We recently connected with Shirlé Hale and have shared our conversation below.

Shirlé , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My husband and I have been life long indie rock musicians. We toured the country extensively and release many albums from the early 90’s throughout the 2000’s. I had always worked jobs involving food, you know, working back of house at a restaurant on a grill or making salads or making sandwiches at a deli. Whatever kind of food job that would allow me to leave for a month to go on tour but return to said job. I had worked in culinary since I was 15 and felt very comfortable in that field. My husband had worked record stores since he was 18. His father had owned a record store back in the 70’s, so to say records were in his DNA would be an understatement.

In 2001 I started a personal chef business called Four Corners Cuisine, cooking for people and families in their homes every week, which became wildly popular. Working for myself and creating my own niche was a wonderful (and trying) experience, but it showed me that anything was truly possible.

In 2004 my husband David and I were talking one day about how much we loved (and missed) one of our favorite bookstore-cafes in Baltimore called Louie’s Bookstore Cafe. We were like, wouldn’t it be cool if we opened up a record store cafe? At that time we didn’t know of one single place like that, at least in Durham, North Carolina where we were then living. David was working in web design and I was rolling along with my personal chef biz, so this was initially just a conversation over some wine with dinner, but the more we thought about it the more we thought we should make it a reality.
A few months or so later we first began taking some business classes at a local community college. Then we sketched out what the cafe would sell food and drink wise. We also sketched out what a space might look like. This went on for a few years. We created a book with names, concepts, dream boards, logos and plans for how we would actually make this happen. Then the recession hit in 2008 and we shelved that idea.

Fast forward to 2012 and our move back to Baltimore. My parents had both passed away in 2010 and 2011, So, David wanted to be near his parents in Maryland after learning that his father had a terminal illness. In 2015 his dad passed away and left him a small inheritance. I had since rebuilt my personal chef business in Baltimore to were I had assistant chefs and was at a maximum for accepting any new clients. We could only cook at so many peoples homes in one day, but I thought, if I had a commercial kitchen I could cook for many more people at once and deliver out the meals to them at the end of the day. David was hating his corporate job and was looking for an out. Right after his dad’s passing we decided now would be a good time to try out our cafe record store idea as vinyl records were back in fashion. I also needed a commercial kitchen to keep expanding my personal chef business. So, we found an empty shell of a retail space on a funky little street in the beautiful neighborhood of Mt Vernon in Baltimore City and decided on the evocative name of Baby’s On Fire (a nod to the songwriter, Brian Eno and his great song of the same title). In June of 2016 we made our dream a reality and opened our doors.

We built out the kitchen to accommodate both my business as well as the cafe’s needs. We designed the menu to offer vegan and vegetarian fare as well as more traditional fare. Our coffee program was top notch and lead initially by Stumptown Coffee out of Portland. We offered 100’s of records, new and used, in display cases we built ourselves and tried to create a space as cool as our beloved (and now long gone) Louie’s Bookstore Cafe.

We wanted an inclusive place that wasn’t pretentious or cold, but a space with more of a european, cozy feel. A place were artists could gather as well as business folks. Basically a place for all our neighbors in Mt. Vernon. With three colleges in our vicinity we dreamt that students from MICA, Peabody Conservatory as well as students from University of Baltimore would make our little shop their go-to place for good food, drink and music.

Through the whole process, from start to finish, we felt like this model was going to work. It would provide three different income streams: The cafe, the record store and my personal chef business. And there was nothing like it in Baltimore.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think the number one answer for soooo many businesses and creatives would have to be Covid.

We had just opened a second location in Baltimore with a partner in November of 2019, then by the time the lockdown happened on March 16th 2020 we were freaking out. David and I laid on the couch for about two weeks thinking we were going to A) potentially die, B) lose both businesses and C) become alcoholics because of the amount of wine we were drinking due to all the stress. (jk)

First, we furloughed all our staff so they could get unemployment and started to get a game plan together to keep the rents going and to pay the utilities. David, myself and our partner figured out how to make the new space work safely with take out. Our partner would run that shop while David and I figured out a food ordering and delivery system for the first shop.

