Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marilyn Mack. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Marilyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I’m Greek. I think I came out of the womb knowing how to cook and bake, and loving doing both. My YiaYia sat me on a stepstool near the stove and made me tell her when the water started boiling. I learned from her that measuring was optional for cooking, but crucial for baking…even if that measurement was “one coffee cup, filled” or “three big spoons”. Greek Easter bread was literally my favorite baking time of the year. That yeasted, eggy, anise-scented dough, braided and blanketed in more egg, and a hard-boiled, deeply dyed red egg nestled atop it. On my second date with my now husband of 11 years, I baked him a loaf of bread. He may or may not have told me he loved me immediately. Over the time we’ve been married, I’ve baked countless loaves of bread using commercial yeast. It wasn’t until 2016 when a friend asked me over to bake sourdough with her that I embarked on what can only be described as an obsession. Creating your own wild yeast, raising it, feeding it every day – it’s like having a bubbly, happy baby…that takes over your house with so, so many loaves of bread. So began the giving it away, the freezing it, the use of sourdough starter discard to make bagels.
Along came Nov 6, 2019…my husband survived an aortic dissection and two major surgeries, the second causing a stroke. He spent a month in the ICU – and so did I – taking a leave of absence from work to live at the hospital, then another two months at home caring for him. During that time off, I suddenly stopped being able to sleep more than 4 hours at a time, leaving great swaths of time open during hours he would be sleeping. Cue a total shut down of normal life due to COVID. So I took my sourdough starter, Lydia, out of cold storage and began feeding her. Soon I was baking so much that there was literally no choice but to give it away to friends, family, neighbors. Soon into COVID quarantine, I reassurected my former Pie Crust Crumbles (copyright) business name, Sweetbird Kitchen on Facebook. One post on a local Facebook forum that I was “selling one, gifting one” sourdough bread loaves and suddenly I had over a hundred people within wanting to book a spot for pick up. I got out a spiral notebook and just listed day, date, name and pick up time, booking around 6-8 people per day, seven days per week. I was, and still am, overwhelmed by the response to my sourdough. So many kind and generous people in my community wanting to give money to pay it forward, and pay for the next person’s loaf. Knowing that I did not want this to be a business – only a way to feed people – I changed my model to gifting all loaves of bread. Which led me to St David’s Food Pantry’s request for bread every week. After talking about the Pantry with Audrey, who volunteers her time there, I knew I had to do bigger. Better. Expand the ways I am able to feed people. I landed on a model that worked then and now…I gift 100% of all bread, and I sell sourdough bagels – for just enough to keep me in flour and supplies, and with the rest going to buying food to donate to the food pantry. Periodically I also give to other non-profits close to my heart.

Marilyn, 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?

I have a tattoo on my arm that says, in Greek, “feed all the people.” If you’ve known me five minutes, you have been fed. This led me to taking an idea for a savory topping and snack to being a successful, licensed retail and wholesale business under the Sweetbird Kitchen brand name. Pie Crust Crumbles (trademark) in Cheddar, Lemon and Lavender were wildly popular, but I was completely out of my mind producing, packaging, selling full-time, while working a full-time job. I was disconnected from actually feeding people – what delighted me about starting a food business in the first place – so I shut it down. When I decided to repurpose the Sweetbird Kitchen name, I decided it would be only for passion projects, not business. Here I am, feeding all the people. Not bothered by the crappy parts of owning a business. Still working a full-time job. Baking in my home kitchen at 4:30am, seven days a week with two Dutch ovens and a donated stand mixer; on my 2nd new oven in two years. An outdoor bread oven named Hestia. Excited that I started and continue to move a bread revolution forward, one loaf, one bagel box at a time.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I am a very lazy approach to social media and so I have a limited social media presence….I have a Facebook page for Sweetbird Kitchen, but that’s about it. Against all social media or “business” rules, my personal Instagram is merged with my sourdough bulldogsandbread – giving you an idea of where else I donate my time and money! Even with Sweetbird Kitchen as a snack food business, I was firmly in the camp of building a following in the mot organic way possible. Word of mouth is the most authentic way (for me) to reach actual people, and is perfectly aligned with the very humble way that I gift bread – person to person. Porch to person. Window waves. Smiling and talking to new people, repeat bread lovers, bagel enthusiasts, dog lovers (everyone who comes here to pick up meets Angus, the rescued English Bulldog). I adore social media, don’t get me wrong, and I will probably learn Tik Tok at some point (or not) Since I am doing what I love and not worried about paying the bills by doing it I can afford a lazy attitude about social media. It is important, though, and for anyone with a viable business who wants exposure…learn the Tik Tok, please. Then teach me.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Everyone wants to feel like they are a part of something. We are meant to feel connected. So during a global pandemic, when everyone was shut inside and the disconnectedness was starting to become a mental health problem, I created a bread revolution. Feeding people, one humble loaf of bread at a time. Connecting with people, Bread is cozy and it’s humble, and it’s powerful. A loaf of donated bread turns into a bag of non-perishable groceries for dropping at a food pantry. It turns into one person thinking, “I enjoyed that free bread, Next week I am going to ask for two, so I can give one to my elderly neighbor” and it keeps on going. Bread as a rebellious act of kindness. I believe that the idea resonates with people. So almost three years later, and I am consistent in the bread that I gift, and the bagels that I sell, and the gifting that I do. That is my reputation, I guess.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: bulldogsandbread
• Facebook: SweetbirdKitchen

Image Credits
Marilyn Mack