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

Melissa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

Sean and I came from high level restaurants where we were praised and appreciated for the work and food we put out for the guest. When we opened Troubadour with the first menu, those same guests saw us very differently. When cooking in a Michelin kitchen, those guests are a lot more trusting of how their experience is going to go and how the quality of their food is sourced/ cooked/ presented. Sean and I broke off to open Quail & Condor Bakery in Healdsburg in 2019 and it was so well received, even during Covid. Guests were grateful for us show up for the community, we worked hard even after just having our second child. In 2020 we opened Troubadour Bread & Bistro, we had an incredible menu of house made pastrami, in house daily baked sourdough breads and the menu was hot and made to order. The aggression that came with the feedback was so surprising to us. “The sandwiches are too rich, the prices are too high..” etc. We knew that our meals were of the quality of a handmade pasta entree (usually priced at $28-$32) but we hit the price cap of $20 because at the end of the day, it was just a sandwich to most people. A sandwich more than $20 was absurd, but we did not want to make them smaller, we did not want to get lesser quality ingredients.
In summer of 2022 we decided to change our menu format, drop the price a little and it seemed to be a lot easier for our staff and our guests. However, the opportunity to make exceptional meals of that standard and quality.. it’s a shame no one really saw the work that goes into a perfect sandwich made from complete scratch and handmade bread, coming the science and precision of the people making it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Sean & Melissa McGaughey met in Denver, CO on the opening team for a highly anticipated restaurant. Their love for growers, the craft of food service and the alchemy of culinary drew them together. Sean lead Michelin kitchens, Melissa leading the best bakeries on the East & West coasts, resulted in the two of them slowly taking over the small town of Healdsburg in Sonoma California. They specialize in California cuisine: highlighting produce and dairy while using techniques they hold dear to their hearts. The product is not only the most cared for details in their businesses but the details and feeling of warmth their teams are encouraged to use when tailoring each guest experience. The most unique part of the guest experience is that you should feel like you visited a neighbors house for lunch. There’s a familiarity that comes with each interaction: the greeting upon entry, the bites and sips and the salutation as you leave. As for the food: well executed with technique, but tastes like your family id cooking for you.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

With our bakery thriving, we took a loan from that business to fund Troubadour. There are a lot of options for funding without investors that I think many people are afraid to try. If you run a small business long enough with a point of sale system, like Square, you can find small loans with great payback plans. Another we tried is Hello Alice, they are geared more towards minority groups, but anyone is encouraged to apply. Hello Alice is more of a broker who sets you up with credit companies to take out small lines of credit while encouraging you to grow your business.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media shouldn’t always be about selling. Of course announcements are a useful tool, but we have found it that no matter how large or small of a city you live in, your inner community wants to know WHO and WHY they should buy your product. We use social media like a romantic journal. For someone who doesn’t know your industry or what it takes to make your product, it’s a huge turn on for them to see you romanticizing the tougher parts of the job. For example: our bread bakers start at 4in the morning (not glamourous) but saying something along the lines of “the best part of 4am is making food for the community while they sleep #breadfairy”
This way you’re reminding your customers it’s not easy to do what you do but we are happy to do it because it’s the best way to get you supreme product.

Contact Info:

• Website: troubadourHBG.com
• Instagram: @troubadour.bread

Image Credits
Emma K Morris