We recently connected with Clara Baio Antonija Atanasova and have shared our conversation below.

Clara Baio , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success comes with a will to pursue something you love. If you don’t love what you do, you won’t be able to do it every day. If you can’t do it every day, you won’t be successful.

Clara Baio , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The Baker
Baker Clara Baio experienced the true Italian culture of baking alongside her grandparents at a very young age in their local Sicilian bakery. From bread loaves to focaccias to warm freshly baked pastries, Clara quickly learned what would eventually become her passion. After moving to the United States, Clara worked multiple trades. Starting from her home kitchen, Clara soon began dedicating her time into her future journey of operating a storefront Bakery.

The Barista
Barista Antonija Atanasova’s journey started from a young age in Macedonia, her native country. Falling in love with coffee, she continued to pursue her passion once moving to the United States, becoming a well-known staple to some of the most popular coffee shops. Antonija expanded her knowledge working alongside some of the most complex espresso machines, grinders, and brewers. Offering her Barista training skills to others and developing her coffee knowledge, she began pursuing her dream of opening a coffee shop.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Clara used to be a regular weekly customer at a local bakery where Antonija was the head barista/store manager. They connected on having similar love for Coffee.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

From baking for friends, to baking for cafes/restaurants from home, to then finding an empty retail space to build what is now Baker and Barista.

One of the key milestones was trying to keep up with the demand and not having enough baking space to do so. At some point we found ourselves baking more than 200 breads weekly out of a small at home oven. We still look back and can’t believe it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bakerandbaristamiami.com
• Instagram: bakerandbarista__

Image Credits

Carlos Esteves