July 10, 2024 • 21 mins
Ever wondered how a graphic designer morphs into a baking sensation? Join us as we chat with Renato, the mastermind behind the famed New York bakery Baked and the cozy Brooklyn cafe Ciao Gloria. Renato takes us on his unexpected journey from managing a coffee shop to co-founding Baked in 2005, where he honed his culinary skills and achieved remarkable milestones, including publishing cookbooks and launching products with major retailers. After parting ways with Baked in 2017, Renato opened Ciao Gloria, a unique blend of American and Italian baking traditions. Hear about his latest book, Dolci!, which offers an Italian twist on classic American desserts.
In this episode, we will cover:
- The inspiration behind changing career paths
- What inspired Renato to start his writing journey
- What influences motivated his new cookbook and so much more
You can order Dolci! by clicking here
You can follow Renato by clicking here
Two ways I help my students earn $2-10k monthly👇?
1.) Grow your home bakery business inside The Entrepreneur Community by clicking here
2.) Learn to sell digital products inside Digital Product Community by clicking here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeSorono and
one Bundt cake pan.
Fast forward to today, fromnews to magazines, speaking on
national stages and more.
I can truly say that baking haschanged my life.
So now, as a bakery businesscoach, I get to help others have
the same success.
I've helped hundreds of mystudents across the world in my
(00:24):
global membership programsix-figure businesses, mainly
from home.
The Baking for Business podcastis an extension of that, from
actionable tips to valuabletools and resources that can
impact you as a business owner.
I truly believe y'all.
We would never have been givena gift if we couldn't profit and
prosper from it.
So come on, darling.
What are you waiting for?
(00:49):
Today's guest is a wealth ofknowledge.
Considering he never thought hewould actually ever put on an
apron.
What started out as a career ingraphic design, though, evolved
into an amazing career in thebaking industry.
He co-founded the iconic NewYork bakery Baked, which has
been featured by Oprah as wellas Craftsy.
He currently owns the cafe ChowGloria, which is highly rated
(01:16):
in New York as well, and hasreceived press from places like
the New York Times, eatery,bloomberg and more, not to
mention that he's actually aJames Beard Award nominated
baker, with tons of books thathe's put out.
He's back with a new one, whichis called Dolce.
Dolce is all about bringing anItalian twist to classic
(01:42):
American desserts, and todaywe're going to hear all about it
.
So, renato, welcome to theBaking for Business podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Absolutely.
And so, for those who are justunfamiliar with you, how did you
get started in the culinaryindustry?
How did you start off yourcareer?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Well, believe it or not, I kind of I fell into it.
I used to be, I studied art incollege and I fell into it.
I used to be, um, I studied artin college and I was, uh, a
designer when I graduated, um,and then I transitioned very
early on, like I'd say, 19,actually learned 2001.
I started dabbling in um kindof cafe management and operating
(02:22):
kind of a coffee shop stylebusiness.
A couple of years later I had aconversation with a friend of
mine who later became mybusiness partner.
He wanted to open up a bakerybut he wanted to kind of merge
it with my coffee shop idea andthat's how my first business,
Baked, was born, and Bakedopened in 2005.
(02:43):
Um, I, you know, workedtirelessly at that uh bakery for
over a decade, I'd say about 13years, and, um, it remember 12,
13 years and and you kind oflearn trial by fire, I had never
I'd only baked at homepreviously, uh, for friends and
that sort of thing.
So, uh, going from a home bakerto a commercial baker, there's
(03:07):
a huge gap, a huge learningcurve.
So I ran the front of house, Iwould jump into the kitchen when
necessary and I kind of learnedthat way.
So when you're surrounded bybaked goods all day and you're
surrounded by bakers and you'rerunning a business, you tend to
learn very, very quickly.
Baked was a wonderfulexperience.
(03:27):
I wrote four cookbooks with themand I launched a line of
granola, launched a line ofbakeware, a line of mixes
through William Sonoma and SurLa Table, and we opened up a
location in Manhattan, as wellas Tokyo, and I left Baked in
2017 and took some time offbecause if you're a business
(03:51):
owner, you know that time off isa rarity and tried to figure
out what my next steps would beand fortunately, I had an
opportunity to open up another,my own cafe bakery in Prospect
Heights, brooklyn.
I found a great space, greatrent.
(04:11):
I had this concept of Americanand Italian kind of fusing
together in a cafe, and that'show Ciao Gloria came about, and
I've been doing that for fiveyears now five years coming up
this October and the book justcame out a week ago.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Wow, that's awesome.
So you definitely have anamazing background with just
being around the industry.
It's crazy because you said youdidn't want to step in the
kitchen, but you've done someamazing work in the kitchen, so
I love that.
