February 10, 2025 • 26 mins
Have you ever wondered what it takes to transform a spontaneous idea into a thriving business? Or how a passion for art can turn a simple donut into a masterpiece? In episode 146 of Carlsbad: People, Purpose and Impact, I chat with the delightful Renee Bexiga, owner of Get N Go Donuts, who spills the beans on her unique journey from college student to donut entrepreneur.
Renee's story is as sweet as her creations. From her college days at San Diego State University to her spontaneous leap into the donut world, she shares the ups and downs of her career path, including her time as a lead bartender and assistant manager at Ignite Bistro. We reminisce about the vibrant atmosphere and popular dishes like the "man candy" appetizer that brought us together.
Dive into the creative process behind Renee's themed donuts and donut cakes, and discover how her artistic flair has set Get and Go Donuts apart. Learn about the importance of community engagement, the challenges of early morning starts, and the joy of celebrating National Donut Day.
Don't miss this episode filled with laughter, insights, and a sprinkle of donut magic. Connect with Renee and explore her delicious creations at getngodonuts.com or call 760-814-2882.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:02):
Carlsbad, people, purpose, and impact, an
essential podcast for those wholive, work, visit, and play in
Carlsbad.
Bret (00:14):
Good morning, and welcome, everyone. My name is Brett
Schonzenbach. I am the presidentand CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber
of Commerce, and I'm your hosttoday. And I'm pleased to have
with me Renee Bexiga. Did I sayit right?
Renee Bexiga (00:26):
You did.
Bret (00:27):
Bexiga Renee is the owner of Get and Go Donuts and a
friend of the chambers. Goodmorning, Renee.
Renee Bexiga (00:34):
Good morning. How are you?
Bret (00:35):
I'm very well. Thanks for joining me this morning.
Renee Bexiga (00:37):
Absolutely.
Bret (00:38):
I had to practice your last name because it's got a fun
spelling and
Renee Bexiga (00:42):
Everybody does. Yeah.
Bret (00:44):
Although, you know, when you say it, it's fine. It's like
if I didn't look and I justlistened, I'd do better. But if
I looked and tried to connectit, I'm, like, struggling. But,
you
Renee Bexiga (00:51):
know It's the the American x. Everybody says x no
matter what. So Bexiga, allthrough school, my husband had
that. They called him that. ButI always my name is Renee, which
is I've I've always had a weirdtime with people saying that as
well.
Bret (01:05):
Oh, wow.
Renee Bexiga (01:05):
So I've always corrected people my entire life.
So now, Bashiga, it just comesnaturally. Yeah. Like, no. It's
Bashiga.
Say Bashiga, please.
Bret (01:11):
Yeah. Absolutely. It's a beautiful name. So I was, you
know, doing some backgrounddigging to get to know you a
little better before we had ourtime to talk today. And I saw
that you're, you're a NASDAQ.
You're a San Diego State grad.
Renee Bexiga (01:27):
Yes. Are you Yes. Very much so.
Bret (01:29):
Born and raised here
Renee Bexiga (01:30):
in San Diego? I was pretty much raised here. I
was born in Jersey. Okay. I grewup in San Diego in Claremont.
So I've lived there my entirelife. I went to Mesa College
first. Yep. And then I went toSan Diego State. Did a little
bit of the kinda well, at state,it was a 4 year program, but the
total, it was like a 10 yearprogram.
Took me a little while to getthrough. But, yeah, and my
husband is as well. So we'reboth kind of alumni as we
(01:52):
represent. We actually go toSnapdragon now, which is
amazing. I don't know ifanybody's been there.
Bret (01:56):
I have not had a chance to go to Snapdragon yet. It looks
like a really cool venue,though.
Renee Bexiga (02:01):
It is a very nice stadium. It's very open, and
it's beautiful.
Bret (02:05):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It does look very cool. I I need to.
I need to get down there.
Renee Bexiga (02:08):
You should.
Bret (02:09):
I now I have gone to not not this season yet, but,
usually, we get to at least 1 or2 of the Aztec basketball games.
We're big Aztec basketball fans,and they've had
Renee Bexiga (02:20):
On campus. Right? Yes. Yeah. I haven't been there
yet.
Bret (02:22):
Yeah. Yeah. And they've, you know, of course, a couple
years ago, made it all the wayto the national championship
game, you know, which was superfun. We we did hit one of the
games that season, which was funbecause as they were progressing
through the tournament, youknow, we kinda knew the players
a little better because we hadgone that year. So that was
really fun.
But That's cool. They're athey're a great local team to
have in our community.
Renee Bexiga (02:41):
Absolutely. I mean, the campus is amazing.
When we went, it was a lotsmaller. It's grown so much now.
There's I mean, all the the notthe fraternity houses, but all
the housing is on campus.
Bret (02:51):
Right.
Renee Bexiga (02:51):
Like, it wasn't there when I was there. Yeah.
The big field they have a bigsoccer field, and they have a
bunch of stuff going on overthere. Stadiums. We we go to the
concerts a lot.
Bret (03:00):
Nice. Very nice. And and you, like, during college or
right after college or maybe amixture of the 2, got into food
and beverage, like, right
Renee Bexiga (03:10):
away? Right. Well, it was during.
Bret (03:11):
So
Renee Bexiga (03:12):
I I put myself through school doing that. Yeah.
I probably, had 2 I had amorning waitress job and an
afternoon waitress job atOutback Steakhouse.
Bret (03:21):
Nice.
Renee Bexiga (03:22):
And then I went to school Tuesdays Thursdays all
day. So I was Yep. Working andgoing. But, yeah, the food and
beverage has been my life for along time.
Bret (03:30):
Yeah. And then I saw that you became, like, lead bartender
at Rock Bottom
Renee Bexiga (03:35):
Yeah. For a while? So I went from Outback to Rock
Bottom downtown. I was there for8 or 10 years, and worked my way
up there. So lead bartending.
It was fun. We had Yeah. Musicin the front, and then we had a
DJ in the back. We also had anupstairs with a little bar and
pool tables. It was a reallycool place.
Cool. It's restaurants are nicebecause you create family.
Bret (03:56):
Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (03:56):
Family that you didn't know you had, and you
spend most of your time there.So I still have girlfriends.
Actually, one of my bestgirlfriends was a cocktail
waitress there. Nice. So we'veknown each other for over 20
years, and our kids are 3 weeksapart.
Bret (04:09):
Oh, wow. How fun. Yeah. That that whole, you know,
bartending vibe. I was gonnaask, like, do you have a like,
did you guys have regulars thatcame in that you knew?
Like, was did were you able tocreate that kinda cheers
experience?
Renee Bexiga (04:23):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Having the the drink
on the bar before they even gotthere Oh, wow. Or, there was a
group of guys. They were lawyersthat would come in after work,
and they would always sit in thecorner.
And you knew they all had thesame beer or what they were
drinking. And you you just startto create that because that's
how you make your money. Yeah.You you create relationships.
(04:44):
You create friendships.
I had one old regular, Jimbo, Iused to call him. He was an old
vet, and he would come in, andthat was his afternoon. And he
would come out and hang out, andwe would actually because on
Tuesday afternoons, I did thelunch shift, and it was slower.
So I would do the crosswords inthe paper, and he would sit
there and help me and Oh, okay.And, I met his daughter.
(05:05):
I met his family, so that waskinda neat. But he was my my
Tuesday regular.
Bret (05:10):
Oh, fun. Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (05:11):
It was cool.
Bret (05:11):
That's very cool. And, like, to your point, like, you
wanna create that atmospherethat they feel valued and seen
and known because, obviously,they're gonna tip better, and
Yeah. You're gonna pick
Renee Bexiga (05:22):
You hope for that. Yeah. And if not, like I said,
some of the friendships are niceenough that, you know, they give
you some, and you're like, no.No. No.
