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professional experience but I had a ton of passion and was a very hard worker. Chef Lydia Shire who owned Biba called me and of- fered me a low-man-on-the-totem-pole position as bar food cook. I jumped at the chance to work in such a well-regarded kitchen with such a talented chef. Two weeks later I le my cubicle and was julienning scallions and making chicken stocks. Aer a year, I decided to pursue pastry and asked Chef Lydia where I should go. She pointed me in the direction of Rick Katz who was operating a bakery in Newton Center, MA. I spent a year with Rick and he taught me all of his recipes and gave me a solid foundation in scratch baking. I knew then I was meant to be a pastry chef ! From opening the first Flour location to now, what's that transition been like for you and the brand? Both dizzyingly fast and at the same time, very organic and thoughtful. We now have eight bakeries and are ac- tively planning the ninth. I never orig- inally planned on opening multiple bakeries. But I had such incredible staff at the first bakery that I knew I would have to grow in order to give them opportunities to stay within Flour. I've loved watching people develop within the bakery and move up and help us open more Flours. I'm immensely proud that the same missions that guided us with one bakery, still hold firm with eight. What did you have in mind when you opened Flour Bakery in 2000? We opened September 2000 in the South End, and my goal from the very beginning has been to make the best pastry and food possible and provide super warm and gen- uine neighborhood service. We also aim to give back to the neighborhood by giving a certain percentage of our sales to charity. We have to run efficiently in order for us to flourish so "running profitably and effi- ciently" is another mission. Finally, my main mission at Flour is to make everyone's lives better: I want to make our customers' lives better with our amazing food and service, and more importantly, I want to make every- one who works at Flour's life better by being a great, awesome, inspiring, supportive and encouraging place to work. One of your earliest claims to fame was taking down Bobby Flay with your signa- ture sticky buns. Did you know that they would blow up like they did aer the show aired? I had no idea! I honestly hadn't known what the show was all about and when it aired we went from mak- ing a few dozen stickies to a few hundred and still running out. It took almost a year for us to figure out how to keep up with de- mand. You also received the James Beard Award for Outstanding Baker back in 2016. What was your reaction to that honor and what does it mean to you? I was incredibly honored and proud. By my being recognized it really meant my whole team was being acknowledged. We started as one little neighborhood bakery and winning this award told my whole team that their hard work and careful baking and dedica- tion was out there for the world to see. V U E N J . C O M 112

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