We were lucky to catch up with Bryce Taylor-vaisey recently and have shared our conversation below.
Bryce, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How do you think about spending on things like coffee when times are tough?
During the first year of business, I did take a very small salary but only hired one or two staff members at a time to keep labour costs as low as possible. I worked at the shop every day so I had access to free coffee, but I was (and still am) very frugal when it comes to self-care or other expenses extraneous to the business. I wear clothes until they have holes in them and I use electronic devices until they literally die in my pocket! I treat every aspect of my business the same way, so when I’m not forecasting, analyzing sales data or reconciling accounts, I pour every single amount of extra mental effort into finding ways to save fractional amounts of money.
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 used to work a regular day job in the film industry, specifically in post-production. It was interesting and somewhat challenging, but I felt little passion for what I was doing. I’ve always loved cooking, so I started taking culinary courses after work to brush up on my knife skills and general knowledge. I took a preserving course, which covered things like pickling and salt curing, and of course jam. After that jam class, I tried to recreate the exact flavour of fresh raspberry–I had a bay tree on my balcony and a couple of limes in the fridge–and as soon as I started cooking, I knew I’d unlocked a true passion that had been dormant for a long time.
When my wife and I started dating, we instantly connected on cooking (among other things), so when she invited me to her place for brunch, I brought my raspberry jam. She loved it, her friends loved it (which meant they accepted me!) and Penny Candy Jam was born.
I imparted this same goal into every fruit I could think of, and a year later started selling jars of my 11 flavours at a local flea market. I sold out that day, and every other day for the next three years, where I was eventually cooking 200-litre batches and retailing at trade shows and some grocers.
Then one day, my (now) wife and I were walking our dog and noticed that the bagel shop up the street had a “For Sale” in the window. We’d toyed with the idea of opening a bakery/coffee shop some day, so I called the number. We repainted, reorganized, redesigned the menu and reopened six weeks later, and were immediately absorbed into the community. COVID hit about a year and a half in.
We quickly converted into a takeout cafe with outdoor seating, and have now grown into a team of 10 people who provide our neighbourhood with the comfort, compassion and sense of community that we initially felt at our first brunch and at the flea markets. In return, they provide us with the financial fuel to support ourselves and the local economy.
Watching the business come to life and live outside the shop is the most satisfying (and humbling) part of this journey.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Find ways to light the passion within each member of your team, so that they’ll in turn be inspired to share yours. My values run my business, and I need my team to reflect them in the products they create and in their interactions with customers. The only way they can truly feel my values is if they relate to them personally. Otherwise, it’s ingenuine. Then, once our experience is properly delivered, they also get to share in the pride of working for a strong brand.
Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?
The purchase of the assets of the old bagel shop included all of the equipment, furniture, vendors, recipes, customers and, of course, the space. The lease was very reasonable and everything had been maintained well over the eight-year run and we were running a similar menu so we signed the contract and had the keys. Just like that.
It turns out that our menu was very popular and my mass production skills had made our line very fast and efficient. So we were consistently much busier than the old place, which put a lot of stress on the old equipment. Eventually, every single piece of equipment died, multiple times, often during service, and often on weekends when we were using everything at once. Sometimes in the middle of actually making a sandwich!
Now, having upgraded to a professional standard in every respect (no more Kitchen Aid mixer for us!) we’re running at maximum efficiency and are finally ready for the next stage of expansion. But it took many years of trial and error (and more error) to determine this, which I would never have known before acquiring the business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ambagel.com
- Instagram: ambagelto