It's okay. I don't need that.But Yeah. It's always nice.
Bret (05:32):
That's cool. And then, you and I met when you were at
Ignite Bistro.
Renee Bexiga (05:38):
Yeah. Long time ago.
Bret (05:39):
Yeah. And you were you were there for a while.
Renee Bexiga (05:42):
Yep. For the almost the duration. It opened
in 2011. Yep. And then,obviously, COVID hit in 2019.
Right. And I think 8 monthsafter that, they actually shut
down.
Bret (05:52):
Yeah. Yeah. And you you were a manager there?
Renee Bexiga (05:56):
Mhmm. Assistant manager. I left for a little
bit, had my kid. Yeah. And thenI came back as the assistant
manager banquet coordinator.
So I did a lot of events there,which was cool. We had a great
patio.
Bret (06:08):
You did have a great patio. I remember doing a
chamber happy hour there whenyou were there, and you had that
man candy to die for.
Renee Bexiga (06:17):
Oh, yeah.
Bret (06:18):
Oh my goodness. That's stuff.
Renee Bexiga (06:19):
Good stuff.
Bret (06:20):
That was addicting. It was That
Renee Bexiga (06:21):
was our big seller.
Bret (06:23):
That was so good. It was well, it was, I'm trying to
remember. Bacon wrapped, dates.Right?
Renee Bexiga (06:29):
No. No. I don't know. What? It was just bacon.
So the appetizer was just stripsof bacon, and we did brown sugar
Brown
Bret (06:36):
sugar.
Renee Bexiga (06:36):
Red pepper, and other things I can't talk about.
You gotta keep it a littlesecret.
Bret (06:40):
Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (06:41):
But we would serve it in strips. So we would cook
it, and so it was more like ajerky. It would stand tall, and
we'd put it in a little cup andserve it on the table. But that
was the signature. And then forbanquets, we actually did it
covered, like, drizzled inchocolate.
Bret (06:55):
Oh my goodness. Right.
Renee Bexiga (06:57):
Imagine that. Delectable.
Bret (06:59):
Yeah. So Ignite, yeah, you were there for a while. And as
you pointed out, they neverreally came back out of COVID
there. Now if I remembercorrectly, the story goes that
the ownership was more Coloradobased or something. Yeah.
This was, like, their onlyCalifornia restaurant, and they
kinda just said, I wanna dealwith California's weirdness.
Renee Bexiga (07:19):
He's older. Frank Day was the owner, and he was
the one who originated RockBottom Breweries Oh. Back in
Colorado, and they went allover, like, the west. But he had
so much hotels and restaurantsin Colorado that he was dealing
with, and he's a little up inage. He's probably, like now
he's almost 90.
Bret (07:38):
Okay. So
Renee Bexiga (07:38):
when that happened, he was 85. Yeah. He
didn't wanna keep flying backand forth. Yeah. And Seth, my
business partner, tried reallyhard to keep it going.
Bret (07:47):
Yep. With
Renee Bexiga (07:48):
the to go program, because everything at that point
was to go Yeah. And take out.And Yeah. We had 2 different
kitchens. We had the mainkitchen and then the pizza
kitchen.
So just to hire people to getall that going and doing
everything and
Bret (08:00):
It was a lot.
Renee Bexiga (08:00):
It just yeah. It it wasn't on the best side. He
probably would've had to put ina lot of money just to try and
start something, and then whoknows if it would've worked.
Yeah. It was sad.
Bret (08:11):
Yeah. Yeah. That was that was a bummer. It was a great
restaurant even beyond just theman man can it was good. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But before beforeCOVID, you actually then
launched into Get and Go. Sowhich is, we're gonna obviously
get into the details more of Getand Go. But I really before we
(08:32):
get into that, I wanna know why.
Why? What what motivated you?What was that thing that just
said, I'm ready to startsomething different, and and why
a donut shop?
Renee Bexiga (08:45):
So it was actually more spur of the moment than,
hey, I wanna start a businessnow. Interesting. So it is in
the same strip mall as Ignite.
Bret (08:53):
Yep.
Renee Bexiga (08:54):
It was down the way. And in restaurants, a lot
of times, you have your weeklymeetings or your monthly
meetings. You get everybodytogether, and Seth would go get
donuts from the shop because itwas super close. We could go 5
minutes before the meeting, goget them and come back. And they
were selling.
So one day, he saw a for salesign, and I guess he was, like,
(09:14):
mulling it over. And I had triedto do a cupcake business
Bret (09:17):
Okay.
Renee Bexiga (09:18):
On the side, called the Cupcake Chick, like
Chic, c h I c Yeah. Instead ofchick. But I was doing it with
friends, and so it was like,yeah, just buy me the stuff, and
I'll make you great donuts. Andthey were beautiful. I loved
working with fondant fondantand, like, creating and making
them like PAW Patrol, you know,making it really look like that.
(09:41):
But it didn't take off becauseit wasn't making money because I
was like, just give me a littlebit, and I'll do it for free.
And so, when he came with me tome with that, I was like, it
almost makes sense. But it wasstill scary. It's like Yeah. A
new business, and you have toput money in, and you have to do
this, and you have to investtime.
But from the beginning, my myhusband and, and you know Eddie.
Bret (10:04):
Yes.
Renee Bexiga (10:04):
And then his brother his brother kept saying,
jump on it. Jump on it. Yougotta do it. You gotta move now.
So that was kind of it.
And I was, like, alright. Let'sdo it. And I knew nothing about
donuts. I mean, restaurantindustry, but I had never worked
with donuts. I baked at home forthe cupcakes.
So
Bret (10:20):
Sure.
Renee Bexiga (10:20):
Big quantity or fryers and all that and making
the dough. I had no clue. And,we just said, you know what?
Let's try it. If you don't tryit, you're never gonna know.
And even if it doesn't work,then you keep going and do
something else. But
Bret (10:34):
Yeah. It was it
Renee Bexiga (10:36):
was it was a fun time. It was stressful, but it
was a fun time.
Bret (10:39):
Yeah. Alright. We're gonna take a brief pause. We're
talking to Renee Bashega.
Renee Bexiga (10:44):
Mhmm. Oh, I'm
Bret (10:44):
getting Bashega? Renee Bashega, the owner of Get and Go
Donuts. And when we come back,we're gonna dive in to Get and
Go in more detail, so stick withus. We'll be right back. So,
(11:54):
Renee, before we took a break,we were just talking about your
personal journey to getting intothe doughnut business.
But, you know, I've had theprivilege of knowing a couple
people, through my years inchamber work that had doughnut
businesses. It's not theeasiest, business out there.
(12:16):
When you were first dove in,like and I don't hopefully not
today, but, what time in themorning did you start? Oh,
goodness.
Renee Bexiga (12:26):
It was normally 2 when we first started. So the
owners actually decided to trainus for a month because they were
Cambodian. They didn't have anyrecipes written down.
Bret (12:36):
Oh, goodness.
Renee Bexiga (12:37):
All in his head. So we had to really work with
him. And the language barrierswere a little tough, learning
and writing stuff down andtrying to create our recipes
from their versions, but westill stick to everything that
they have done. All the recipesare the same. The donuts are the
same.
And that's one thing that mostpeople say when they come in is,
(12:57):
wow, it's so great that you'rethey're still the same donuts
that we had back in the day. Butyeah. So 2 in the morning Oh.
And then go till whenever wewould we were open till 2. We've
kinda changed that now till 12.
Bret (13:09):
Mhmm.
Renee Bexiga (13:10):
Because after after 12, there's really nobody
looking for donuts.
Bret (13:13):
Right.