We created a few new menu items that people could order online and reheat at home (breakfast burritos and pastries). We would have people get in their orders by Wednesday and then we would delivery out their orders ourselves every Friday. We ground coffee beans for people to make their Baby’s blend coffee at home as well.
Then we got a call from a company who organized orders from hospitals/healthcare heros for breakfasts, lunches and dinners to be delivered from small businesses. The organization had local people contributing funds to pay the food services to be able to keep them making money, while supplying nurses and doctors with hot meals daily. This, as well as World Central Kitchen’s organization, helped us pay all our bills, keeping our food suppliers in business as well while helping others. It was a wonderful lifeline, and truly made the links in the chain of business very apparent.

We then applied to the city for a take out window to be installed. Baby’s cafe is located in an historic building built in the 1880’s, so we were not allowed to modify anything outside without written acceptance from the historic society. After 6 months of back and forth with drawings that I had to create we finally got approved. The city allowed us to set up a street side tent/canopy terrace for patrons to relax at. We created a beautiful space that our customers loved coming to.

As for our records, David immediately (and painstakingly) posted all our records online on a site called Discogs. We were able to sell records not only in Baltimore but all over the US. This was a huge help in generating funds to keep everything running.

Once the numbers were down and things were feeling a bit safer, at least when outside, we set up quarterly renegade events outside our cafe inviting vendors of arts and crafts to set up tents and tables to sell their wares. It created a place for the community to gather safely and helped support artisans as well.

As for the staff, with setting up the take out window, they felt safe inside the shop only having to be around our “bubble” of people. We kept window service going for almost 2 years. Then, one day the staff reached out to us telling us they were OK with customers coming back inside. David and I are always very concerned with them feeling safe at work, so we were not pushing to reopen inside until they were ready.

Lastly, I still had my personal chef service running, so that never stopped. My clients were now truly relying on my meals coming to them weekly, and I also gained more clients during those years.

Looking back, I am so thankful for all the good things that came out of that tragedy for us. Our community was so extremely supportive and vested in Baby’s making it thought and we can’t thank them enough.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

In the food service world, David and I both think that customers service, along with sa olid quality of food/drink, is the number one must have to grow your business. Without good customer service a business won’t grow. Especially in service.

One thing we absolutely pride ourselves on is our staff. We hire people we feel will make each customer feel seen and heard. Another thing we also are very happy about is the internal family and safe space we created among our staff. I love that they all hang out after hours, do outings together and work like a family. It’s really so cool to see. The number one reason people come back to us day after day is because of our friendly staff. Our approach to customer service is the opposite of either your typical Starbucks “who gives a shit who you are” mentality or the cold, caulous and sterile environment of the “I’m so much better than you- I make science coffee” third wave places. We wanted an approachable place where you could get an expertly made coffee drink as well as a delicious breakfast or lunch meal quickly in a funky, cool space that is both cozy and european in feel.

Another way we grow our clientele is through our approach to leading our staff because of the inclusiveness and the benefits the staff get working with us. We are anti-corporation as can be and as such, we offer a super inclusive place to work for all plus we offer two weeks paid vacation, we offer a living wage PLUS tips. And as owners, we have always gotten in there along with the staff doing whatever is needed to be done from washing dishes to prepping to working the floor. We have tried to lead by example and we think that has helped our staff work just as hard and give customers the best experience.

Our customers are some of the best people as well. We have,of course, had some bad ones here and there, but 95% of the people who walk into Baby’s every day are such good folk. Our community rocks and they have been so supportive of us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.babysonfire.com
• Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/babysonfirecafe
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/babysonfirecafe
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/babys-on-fire-baltimore

Image Credits
Shane Gardner/Rock N Roll Socialite