Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Adam Berning. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Adam, we are so happy that our community is going to have a chance to learn more about you, your story and hopefully even take in some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Let’s start with self-care – what do you do for self-care and has it had any impact on your effectiveness?
The biggest game changer in my life has been Jesus Christ.
Growing up I was forced to go to church and baptized as catholic. Religion was always apart of my life but I never cared for what it ment. After high school I went to the Culinary Institute of America and I was culture shocked with the new found world of food. I became lost in the lifestyle of kitchens and slander. The stress and demand from the work in the kitchen became my new life and to deal with that I looked to, drinking, sex, and traveling. I fell into the “trap” of American culinary way of life. I was not strong with my morals or who I was at the time. Anything and anyone influenced me. I had bad relationships with everyone around me, I was running away from problems instead of facing them and dealing with them. One day I decided to go to a local church that was down. the street from where I lived. I had opened a bake shop in my home town and I knew I had to put my roots down and in bed myself into the community that I cared for. I had to start putting my words into actions. From that day, I started a new life. Learning more about scripture and Christ changed me. I started going to church every week. Even if I was by myself. I learned how to pray and talk to god. I learned how to put god first in my life and in my work. I am still learning. I stopped drinking. I am facing problems head on with faith. I am a desire to get to know the people around me. I am starting to love again! The thing I have and still am working on, is having grace for myself as God has grace for me and everyone that believes. Grace is healing and going through trials and troubles of kitchen drama, healing is so important. I respect the culinary world and have so much love for food and people, I let that shine more so than my business or making a profit. With hopes that I can create a better culture around me than what I learned. I can re learn and grow as many times as I need to, but I am at peace.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a artisan bread baker and pastry chef of Sweet Adaline’s Bakery with two locations in Dayton Ohio area. We have a passion for fun, creative and flavorful pastries and breads. With our professional pastry chefs we create many items from Tiramisu torte, pecan toffee bar, Raspberry cream cake, to fresh breads like sour dough bacon and buttermilk loaf. A few of our signature items are Carrot Citron cake, with flavors of orange cinnamon and vanilla. Stuffed short bread, changes seasonally like mixed berry or lemon blueberry. Our signature buttercream is a Austrian Buttercream that is smooth creamy light with hints of butter and touch of sweetness, you wont find this balance any where else! We provide many gluten free items. We are not a gluten free bakery but some pastries are just better made with different flours then wheat so we take advantage of that and still provide amazing flavor and taste. On a regular basis most of our customers come for a good ole fashion cinnamon roll made with an amazing cinnamon filling that is soft velvety on the inside but leaves a sugary crust on the outside of the roll.
The last few months of 2023 we moved our first location to a new spot with more dinning area. We also opened a Second location south of Dayton with a bigger baking area! We mix and match items at both spots to keep things seasonal and exciting for our loyal customers that travel to both!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Get out in the field and get as much experience as you can. Everyone you meet will have something to teach you! Once you find what you are truly passionate about, perfect that area with in yourself ! Do what ever it takes to perfect it. Live your live of dedication to your god give passion. We all have to dig deep and work on what we might be scared off doing. With faith and a little help and encouragement from, you will be surprised what you can accomplish.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
My next phase in my career goal is to continue to develop new products for the package foods industry. I feel that is an area that is severely hurting in quality and healthier foods. It is a lifestyle for people that is not a fad and will not go away so lets bring quality to it!
I am a creative and I am accepting that and diving into that about myself. I would love to partner with more business minded food industry people to grow and develop needed and new foods.
Contact Info:
- Website: Sweetadalinesbakery.square.site
- Instagram: sweetadalinescafe. and sweet_adalines_bakery
- Facebook: sweetadalinesbakery
