakery produces a full line of breads, pastries, cookies, specialty dessert cakes and pies, as well as custom cakes. We support our community by donating to many community organizations including Susan G Komen and Holocaust Museum Houston and feed the hungry and unhoused with day old baked goods, for the three brothers knew how it felt to be hungry.
Three Brothers Bakery was named 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023 Best of the Best Bakery by Houston Chronicle Readers and our pecan pie was named “the Best Mail Order Pecan Pie America has to offer” by Country Living Magazine multiple times along with many other accolades. In 2018, we received the SBA Phoenix Award for Small Business Disaster Recovery for rebuilding after 4 floods, a fire, hurricane, and freeze and now advocates to help small businesses recover after disasters.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
Many people have asked us how our pecan pie reached national recognition. So why don’t you kick back with a cup of coffee and a slice of pecan pie, and I’ll tell you the story.
It was August 2010, and Bobby picked up the phone. On the other end was a young girl who said she was an intern, Sarah, for Country Living Magazine. They were searching for the best “Mail Order Pies America Has to Offer,” and wanted to know if we would send them a few pies to taste.
Well, my husband thought Sarah was a college student just wanting some free pies, but I did not. We then proceeded to get in a bit of a “discussion” about the pies. When I married my husband my mother told me to pick my battles. Anyone who works with his or her spouse knows what I’m talking about. Eventually, I threw my hands up and said, “Fine – don’t send the pies,” and walked away.
The next day, I walk into the bakery and there are some beautiful pies sitting on the production table. I ask, “What are these pies for?” Bobby calmly replies, “You told me I have to send the pies to Country Living Magazine.”
We sent the pies and forgot all about it. About a month goes by and Bobby receives a call from a photographer from Country Living asking him to send two more pies for photographs because we won the “Best Mail Order Pecan Pie America Has to Offer.” The photographer explained when a bakery won a category they were pulled out of any of the other tastings. They tasted the pecan pie first, so that was it for us. Our pecan pie won.
Best pecan pie – how about that? This little intern, Sarah, changed the bakery with her phone call. She began the national recognition of what many (outside of the family) think is the greatest pecan pie. Our pecan pie is now our top seller online.
After Country Living Magazine published the feature on pie, we started getting calls from national and local publications.
Greg Morago, Food Editor of the Houston Chronicle, wrote about our experience with Country Living Magazine. Greg then came to us with the idea of the Pumpecapple Pie cake (I smoothed out the final name). The Pumpecapple led us to appear on “Outrageous Food” on the Food Network and “Serious Eats” then wrote about the Pumpecapple in their blog.
Our journey of becoming a national name in the mail order pie business really took off. All of these blessings would not have been possible without the phone call in August, 2010, from Sarah The Intern.
Sarah, if you are reading this blog post or if anyone knows Sarah, the Country Living Magazine Intern during August, 2010, we want to say thank you so very much. You changed our business and our lives.
In 2010 we made about 200 pies total a year. Now we fill up FedEx trucks throughout the holidays with folks shipping our award-winning pecan pie to friends, family and clients. During the pandemic kind people sent pies throughout the year to give folks a pick-me-up and supporting our small, family business. Those pies saved us during that time.
Thank you Sarah The Intern!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
We call ourselves the King and Queen of Disasters and hope to never be dethroned because it would mean someone has had a worse experience with disasters than us. After 4 floods, a fire, hurricane, pandemic and freeze we have become experts in small business disaster recovery and now give talks about how to prepare and recover. We developed a 4 part process which works in most disasters and even used it during the pandemic.
- People – check on your team, pay your team and communicate with your clientele
- Money – if you don’t have money there is no reason to muck out your business. We put everything we can on credit cards after a disaster and save our cash for paying our team. Additionally, we will apply for the SBA disaster loans if needed and keep all the documentation they would need updated, so it’s ready to go. We are always the first person in line for turning in insurance claims and loan applications.
- Assets – someone assesses equipment and then is in charge of purchasing or repairing which many times means going around the country buying whatever is needed, ie., after a flood don’t buy a replacement van in the town that flooded.
- Cleanup and return to operations – someone is in charge of this piece and documenting an inventory to turn into the insurance.
We all take responsibility for people and then another does money/insurance and different team members handle assets and another cleanup/return to operations.
We are lucky we have enough people to divide the labor. In many small businesses it’s just one person who would have to take the lead, which is a reason many do go out of business. We want small businesses to survive and now advocate with lawmakers to pass policies to help make sure small businesses reopen after disasters. We applied for and won the SBA Phoenix Award for Small Business Disaster Recovery which has now given us credibility with lawmakers, which was exactly why we wanted that particular award.
Contact Info:
- Website: 3brothersbakery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/3brothersbakery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3brothersbakery
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/threebrothersbakery
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/3brothersbakery
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/3brothersbakery
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/three-brothers-bakery-houston-2?osq=three+brothers+bakery
- Other: https://www.threads.net/@3brothersbakery https://www.tiktok.com/@3brothersbakery https://www.yelp.com/biz/three-brothers-bakery-houston-7?osq=three+brothers+bakery https://www.yelp.com/biz/three-brothers-bakery-houston-5?osq=three+brothers+bakery https://www.yelp.com/biz/three-brothers-bakery-houston?osq=three+brothers+bakery
Image Credits
Michael Carr Photography Katrina Kidder Three Brothers Bakery