Renee Bexiga (13:14):
But then it changed, and it got earlier. The
busier we got, I was coming inat 12 AM
Bret (13:19):
Oh my goodness.
Renee Bexiga (13:19):
Or 11 PM.
Bret (13:21):
Oh my goodness.
Renee Bexiga (13:23):
So, it was tough because the 1st year, I was
still working at Ignite
Bret (13:27):
Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (13:27):
And doing the donut shop. So I was managing
from 5:30 to, like, 12:30, 1:30.I would go to the donut shop and
kick my feet up and take a napon, like, the little rolly
chair. And at 2, we would start.And so then I'd work from 2 to 9
AM, and then drive home, go takemy kid to school, or go sleep,
either one.
(13:49):
There was a couple times the theCarlsbad beach, what is it, the
sea, whatever Carlsbad's windand sea Yeah. Area, I would go
park over there and sleep for 45minutes knowing that I wouldn't
be able to make it home. So I'mlike, well, it's a good place to
sleep by the beach.
Bret (14:06):
Oh my gosh.
Renee Bexiga (14:07):
I got the sun rising up or whatever. It was
fun. It was fun, but like Isaid, very tiring, overwhelming.
It's it's, you know, that Wow.Gotta make the donuts, that 4
AM, that commercial from Dunkin'Donuts
Bret (14:18):
on
Renee Bexiga (14:18):
the East Coast, but it's not. It they were in
there at 2 AM every morning.
Bret (14:24):
That's I had heard such things. Now you you you
mentioned that, you kept therecipes, and so they're the same
donuts, but but they're not thesame donuts. You have turned it
into an art form.
Renee Bexiga (14:36):
Yeah.
Bret (14:37):
Your donuts are so amazing Thank
Renee Bexiga (14:41):
you.
Bret (14:41):
Artistically. Talk about that side of it.
Renee Bexiga (14:44):
Well, that was the cupcake girl
Bret (14:47):
coming in.
Renee Bexiga (14:47):
So we created the basic doughnuts. We still wanted
to keep it a doughnut shop, butwe were trying to add flair and
do something different. And Ifollow a bunch of people. And so
working with fondant, creatingcharacters, or like, we have a
Cookie Monster donut. It wassuper cute.
It was a Oreo not an Oreo. ChipsAhoy cookie, big marshmallow
eyeballs, you know, and then Ijust go out in on, Instagram and
(15:12):
everything. You see everybodydoing stuff. So I would just
gather ideas and go, okay, thisis what I wanna do. Same as with
the cupcakes.
Somebody comes to me with anidea. I want Marvel or I want, I
don't know, Paw Patrol or HelloKitty, you know. And I go, okay.
What can I do? And I just startbrainstorming and coming up with
ideas.
(15:33):
And I think a lot of kids, I'velearned, don't really like cake
anymore. They really like thedonuts, and they're individual
pieces that you can hand outinstead of cakes where they
gotta cut them and Yeah. Divvythem up. But, yeah, it was just
creating just that monster in myhead. And it's usually very spur
of the moment.
If I think about it way too farin advance, I kinda postpone it
(15:56):
because I'm like, well, I don'tknow. I don't know. And then,
like, 2 days before, like, justthis monster takes over, and I
just, like, I have ideas. Andthey usually turn out good.
Sometimes they don't.
But most of the time, they turnout okay.
Bret (16:08):
Come on. What's one that didn't turn out good? I'm dying
to know because the yourartistic stuff is so high.
Renee Bexiga (16:14):
Well, and that's it. It's probably that it didn't
turn out good. It wasn't goodenough for me. Yeah. You know?
So everybody, the normal eyewould go, oh my gosh. It's
amazing. And I'm like, well, thecolor's off, or the sprinkle
doesn't look great.
Bret (16:26):
Or Look how you saw it in your head. Exactly. And so then
you're like, it's not goodenough.
Renee Bexiga (16:30):
Yeah. There's not much. I mean, it's a doughnut.
It's sweet. It can't really gothat bad.
Bret (16:34):
Right. Right. Right. And, I need to share with the world,
that you also make donut cakes
Renee Bexiga (16:43):
Yes.
Bret (16:44):
Like birthday cakes. So you made me one last month. I
didn't even know there was sucha thing as a donut birthday cake
until you brought me one lastmonth for my birthday. And that
is super cool. Tell people aboutthat.
Renee Bexiga (16:57):
That's just a big doughnut cake style. It's
literally a doughnut. So we rollout a big thing of dough and cut
a hole in it, and you fry it.And obviously, it cooks a little
bit longer, but it comes out andwe just you know, we've actually
piled them up too where it'sactually a big doughnut on the
bottom, a middle doughnut, alittle doughnut. So it does look
like a cake.
(17:18):
Yeah. But, yeah, that's that's abig seller as well. So you can
get that anytime. 24 hoursnotice, come to us and say you
need a donut cake, and there itis.
Bret (17:27):
There you go. The only 24 hours notice. That's great
because it was a very, uniqueand fun, dessert. And and you
and I have, you know, talkedoffline about this a little bit.
But it's, it's different than aregular cake.
It doesn't dry out, like, youknow, because if you don't get
it all eaten in one sitting.Like, most desserts don't get
(17:48):
eaten all in one sitting. But itdoesn't dry out the same way as
other cakes do.
Renee Bexiga (17:51):
I don't think so. Yeah. I always tell people, I'm
like, I well, I've experienced alot bringing them home for my
son. And 2, 3, 4 days in, we'restill especially, you know, when
you cut that little outside edgemight dry out, but you cut off
that, and you're good with theIt's just as fresh. Think it's
because we glaze it, so theicing is kinda keeping the
moisture in.
It's soft and gooey on theinside.
Bret (18:12):
Yeah. I would have never thought of such a thing. Now,
you guys are open 7 days a week?
Renee Bexiga (18:18):
7 days a week. We do close on holidays every once
a month. Sure. But 6 to 12. Sowe've got our bakers, and then
we've got our front of the housestaff.
So it's different. So, usually,the people running the front
aren't as tired as the bakersare.
Bret (18:32):
Good. That's good. Your website says 6 AM till sold out.
So if you sell out at 10 AM,you're just done.
Renee Bexiga (18:39):
Yes. Unfortunately, because we bake
them fresh and because they area spontaneous thing, we can't we
try to give you a guideline.Yeah. But, you know, sometimes,
if someone comes in and saysthey want 20 dozen, I'm gonna
give them 20 dozen becausethere's no guarantee that I'm
gonna sell all my donuts thatday. Yeah.
So first come, first serve Yep.If you didn't get there. And it
(18:59):
kinda keeps the the idea of, oh,I wanted a donut today, but they
didn't, so I have to gotomorrow.
Bret (19:05):
Yeah. That's scarcity. Now but with that in mind, if
somebody really wanted 20 dozen,they'd be wise to call ahead and
order, wouldn't they? I mean andthen they can do that.
Renee Bexiga (19:15):
Yeah. Most of the time. Yeah. You can call ahead.
We do do a lot of big orders.
So we do, Sundays for churches.Yeah. We do if it's a crazy
order, we try to get you to calla couple days in advance, not
just 24 hours, just to make surewe're staffed.
Bret (19:29):
Yeah. But, Wait. Wait. Wait. To find a crazy order,
what's the biggest order you'veever processed?
Renee Bexiga (19:35):
We did for FedEx, one one it was I think it was
the holiday season. So they'retrying to hook up all their
drivers and, you know, give themgive them stuff to keep them
going.
Bret (19:45):
Give them some love.
Renee Bexiga (19:46):
We did I think it was 40 dozen donuts, but we also
did 250 ham and cheesecroissants. Oh, wow. So we were
all so we have this order. It'slike the basic tie we do we do
the basic, the tiger, and thestinger. It's our homemade
croissants.
