We’re looking forward to introducing you to Cristina Tovar. Check out our conversation below.
Cristina, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
The ability to “just make more.” At the bakery it’s hard to predict how much of something we will go through on any given day. I try to make educated guesses by looking at sales this time last year and compare to how the current weeks have been going, check for any local events that will drive or hinder business and even then I just never know if we will sell out of something immediately or if we will have leftover at the end of the day.
Oftentimes, when a more popular item sells out early, we get the comment from customers of, “You should just make more.” We usually smile politely and agree but in reality, there’s a long-winded reason as to why that may not always be the answer or something we are capable of.
A lot of our products we make, like the croissants, the sourdough breads and the donuts are a 3-day process. So once the par is decided on, it’s tough to change it. If we do, it could mean that quality is being sacrificed because we are rushing through, or someone has to stay at work later and lose time at home (most likely me, because I’m the owner) or logistically, we may not have the room. We are not a large operation, so we run out of space every now and again.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Cristina, I’m a Long Island, NY native. I own Flourbud Bakery and we make croissants, and other breakfast pastries, sandwiches, desserts and some pantry items all in house, using locally grown ingredients whenever possible.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
When I first started in the food and beverage industry and working in kitchens there was this drive to work as much as possible, and you like almost bragged about the number of hours you worked and how little sleep you had. I had this drive in me to just always work, put in the time and work my way up. I remember at one job putting in 90-ish hours because the higher ups didn’t want to hire more people so it fell on me, the other chef and our skeleton crew to cover shifts.
Running kitchens for other people I always did that. Just like really grind – my mindset was “welp, they are paying me a lot of money to do this so I’m going to put everything into it.” I would respond to emails and things on my days off, work well passed the time I was supposed to, and it really takes a toll on you. Mentally & physically it’s really tiring.
When I opened the bakery, it was home based, I was simultaneously, working as a pastry chef at a restaurant. I finally opened my own shop and made the bakery a full-time gig. I kept on that grind because now it was for me and it was my place. I remember just being so exhausted all the time and irritated. That kind of life wasn’t sustainable.
I don’t remember where the mind set came from- probably therapy, but I started to change my way of thinking, like I love what I do, but I won’t if I continue this way. Like, will someone die if I don’t have this certain cookie this weekend that I’m staying late to make? Is it really going to make or break my business if I come in on my day off to make this $40 cake? Almost always the answer was no, no one is going to get hurt, my business won’t fail because of $40, and don’t worry this email will still be there when I check my inbox on Tuesday.
I think the level determination and ambition I had when I was coming up, definitely wasn’t healthy, but I do feel like it played a part in getting my business up and running. But putting in those insane hours and having the anxious mindset that I had that fueled me is a thing of the past. I have released that mind set and have embraced just being organized, going with the flow and knowing that I’m doing the best I can and that has to be enough. It also really helps having a solid team working with me to help get things done.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
As I’ve mentioned, Flourbud started as a home-based business. I was constantly pushing the limit of how much I was capable of making. I remember the last Christmas before I opened my storefront, I was really maxxing out the amount of product I could make at home, in my regular -degular, 30in oven. In case you didn’t know, home ovens are meant for baking and cooking far less then commercial ovens and my oven decided it has been pushed to the limit and stopped working.
All my orders were due to be picked up the next afternoon, and I had about 12 hours to bake and finish everything I needed to. I had myself a little cry and a freak out and then came up with a plan to truck everything back and forth to my parents’ house 30 minutes away, to bake there and then get everything back to my home to finish, box it up and pack orders.
It was chaotic and I had more than a few breakdowns that night and I definitely wanted to give up and throw in the towel, but my family and husband really pulled through. We were tying ribbons on boxes down to the wire, but every customer was happy, and all the orders got finished.
As a gift to myself and the bakery, I invested in a commercial oven that I put in my garage. It’s now one of the ovens used at the bakery.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
I think real foundational shifts are gradual and slowly make themselves known and are thoughtfully shared. Whereas fads I feel like have these bursts on social media where they are trending for just a blip in time and then disappear almost as quickly as they came.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I’m definitely doing what I was born to do. If I was doing what I was told to do, I’d probably be an Art Teacher.
I grew up in the kitchen at home, always cooking and baking with my family. When I went to college, I had no clue what I wanted to do so I went for Art, all while still working in the food industry. When I graduated with an art degree, I was just like ok now what?
I went back to school for pastry/culinary and when I graduated from that program, it just made more sense. Things just clicked into place for me. I felt like I had a very clear idea of what I was going to do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.flourbudbakery.com
- Instagram: @Flourbudbakery
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