Today we’d like to introduce you to Wenter Shyu
Hi Wenter , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We started in April of 2017 with just Sam and myself running and doing everything – baking, cleaning, delivering, invoicing, emailing, everything. After working 12+ hour days for 5 months, we hired our first employee and now have a healthy team of 26 folks in California. We knew that we wanted to run a food business differently than many of the way other restaurants that we’ve worked in operated – and flip the script of what a typical ‘food worker’ environment meant. A restaurant owner friend recently saw our operations and our offices and said that we’re “giving blue collar workers a white collar environment” – I’ve never thought about it that way but it totally makes sense and have never felt prouder. Third Culture Bakery is truly the little bakery that could – it’s built and founded on love and it’s magical.
We started with just the Original Mochi Muffin, a singular product for the first year of the business. It is still what we sell the most of as a company and we own the US trademark of the item – so definitely that’s our signature. Then came our Butter Mochi Donuts – a baked butter mochi style cake donut. Everything we make has a story behind it – either it’s the conception or where the ingredient was sourced from.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like all entrepreneurs / small business owners, it’s been high highs and low lows, and the most insane peaks and valleys in between. There are months when everything is smooth and there are months where it seems like everything is going sideways.
The struggles definitely change and evolve at our different scales and size of business. In the beginning, struggles were all the foundational building pieces; figuring out our operations, who we were, what worked and what didn’t work, putting together all of the company policies, rules, operations, what we wanted to see happen in the work place and building something from scratch out of thin air! Then it evolved to a different set of struggles of scaling; growing pains, replicating systems, building teams, etc. So the struggles changed as we changed.
But some constant struggle are definitely some universal struggles we all face as small business goes; talent retention, consistent company culture and policies, etc.
As you know, we’re big fans of Third Culture Bakery. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We started with just the Original Mochi Muffin, our flagship product, when we started the bakery back in 2017. This singular product captured the Bay Area by storm and lead to our first retail shop and the rest was history. The Original Mochi Muffin was inspired by a pastry that Chef Sam made with his mom in Indonesia – with tropical flavors like coconut and pandan leaves (a Southeast Asian vanilla-like plant).
We specialize in mochi-based pastries and dessert creations – so think chewy, squishy desserts that have a satisfying bite and chew, with innovative flavors inspired from all over the world.
Our bakery exists because of love – Chef Sam and Wenter fell in love, started dating, and created Third Culture Bakery! This is their chosen family and love story – and we want to share that love story one mochi at a time.
In addition to our baked goods that we sell through our retail locations and shipped nationwide, we also have a vibrant matcha program that we’re so very proud of. We hand-whisk each matcha drink to order, ensuring the best tasting matcha drink possible. With fun combinations like our handmade strawberry lychee puree and handmade caramels.
We are also planning on offering guided matcha experiences very soon. So keep an eye out on our instagram and website for our exciting upcoming matcha announcements!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thirdculturebakery.com
- Instagram: thirdculturebakery