We slice them open. We put hamand cheese in there, and we
(20:06):
toast them up, and they'reamazing sandwiches. But we also
put our bacon from our bacon baron there, and then jalapenos. So
we did 250 of those. And to getthem out and warm and delivered
at at crazy I think they wantedthem at 6 30 or 7 in the
morning.
Bret (20:24):
Wow.
Renee Bexiga (20:24):
So we all got there, I think, at 2 in the
morning just to make sure justto pack it up, just to make sure
everything was ready to go.
Bret (20:31):
That's wild. But that shows the scale you could
handle. That's a big order. Soyou guys can you can handle a
big volume. That's really great.
And now, you know, thesepodcasts, they take a little
while before our audience getsto hear this. But as you and I
are sitting here today, it'sabout what is it? The 20
something of January? 24th?24th, I think.
(20:53):
My phone's not cooperating. Whatdoes it say? The 24th, there we
go, of January. So my questionis, have have we gotten past
everybody's New Year'sresolution yet? Or or are they
back to
Renee Bexiga (21:05):
I don't know. Yesterday was a slow day. Slow I
was actually there in the shopyesterday, and we had a lot of
dozens left over.
Bret (21:11):
Okay.
Renee Bexiga (21:12):
But what I try to do is when that happens, because
I don't they're so beautiful andthere's so so much effort goes
into them. So So I try to givethem out to the community or
their neighbors. I have a friendwho works at La Costa Glen.
Bret (21:24):
Nice. Awesome. Is that
Renee Bexiga (21:26):
their home? Yes. Thank you. Sorry. And I was
like, hey, can you come by andget some donuts?
I gave him 4 dozen to take backto the staff. I gave some to my
son's school.
Bret (21:35):
Sure.
Renee Bexiga (21:36):
We do a lot with Javier Oaks too, elementary and
Yeah. And middle. So I try to dostuff with them. And Domino's
will trade. Yeah.
Hey. Give me a pizza. I'll giveyou a dozen donuts for now. So
Love it.
Bret (21:47):
Love it.
Renee Bexiga (21:47):
It works out. There's there's definitely and
then the vet next to us, theyactually when the dogs are ready
to be passed away
Bret (21:55):
Oh, yeah.
Renee Bexiga (21:55):
They'll give them donuts. It's like their their
last meal, which is so cute andso sad. But, we'll give them
donuts. They put them in thefreezer so they have extras to
give them a little treat whilethey're yeah.
Bret (22:07):
How interesting. Well, hopefully, the the, you know,
New Year's resolution buzz will,you know Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (22:16):
I think it's coming back.
Bret (22:17):
It's dying down.
Renee Bexiga (22:18):
They say by 12th, everybody gives up anyway, but I
haven't seen it because we'vehad a lot of dozens left over.
But February is good. Yeah.Valentine's Day. Yeah.
March is actually our biggestmonth. So that must be when
everybody rolls back into it.And they're in their groove.
They're ready to go. Schools,neighborhoods, stuff like that.
Bret (22:36):
Is there a bunch of green donuts for Saint Patrick's Day
in March?
Renee Bexiga (22:39):
We do do that. Yeah. We do that. I mean, every
every holiday, we try to dosomething. Like, right now, we
have our Valentine's Day dozen,and it's hearts and roses and
sprinkles and love and, like,the little the Valentine candies
that you get.
Bret (22:52):
Yeah. So Very fun. Yeah. And we should let everybody know
where you are. We've been wementioned you're in the same
center as Ignite Bistro.
But just in case people don'tknow where that is, tell
everybody where exactly you are.
Renee Bexiga (23:03):
So it's 6986 El Camino, Suite e. We're in the
corner. So if you know whereVons is and the Dove Library
Bret (23:11):
Yes.
Renee Bexiga (23:12):
That bigger area, we're across the street. Yeah.
We're next to US Bank, and,there's like a cryo freeze over
there. The yoga shop actually, alot of people know the yoga
shop. A lot of locals know thatyoga shop.
Bret (23:23):
So Okay. Yeah. Across from the Dove Library, I think that's
a great marker for everybody.And, you have a beautiful
website, which is get the numbnot the number. The letter get
the the letter n, the word go,get and go donuts.com.
Is that right? Yes. And that's agreat place where if they did
(23:44):
wanna make a bigger order, orthey can reach you? Or
Renee Bexiga (23:48):
There is a little banquet thing that they can go
on and and enter information.We'll get on email. Mhmm. We try
to get back within 48 hours, butsometimes calling is easier. The
only thing is our hours.
So Right. You have to callbefore 12:30
Bret (24:01):
Right.
Renee Bexiga (24:01):
Or no one's gonna pick up
Bret (24:03):
Right.
Renee Bexiga (24:03):
Or early in the morning. So Yeah. So email would
be good because we definitelyget that no matter what time it
is.
Bret (24:09):
Okay. Very good. And if they were gonna give you a call,
the phone number is?
Renee Bexiga (24:13):
760-814-2882.
Bret (24:17):
There we go, folks. If you need to press pause and rewind
and listen to that again, youcan grab that. And I I know
that, in addition to being bigAztec fans, it looks like you
guys are pretty big Padre fansin your family.
Renee Bexiga (24:29):
Padre fans. Absolutely. I am still, and
nobody likes to hear it, aCharger fan.
Bret (24:34):
Yeah. We are too.
Renee Bexiga (24:35):
You know,
Bret (24:36):
I'm They're still Southern California even though they
abandoned us here in San Diego.I
Renee Bexiga (24:40):
mean, I grew up going to Jack Murphy Stadium
Bret (24:42):
Yep.
Renee Bexiga (24:43):
And running around the little tubes that they had
and rolling balls down there.And my dad was a big a big fan.
He came from the East Coast aswell. Yeah.
Bret (24:50):
And he
Renee Bexiga (24:50):
was a Steeler fan. But then when he came here, he
became a Charger fan and a Padrefan.
Bret (24:54):
Nice.
Renee Bexiga (24:55):
And, I grew up with all of that. Yeah. Big
sports person.
Bret (25:00):
Lots of fun. Lots of fun. Well, did we miss anything that
we wanted to make sure and touchon?
Renee Bexiga (25:05):
Well, one of our big things is we do National
Donut Day. It's the first Fridayof June. So that's coming up.
People can prepare and get readyfor. So usually, it's, like,
June 2nd to 5th or something,the 1st Friday of June.
Bret (25:19):
Awesome. Yeah. Get get prepared, folks, because it's
gonna be impacted day.
Renee Bexiga (25:23):
And it's busy, so come early.
Bret (25:26):
Very cool. Thank you for coming down, Renee, and taking
time to share with us. And andwe love having you in our
chamber, and we are thebeneficiary of your dough
donuts. Many times, you'vebrought them to events of ours,
and and, we take them outsometimes when Kathleen and I go
visit our members. That's good.
We take them and drop them off,and, we love it's the easiest
(25:48):
thing to get in the door at acompany when you say you're
bringing donuts. They're justlike, oh.
Renee Bexiga (25:52):
Yeah. And everybody's smiling. That's why
I say, Being in food andbeverage, restaurants, I feel
like a lot of times you have todeal with, my steak's not cooked
right or my drink's Sure. MyI've not I think I might have
had over 7 years one complaintabout a doughnut. Most people
are happy.
They smile. They're like, we'rehere.
Bret (26:09):
What what can you complain about a doughnut? It's like
getting flowers. It's amazing.
Renee Bexiga (26:12):
Yeah. And we like to give out little doughnut
holes to the kids. So on on theweekends, while they're waiting
in line, you know, use adoughnut hole. Stay happy.
