We were lucky to catch up with Isabella Bonello recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Isabella thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

The food and beverage industry has historically faced challenges in profitability, but it’s become even more challenging since covid. Not only have cost of goods skyrocketed, but there has been a huge cultural shift to higher industry wages. Higher industry wages is something I have always supported, and knew I wanted to make part of my business model from the beginning. However, it absolutely does affect your bottom line. On top of all this, people are so hesitant to pay what food actually costs to make.

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

I have been working in the industry since I graduated from University, so about ten and a half years now (wow was that crazy to write out). I started out in the FOH, then moved to a line cook, a bar tender, and finally got into baking about seven years ago. I have worked in mostly local and small businesses, but was working a corporate baking job when covid hit, and I got laid off.

I had started Three Bites about a year before, in 2019. My friend asked me to do a cookie table for her wedding, and that was the catalyst to this whole thing! I found myself to be bored and not flexing many creative chops at my job, and this was a fun way for me to try new and different bakes. It started out quite small, just doing the occasional market here and there. I’ve always wanted to have my own shop, and this felt like a good little tiny first step.

Once I got laid off, it felt like an opportunity to explore this more. I was living off unemployment, and building up some small amounts of capital for the business. At first, when we all thought we were going back to work after two weeks (hilarious), I was doing monthly assortment boxes, with new bakes each time, and raising money for a different cause each month. I would pop up in the lobby of a building twice a week, and after that, I was just loading up my car with a market set up, and popping up wherever I could. So many of my regular customers found me during these times, and they’re still visiting me in the brick and mortar!

I’m proud of many things I’ve been able to do with this business. I don’t think anything I do is revolutionary, and I think most of it is quite simple. However, to me, there’s such a beauty in the simplicity. Nothing is over complicated, but much of it is still new to a lot of people. I have the ability to showcase my cultural background (Italian and Filipino), and essentially do whatever I want. I have the freedom to experiment and try new things, and share them with everyone!

Another thing I really pride myself in is providing a positive and supportive work environment for my employees. We are a small team, and I am in the shop working alone side them every single day. It wasn’t easy to get here, but I finally have a crew of a couple dedicated individuals, and I would not be able to operate without them. They make more than a living wage, get PTO, and paid holidays. These were things I was determined to be able to provide, and I’ve done it.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Missing payroll and being on the precipice of death for the business is something I face every single week right now. The summer was really rough for us. I wasn’t able to do any markets because of staffing issues, and it almost crippled us. It was the first summer where people were finally traveling again, and getting back to “normal”. Unfortunately, that meant less people walking through our doors.

Even now, we are still recovering from that a bit. Things are never easy in this industry, and I’m just hoping we can make it our full first year of business!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I think my biggest advice to building high morale is just to treat your employees like human beings. Make sure you are present, and working alongside your employees. If there is slack to be picked up, as the owner, it is your responsibility to do so. Being available to listen and be transparent goes so far with people. In addition, if someone has an idea or advice, take it into consideration. Don’t let your ego shut it down just because it wasn’t yours. Often times, you’re just too close to the issue at hand to see a creative solution. Allow people to help you!

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.threebitesbakery.com
• Instagram: @threebitesbakery
• Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/threebitesbakery

Image Credits
MJ Hernandez Courtney Hergesheimer