Bret (26:20):
I love it. Well, thank you so much for taking the time,
and, yeah, can't wait to seeyour next creation.
Renee Bexiga (26:27):
Alright. Well, thank you for having me. I I'm
it was easy and fun. I love it.
Bret (26:31):
Wonderful. It was my pleasure. Thanks for joining us
today on our Carlsbad People,Purpose and Impact podcast. If
you got value out of our episodetoday, please hit the follow
button on your favorite podcastapp, and please tell a friend.
Can't wait to see you next timeon Carlsbad People, Purpose, and
Impact.
Carlsbad, people, purpose, and impact, an
essential podcast for those wholive, work, visit, and play in
Carlsbad.
Bret (00:14):
Good morning, and welcome, everyone. My name is Brett
Schonzenbach. I am the presidentand CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber
of Commerce, and I'm your hosttoday. And I'm pleased to have
with me Renee Bexiga. Did I sayit right?
Renee Bexiga (00:26):
You did.
Bret (00:27):
Bexiga Renee is the owner of Get and Go Donuts and a
friend of the chambers. Goodmorning, Renee.
Renee Bexiga (00:34):
Good morning. How are you?
Bret (00:35):
I'm very well. Thanks for joining me this morning.
Renee Bexiga (00:37):
Absolutely.
Bret (00:38):
I had to practice your last name because it's got a fun
spelling and
Renee Bexiga (00:42):
Everybody does. Yeah.
Bret (00:44):
Although, you know, when you say it, it's fine. It's like
if I didn't look and I justlistened, I'd do better. But if
I looked and tried to connectit, I'm, like, struggling. But,
you
Renee Bexiga (00:51):
know It's the the American x. Everybody says x no
matter what. So Bexiga, allthrough school, my husband had
that. They called him that. ButI always my name is Renee, which
is I've I've always had a weirdtime with people saying that as
well.
Bret (01:05):
Oh, wow.
Renee Bexiga (01:05):
So I've always corrected people my entire life.
So now, Bashiga, it just comesnaturally. Yeah. Like, no. It's
Bashiga.
Say Bashiga, please.
Bret (01:11):
Yeah. Absolutely. It's a beautiful name. So I was, you
know, doing some backgrounddigging to get to know you a
little better before we had ourtime to talk today. And I saw
that you're, you're a NASDAQ.
You're a San Diego State grad.
Renee Bexiga (01:27):
Yes. Are you Yes. Very much so.
Bret (01:29):
Born and raised here
Renee Bexiga (01:30):
in San Diego? I was pretty much raised here. I
was born in Jersey. Okay. I grewup in San Diego in Claremont.
So I've lived there my entirelife. I went to Mesa College
first. Yep. And then I went toSan Diego State. Did a little
bit of the kinda well, at state,it was a 4 year program, but the
total, it was like a 10 yearprogram.
Took me a little while to getthrough. But, yeah, and my
husband is as well. So we'reboth kind of alumni as we
(01:52):
represent. We actually go toSnapdragon now, which is
amazing. I don't know ifanybody's been there.
Bret (01:56):
I have not had a chance to go to Snapdragon yet. It looks
like a really cool venue,though.
Renee Bexiga (02:01):
It is a very nice stadium. It's very open, and
it's beautiful.
Bret (02:05):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It does look very cool. I I need to.
I need to get down there.
Renee Bexiga (02:08):
You should.
Bret (02:09):
I now I have gone to not not this season yet, but,
usually, we get to at least 1 or2 of the Aztec basketball games.
We're big Aztec basketball fans,and they've had
Renee Bexiga (02:20):
On campus. Right? Yes. Yeah. I haven't been there
yet.
Bret (02:22):
Yeah. Yeah. And they've, you know, of course, a couple
years ago, made it all the wayto the national championship
game, you know, which was superfun. We we did hit one of the
games that season, which was funbecause as they were progressing
through the tournament, youknow, we kinda knew the players
a little better because we hadgone that year. So that was
really fun.
But That's cool. They're athey're a great local team to
have in our community.
Renee Bexiga (02:41):
Absolutely. I mean, the campus is amazing.
When we went, it was a lotsmaller. It's grown so much now.
There's I mean, all the the notthe fraternity houses, but all
the housing is on campus.
Bret (02:51):
Right.
Renee Bexiga (02:51):
Like, it wasn't there when I was there. Yeah.
The big field they have a bigsoccer field, and they have a
bunch of stuff going on overthere. Stadiums. We we go to the
concerts a lot.
Bret (03:00):
Nice. Very nice. And and you, like, during college or
right after college or maybe amixture of the 2, got into food
and beverage, like, right
Renee Bexiga (03:10):
away? Right. Well, it was during.
Bret (03:11):
So
Renee Bexiga (03:12):
I I put myself through school doing that. Yeah.
I probably, had 2 I had amorning waitress job and an
afternoon waitress job atOutback Steakhouse.
Bret (03:21):
Nice.
Renee Bexiga (03:22):
And then I went to school Tuesdays Thursdays all
day. So I was Yep. Working andgoing. But, yeah, the food and
beverage has been my life for along time.
Bret (03:30):
Yeah. And then I saw that you became, like, lead bartender
at Rock Bottom
Renee Bexiga (03:35):
Yeah. For a while? So I went from Outback to Rock
Bottom downtown. I was there for8 or 10 years, and worked my way
up there. So lead bartending.
It was fun. We had Yeah. Musicin the front, and then we had a
DJ in the back. We also had anupstairs with a little bar and
pool tables. It was a reallycool place.
Cool. It's restaurants are nicebecause you create family.
Bret (03:56):
Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (03:56):
Family that you didn't know you had, and you
spend most of your time there.So I still have girlfriends.
Actually, one of my bestgirlfriends was a cocktail
waitress there. Nice. So we'veknown each other for over 20
years, and our kids are 3 weeksapart.
Bret (04:09):
Oh, wow. How fun. Yeah. That that whole, you know,
bartending vibe. I was gonnaask, like, do you have a like,
did you guys have regulars thatcame in that you knew?
Like, was did were you able tocreate that kinda cheers
experience?
Renee Bexiga (04:23):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Having the the drink
on the bar before they even gotthere Oh, wow. Or, there was a
group of guys. They were lawyersthat would come in after work,
and they would always sit in thecorner.
And you knew they all had thesame beer or what they were
drinking. And you you just startto create that because that's
how you make your money. Yeah.You you create relationships.
(04:44):
You create friendships.
I had one old regular, Jimbo, Iused to call him. He was an old
vet, and he would come in, andthat was his afternoon. And he
would come out and hang out, andwe would actually because on
Tuesday afternoons, I did thelunch shift, and it was slower.
So I would do the crosswords inthe paper, and he would sit
there and help me and Oh, okay.And, I met his daughter.
(05:05):
I met his family, so that waskinda neat. But he was my my
Tuesday regular.
Bret (05:10):
Oh, fun. Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (05:11):
It was cool.
Bret (05:11):
That's very cool. And, like, to your point, like, you
wanna create that atmospherethat they feel valued and seen
and known because, obviously,they're gonna tip better, and
Yeah. You're gonna pick
Renee Bexiga (05:22):
You hope for that. Yeah. And if not, like I said,
some of the friendships are niceenough that, you know, they give
you some, and you're like, no.No. No.
It's okay. I don't need that.But Yeah. It's always nice.
Bret (05:32):
That's cool. And then, you and I met when you were at
Ignite Bistro.
Renee Bexiga (05:38):
Yeah. Long time ago.
Bret (05:39):
Yeah. And you were you were there for a while.
Renee Bexiga (05:42):
Yep. For the almost the duration. It opened
in 2011. Yep. And then,obviously, COVID hit in 2019.
Right. And I think 8 monthsafter that, they actually shut
down.
Bret (05:52):
Yeah. Yeah. And you you were a manager there?
Renee Bexiga (05:56):
Mhmm. Assistant manager. I left for a little
bit, had my kid. Yeah. And thenI came back as the assistant
manager banquet coordinator.
So I did a lot of events there,which was cool. We had a great
patio.
Bret (06:08):
You did have a great patio. I remember doing a
chamber happy hour there whenyou were there, and you had that
man candy to die for.
Renee Bexiga (06:17):
Oh, yeah.
Bret (06:18):
Oh my goodness. That's stuff.
Renee Bexiga (06:19):
Good stuff.
Bret (06:20):
That was addicting. It was That
Renee Bexiga (06:21):
was our big seller.
Bret (06:23):
That was so good. It was well, it was, I'm trying to
remember. Bacon wrapped, dates.Right?
Renee Bexiga (06:29):
No. No. I don't know. What? It was just bacon.
So the appetizer was just stripsof bacon, and we did brown sugar
Brown
Bret (06:36):
sugar.
Renee Bexiga (06:36):
Red pepper, and other things I can't talk about.
You gotta keep it a littlesecret.
Bret (06:40):
Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (06:41):
But we would serve it in strips. So we would cook
it, and so it was more like ajerky. It would stand tall, and
we'd put it in a little cup andserve it on the table. But that
was the signature. And then forbanquets, we actually did it
covered, like, drizzled inchocolate.
Bret (06:55):
Oh my goodness. Right.
Renee Bexiga (06:57):
Imagine that. Delectable.
Bret (06:59):
Yeah. So Ignite, yeah, you were there for a while. And as
you pointed out, they neverreally came back out of COVID
there. Now if I remembercorrectly, the story goes that
the ownership was more Coloradobased or something. Yeah.
This was, like, their onlyCalifornia restaurant, and they
kinda just said, I wanna dealwith California's weirdness.
Renee Bexiga (07:19):
He's older. Frank Day was the owner, and he was
the one who originated RockBottom Breweries Oh. Back in
Colorado, and they went allover, like, the west. But he had
so much hotels and restaurantsin Colorado that he was dealing
with, and he's a little up inage. He's probably, like now
he's almost 90.
Bret (07:38):
Okay. So
Renee Bexiga (07:38):
when that happened, he was 85. Yeah. He
didn't wanna keep flying backand forth. Yeah. And Seth, my
business partner, tried reallyhard to keep it going.
Bret (07:47):
Yep. With
Renee Bexiga (07:48):
the to go program, because everything at that point
was to go Yeah. And take out.And Yeah. We had 2 different
kitchens. We had the mainkitchen and then the pizza
kitchen.
So just to hire people to getall that going and doing
everything and
Bret (08:00):
It was a lot.
Renee Bexiga (08:00):
It just yeah. It it wasn't on the best side. He
probably would've had to put ina lot of money just to try and
start something, and then whoknows if it would've worked.
Yeah. It was sad.
Bret (08:11):
Yeah. Yeah. That was that was a bummer. It was a great
restaurant even beyond just theman man can it was good. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But before beforeCOVID, you actually then
launched into Get and Go. Sowhich is, we're gonna obviously
get into the details more of Getand Go. But I really before we
(08:32):
get into that, I wanna know why.
Why? What what motivated you?What was that thing that just
said, I'm ready to startsomething different, and and why
a donut shop?
Renee Bexiga (08:45):
So it was actually more spur of the moment than,
hey, I wanna start a businessnow. Interesting. So it is in
the same strip mall as Ignite.
Bret (08:53):
Yep.
Renee Bexiga (08:54):
It was down the way. And in restaurants, a lot
of times, you have your weeklymeetings or your monthly
meetings. You get everybodytogether, and Seth would go get
donuts from the shop because itwas super close. We could go 5
minutes before the meeting, goget them and come back. And they
were selling.
So one day, he saw a for salesign, and I guess he was, like,
(09:14):
mulling it over. And I had triedto do a cupcake business
Bret (09:17):
Okay.
Renee Bexiga (09:18):
On the side, called the Cupcake Chick, like
Chic, c h I c Yeah. Instead ofchick. But I was doing it with
friends, and so it was like,yeah, just buy me the stuff, and
I'll make you great donuts. Andthey were beautiful. I loved
working with fondant fondantand, like, creating and making
them like PAW Patrol, you know,making it really look like that.
(09:41):
But it didn't take off becauseit wasn't making money because I
was like, just give me a littlebit, and I'll do it for free.
And so, when he came with me tome with that, I was like, it
almost makes sense. But it wasstill scary. It's like Yeah. A
new business, and you have toput money in, and you have to do
this, and you have to investtime.
But from the beginning, my myhusband and, and you know Eddie.
Bret (10:04):
Yes.
Renee Bexiga (10:04):
And then his brother his brother kept saying,
jump on it. Jump on it. Yougotta do it. You gotta move now.
So that was kind of it.
And I was, like, alright. Let'sdo it. And I knew nothing about
donuts. I mean, restaurantindustry, but I had never worked
with donuts. I baked at home forthe cupcakes.
So
Bret (10:20):
Sure.
Renee Bexiga (10:20):
Big quantity or fryers and all that and making
the dough. I had no clue. And,we just said, you know what?
Let's try it. If you don't tryit, you're never gonna know.
And even if it doesn't work,then you keep going and do
something else. But
Bret (10:34):
Yeah. It was it
Renee Bexiga (10:36):
was it was a fun time. It was stressful, but it
was a fun time.
Bret (10:39):
Yeah. Alright. We're gonna take a brief pause. We're
talking to Renee Bashega.
Renee Bexiga (10:44):
Mhmm. Oh, I'm
Bret (10:44):
getting Bashega? Renee Bashega, the owner of Get and Go
Donuts. And when we come back,we're gonna dive in to Get and
Go in more detail, so stick withus. We'll be right back. So,
(11:54):
Renee, before we took a break,we were just talking about your
personal journey to getting intothe doughnut business.
But, you know, I've had theprivilege of knowing a couple
people, through my years inchamber work that had doughnut
businesses. It's not theeasiest, business out there.
(12:16):
When you were first dove in,like and I don't hopefully not
today, but, what time in themorning did you start? Oh,
goodness.
Renee Bexiga (12:26):
It was normally 2 when we first started. So the
owners actually decided to trainus for a month because they were
Cambodian. They didn't have anyrecipes written down.
Bret (12:36):
Oh, goodness.
Renee Bexiga (12:37):
All in his head. So we had to really work with
him. And the language barrierswere a little tough, learning
and writing stuff down andtrying to create our recipes
from their versions, but westill stick to everything that
they have done. All the recipesare the same. The donuts are the
same.
And that's one thing that mostpeople say when they come in is,
(12:57):
wow, it's so great that you'rethey're still the same donuts
that we had back in the day. Butyeah. So 2 in the morning Oh.
And then go till whenever wewould we were open till 2. We've
kinda changed that now till 12.
Bret (13:09):
Mhmm.
Renee Bexiga (13:10):
Because after after 12, there's really nobody
looking for donuts.
Bret (13:13):
Right.
Renee Bexiga (13:14):
But then it changed, and it got earlier. The
busier we got, I was coming inat 12 AM
Bret (13:19):
Oh my goodness.
Renee Bexiga (13:19):
Or 11 PM.
Bret (13:21):
Oh my goodness.
Renee Bexiga (13:23):
So, it was tough because the 1st year, I was
still working at Ignite
Bret (13:27):
Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (13:27):
And doing the donut shop. So I was managing
from 5:30 to, like, 12:30, 1:30.I would go to the donut shop and
kick my feet up and take a napon, like, the little rolly
chair. And at 2, we would start.And so then I'd work from 2 to 9
AM, and then drive home, go takemy kid to school, or go sleep,
either one.
(13:49):
There was a couple times the theCarlsbad beach, what is it, the
sea, whatever Carlsbad's windand sea Yeah. Area, I would go
park over there and sleep for 45minutes knowing that I wouldn't
be able to make it home. So I'mlike, well, it's a good place to
sleep by the beach.
Bret (14:06):
Oh my gosh.
Renee Bexiga (14:07):
I got the sun rising up or whatever. It was
fun. It was fun, but like Isaid, very tiring, overwhelming.
It's it's, you know, that Wow.Gotta make the donuts, that 4
AM, that commercial from Dunkin'Donuts
Bret (14:18):
on
Renee Bexiga (14:18):
the East Coast, but it's not. It they were in
there at 2 AM every morning.
Bret (14:24):
That's I had heard such things. Now you you you
mentioned that, you kept therecipes, and so they're the same
donuts, but but they're not thesame donuts. You have turned it
into an art form.
Renee Bexiga (14:36):
Yeah.
Bret (14:37):
Your donuts are so amazing Thank
Renee Bexiga (14:41):
you.
Bret (14:41):
Artistically. Talk about that side of it.
Renee Bexiga (14:44):
Well, that was the cupcake girl
Bret (14:47):
coming in.
Renee Bexiga (14:47):
So we created the basic doughnuts. We still wanted
to keep it a doughnut shop, butwe were trying to add flair and
do something different. And Ifollow a bunch of people. And so
working with fondant, creatingcharacters, or like, we have a
Cookie Monster donut. It wassuper cute.
It was a Oreo not an Oreo. ChipsAhoy cookie, big marshmallow
eyeballs, you know, and then Ijust go out in on, Instagram and
(15:12):
everything. You see everybodydoing stuff. So I would just
gather ideas and go, okay, thisis what I wanna do. Same as with
the cupcakes.
Somebody comes to me with anidea. I want Marvel or I want, I
don't know, Paw Patrol or HelloKitty, you know. And I go, okay.
What can I do? And I just startbrainstorming and coming up with
ideas.
(15:33):
And I think a lot of kids, I'velearned, don't really like cake
anymore. They really like thedonuts, and they're individual
pieces that you can hand outinstead of cakes where they
gotta cut them and Yeah. Divvythem up. But, yeah, it was just
creating just that monster in myhead. And it's usually very spur
of the moment.
If I think about it way too farin advance, I kinda postpone it
(15:56):
because I'm like, well, I don'tknow. I don't know. And then,
like, 2 days before, like, justthis monster takes over, and I
just, like, I have ideas. Andthey usually turn out good.
Sometimes they don't.
But most of the time, they turnout okay.
Bret (16:08):
Come on. What's one that didn't turn out good? I'm dying
to know because the yourartistic stuff is so high.
Renee Bexiga (16:14):
Well, and that's it. It's probably that it didn't
turn out good. It wasn't goodenough for me. Yeah. You know?
So everybody, the normal eyewould go, oh my gosh. It's
amazing. And I'm like, well, thecolor's off, or the sprinkle
doesn't look great.
Bret (16:26):
Or Look how you saw it in your head. Exactly. And so then
you're like, it's not goodenough.
Renee Bexiga (16:30):
Yeah. There's not much. I mean, it's a doughnut.
It's sweet. It can't really gothat bad.
Bret (16:34):
Right. Right. Right. And, I need to share with the world,
that you also make donut cakes
Renee Bexiga (16:43):
Yes.
Bret (16:44):
Like birthday cakes. So you made me one last month. I
didn't even know there was sucha thing as a donut birthday cake
until you brought me one lastmonth for my birthday. And that
is super cool. Tell people aboutthat.
Renee Bexiga (16:57):
That's just a big doughnut cake style. It's
literally a doughnut. So we rollout a big thing of dough and cut
a hole in it, and you fry it.And obviously, it cooks a little
bit longer, but it comes out andwe just you know, we've actually
piled them up too where it'sactually a big doughnut on the
bottom, a middle doughnut, alittle doughnut. So it does look
like a cake.
(17:18):
Yeah. But, yeah, that's that's abig seller as well. So you can
get that anytime. 24 hoursnotice, come to us and say you
need a donut cake, and there itis.
Bret (17:27):
There you go. The only 24 hours notice. That's great
because it was a very, uniqueand fun, dessert. And and you
and I have, you know, talkedoffline about this a little bit.
But it's, it's different than aregular cake.
It doesn't dry out, like, youknow, because if you don't get
it all eaten in one sitting.Like, most desserts don't get
(17:48):
eaten all in one sitting. But itdoesn't dry out the same way as
other cakes do.
Renee Bexiga (17:51):
I don't think so. Yeah. I always tell people, I'm
like, I well, I've experienced alot bringing them home for my
son. And 2, 3, 4 days in, we'restill especially, you know, when
you cut that little outside edgemight dry out, but you cut off
that, and you're good with theIt's just as fresh. Think it's
because we glaze it, so theicing is kinda keeping the
moisture in.
It's soft and gooey on theinside.
Bret (18:12):
Yeah. I would have never thought of such a thing. Now,
you guys are open 7 days a week?
Renee Bexiga (18:18):
7 days a week. We do close on holidays every once
a month. Sure. But 6 to 12. Sowe've got our bakers, and then
we've got our front of the housestaff.
So it's different. So, usually,the people running the front
aren't as tired as the bakersare.
Bret (18:32):
Good. That's good. Your website says 6 AM till sold out.
So if you sell out at 10 AM,you're just done.
Renee Bexiga (18:39):
Yes. Unfortunately, because we bake
them fresh and because they area spontaneous thing, we can't we
try to give you a guideline.Yeah. But, you know, sometimes,
if someone comes in and saysthey want 20 dozen, I'm gonna
give them 20 dozen becausethere's no guarantee that I'm
gonna sell all my donuts thatday. Yeah.
So first come, first serve Yep.If you didn't get there. And it
(18:59):
kinda keeps the the idea of, oh,I wanted a donut today, but they
didn't, so I have to gotomorrow.
Bret (19:05):
Yeah. That's scarcity. Now but with that in mind, if
somebody really wanted 20 dozen,they'd be wise to call ahead and
order, wouldn't they? I mean andthen they can do that.
Renee Bexiga (19:15):
Yeah. Most of the time. Yeah. You can call ahead.
We do do a lot of big orders.
So we do, Sundays for churches.Yeah. We do if it's a crazy
order, we try to get you to calla couple days in advance, not
just 24 hours, just to make surewe're staffed.
Bret (19:29):
Yeah. But, Wait. Wait. Wait. To find a crazy order,
what's the biggest order you'veever processed?
Renee Bexiga (19:35):
We did for FedEx, one one it was I think it was
the holiday season. So they'retrying to hook up all their
drivers and, you know, give themgive them stuff to keep them
going.
Bret (19:45):
Give them some love.
Renee Bexiga (19:46):
We did I think it was 40 dozen donuts, but we also
did 250 ham and cheesecroissants. Oh, wow. So we were
all so we have this order. It'slike the basic tie we do we do
the basic, the tiger, and thestinger. It's our homemade
croissants.
We slice them open. We put hamand cheese in there, and we
(20:06):
toast them up, and they'reamazing sandwiches. But we also
put our bacon from our bacon baron there, and then jalapenos. So
we did 250 of those. And to getthem out and warm and delivered
at at crazy I think they wantedthem at 6 30 or 7 in the
morning.
Bret (20:24):
Wow.
Renee Bexiga (20:24):
So we all got there, I think, at 2 in the
morning just to make sure justto pack it up, just to make sure
everything was ready to go.
Bret (20:31):
That's wild. But that shows the scale you could
handle. That's a big order. Soyou guys can you can handle a
big volume. That's really great.
And now, you know, thesepodcasts, they take a little
while before our audience getsto hear this. But as you and I
are sitting here today, it'sabout what is it? The 20
something of January? 24th?24th, I think.
(20:53):
My phone's not cooperating. Whatdoes it say? The 24th, there we
go, of January. So my questionis, have have we gotten past
everybody's New Year'sresolution yet? Or or are they
back to
Renee Bexiga (21:05):
I don't know. Yesterday was a slow day. Slow I
was actually there in the shopyesterday, and we had a lot of
dozens left over.
Bret (21:11):
Okay.
Renee Bexiga (21:12):
But what I try to do is when that happens, because
I don't they're so beautiful andthere's so so much effort goes
into them. So So I try to givethem out to the community or
their neighbors. I have a friendwho works at La Costa Glen.
Bret (21:24):
Nice. Awesome. Is that
Renee Bexiga (21:26):
their home? Yes. Thank you. Sorry. And I was
like, hey, can you come by andget some donuts?
I gave him 4 dozen to take backto the staff. I gave some to my
son's school.
Bret (21:35):
Sure.
Renee Bexiga (21:36):
We do a lot with Javier Oaks too, elementary and
Yeah. And middle. So I try to dostuff with them. And Domino's
will trade. Yeah.
Hey. Give me a pizza. I'll giveyou a dozen donuts for now. So
Love it.
Bret (21:47):
Love it.
Renee Bexiga (21:47):
It works out. There's there's definitely and
then the vet next to us, theyactually when the dogs are ready
to be passed away
Bret (21:55):
Oh, yeah.
Renee Bexiga (21:55):
They'll give them donuts. It's like their their
last meal, which is so cute andso sad. But, we'll give them
donuts. They put them in thefreezer so they have extras to
give them a little treat whilethey're yeah.
Bret (22:07):
How interesting. Well, hopefully, the the, you know,
New Year's resolution buzz will,you know Yeah.
Renee Bexiga (22:16):
I think it's coming back.
Bret (22:17):
It's dying down.
Renee Bexiga (22:18):
They say by 12th, everybody gives up anyway, but I
haven't seen it because we'vehad a lot of dozens left over.
But February is good. Yeah.Valentine's Day. Yeah.
March is actually our biggestmonth. So that must be when
everybody rolls back into it.And they're in their groove.
They're ready to go. Schools,neighborhoods, stuff like that.
Bret (22:36):
Is there a bunch of green donuts for Saint Patrick's Day
in March?
Renee Bexiga (22:39):
We do do that. Yeah. We do that. I mean, every
every holiday, we try to dosomething. Like, right now, we
have our Valentine's Day dozen,and it's hearts and roses and
sprinkles and love and, like,the little the Valentine candies
that you get.
Bret (22:52):
Yeah. So Very fun. Yeah. And we should let everybody know
where you are. We've been wementioned you're in the same
center as Ignite Bistro.
But just in case people don'tknow where that is, tell
everybody where exactly you are.
Renee Bexiga (23:03):
So it's 6986 El Camino, Suite e. We're in the
corner. So if you know whereVons is and the Dove Library
Bret (23:11):
Yes.
Renee Bexiga (23:12):
That bigger area, we're across the street. Yeah.
We're next to US Bank, and,there's like a cryo freeze over
there. The yoga shop actually, alot of people know the yoga
shop. A lot of locals know thatyoga shop.
Bret (23:23):
So Okay. Yeah. Across from the Dove Library, I think that's
a great marker for everybody.And, you have a beautiful
website, which is get the numbnot the number. The letter get
the the letter n, the word go,get and go donuts.com.
Is that right? Yes. And that's agreat place where if they did
(23:44):
wanna make a bigger order, orthey can reach you? Or
Renee Bexiga (23:48):
There is a little banquet thing that they can go
on and and enter information.We'll get on email. Mhmm. We try
to get back within 48 hours, butsometimes calling is easier. The
only thing is our hours.
So Right. You have to callbefore 12:30
Bret (24:01):
Right.
Renee Bexiga (24:01):
Or no one's gonna pick up
Bret (24:03):
Right.
Renee Bexiga (24:03):
Or early in the morning. So Yeah. So email would
be good because we definitelyget that no matter what time it
is.
Bret (24:09):
Okay. Very good. And if they were gonna give you a call,
the phone number is?
Renee Bexiga (24:13):
760-814-2882.
Bret (24:17):
There we go, folks. If you need to press pause and rewind
and listen to that again, youcan grab that. And I I know
that, in addition to being bigAztec fans, it looks like you
guys are pretty big Padre fansin your family.
Renee Bexiga (24:29):
Padre fans. Absolutely. I am still, and
nobody likes to hear it, aCharger fan.
Bret (24:34):
Yeah. We are too.
Renee Bexiga (24:35):
You know,
Bret (24:36):
I'm They're still Southern California even though they
abandoned us here in San Diego.I
Renee Bexiga (24:40):
mean, I grew up going to Jack Murphy Stadium
Bret (24:42):
Yep.
Renee Bexiga (24:43):
And running around the little tubes that they had
and rolling balls down there.And my dad was a big a big fan.
He came from the East Coast aswell. Yeah.
Bret (24:50):
And he
Renee Bexiga (24:50):
was a Steeler fan. But then when he came here, he
became a Charger fan and a Padrefan.
Bret (24:54):
Nice.
Renee Bexiga (24:55):
And, I grew up with all of that. Yeah. Big
sports person.
Bret (25:00):
Lots of fun. Lots of fun. Well, did we miss anything that
we wanted to make sure and touchon?
Renee Bexiga (25:05):
Well, one of our big things is we do National
Donut Day. It's the first Fridayof June. So that's coming up.
People can prepare and get readyfor. So usually, it's, like,
June 2nd to 5th or something,the 1st Friday of June.
Bret (25:19):
Awesome. Yeah. Get get prepared, folks, because it's
gonna be impacted day.
Renee Bexiga (25:23):
And it's busy, so come early.
Bret (25:26):
Very cool. Thank you for coming down, Renee, and taking
time to share with us. And andwe love having you in our
chamber, and we are thebeneficiary of your dough
donuts. Many times, you'vebrought them to events of ours,
and and, we take them outsometimes when Kathleen and I go
visit our members. That's good.
We take them and drop them off,and, we love it's the easiest
(25:48):
thing to get in the door at acompany when you say you're
bringing donuts. They're justlike, oh.
Renee Bexiga (25:52):
Yeah. And everybody's smiling. That's why
I say, Being in food andbeverage, restaurants, I feel
like a lot of times you have todeal with, my steak's not cooked
right or my drink's Sure. MyI've not I think I might have
had over 7 years one complaintabout a doughnut. Most people
are happy.
They smile. They're like, we'rehere.
Bret (26:09):
What what can you complain about a doughnut? It's like
getting flowers. It's amazing.
Renee Bexiga (26:12):
Yeah. And we like to give out little doughnut
holes to the kids. So on on theweekends, while they're waiting
in line, you know, use adoughnut hole. Stay happy.
Bret (26:20):
I love it. Well, thank you so much for taking the time,
and, yeah, can't wait to seeyour next creation.
Renee Bexiga (26:27):
Alright. Well, thank you for having me. I I'm
it was easy and fun. I love it.
Bret (26:31):
Wonderful. It was my pleasure. Thanks for joining us
today on our Carlsbad People,Purpose and Impact podcast. If
you got value out of our episodetoday, please hit the follow
button on your favorite podcastapp, and please tell a friend.
Can't wait to see you next timeon Carlsbad People, Purpose, and
Impact.
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