And so, even though you haveother cookbooks in regards to to
(04:50):
Dolce, what was the source thatinspired you to write Right?
Sorry, I got to get this wholebook in view because isn't it so
cute with the gorgeous cover.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Look at that.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's beautiful.
So what inspired you to writethis book?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well, um, you know, we have so many great recipes at
child Gloria, um, that you knowI I love that kind of area
where you can play with Americanand Italian and try to start
fusing them together because, uh, italian American baking it it.
You have a lot of things thatcome to mind.
You have cannoli, sfogliatelle,rainbow cookies, all those
(05:30):
classic Italian desserts thatexist here, and some of them
that actually only exist hereand don't even exist in Italy,
like the rainbow cookie.
That's created by an Italianfor an American audience.
It never made its way back toItaly, but lots of things have
come over here.
So, exploring that area andcreating American desserts that
(05:54):
may have a little bit of anItalian spin, like in the book I
have, like a red velvet cakethat has like some Italian
flavor profiles in it, and sobeing able to say, oh, this is
Italian, american baking, reallykind of opens those doors.
And that's what I did at Chowand that's what I wanted to do
with this book.
The book kind of came aboutjust because, you know, I was
(06:17):
talking to my agent and we weretalking about how Italy, you
know, is seemed to be having aresurgence, not only with
tourism but with food and inculture, and and so we're, like
you know, maybe this is a greattime to kind of put that book
together.
I've had this idea in my headfor years and so, you know,
having Child Gloria and beingable to kind of get this
(06:40):
opportunity to write this book,it just seemed like a no brainer
to me.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Did you have any obstacles in writing it?
Was there any boo-boos, anymiss-ups?
You know you say red velvet andI'm a Southern girl, so I was
over here looking for it.
I was like, wait, I've got tofind this picture.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, it's, it's called the Veluto Rosso, which
is red velvet in Italian, andit's a delicious, delicious cake
.
But yeah, I mean fortunatelywriting the book by by my fifth
book I felt like I'm like, okay,I, this is a path well traveled
for me at this point, so I knowwhat to avoid and what the
(07:18):
obstacles are.
So I felt that it was generallyeasy to write.
I also had a writing partner,casey Elsass, who is kind of
like the go-to person to helpyou finish your cookbook, at
least in Brooklyn, and you knowhe's helped a number of other
kind of chefs and cooks andrestaurateurs complete their
(07:42):
book on tours, complete theirbook.
He's absolutely amazing and hereally kind of keeps you on a
clear path with deadlines andhelping out and assistance, so
that you know the book comes outwhen it's supposed to and looks
how it's supposed to and readshow it's supposed to.
So working with him wasfantastic.
But as far as like any anythingelse, I mean the biggest
(08:06):
obstacle is running a businessand writing a cookbook
simultaneously.
I mean it takes a very eithersane or crazy person to.
You know there's no in betweenwriting a book.
You know it's like it's a verytime consuming thing.
You have to, you know, know,writing a book, writing a
cookbook, which is like a superscientific approach to cooking,
(08:30):
uh, baking, um you know, youhave to know what you're doing
and you have to pay attentionand you can't just like write.
And you know things need to betested, retested, tested again,
tested in other kitchens, testedby other people.
So it's a multi, multi-stepprocess.
It was an enjoyable process,don't get me wrong.
(08:52):
I loved writing this book and Ifeel like it shows that there
is a lot of love that went intoit.
But it takes a lot of time anda lot of effort.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You guys just want to show you a little sneak peek,
but the book is filled with lotsof beautiful imagery,
storytelling, really just littleauthor notes on the side that
guide you through it.
And so I want to take a stepback, because you mentioned
something and a lot of ourviewers well, listeners, 99
percent of them are bakers andthey are in the business and
they do have a thought or anidea to do something different,
be it a digital product, acookbook to blog.
(09:40):
But there is that fear.
So can you kind of go back tomaybe you're a couple books in
now, but did you have anythingthat kind of threw up a red flag
that was like I don't know if Iwant to share my recipes or to
go from business owner to thencookbook author, or did you just
(10:00):
always have a heart to serveand say, okay, I can do this, I
don't mind sharing?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I mean, I think it's the latter.
It's like I, I, you know,there's that little fear that
someone's going to look at thebook and replicate all your
recipes and open up like downthe block from you, you know.
So it's obviously it's a bit ofan irrational fear because you
know these recipes have beenadjusted for a home baker they
(10:34):
would have to take a prettysmart person or a very
professional baker to kind ofsize them up and then, you know,
do what you need to do to themto kind of like make them be a
commercial product.
But but yeah, I mean, with thebaked books it was, it's just
been something that I feel likeis part of the experience.
You know, it's like if you openup a business and people like
your food enough to say, hey, wewant these recipes, you give
(10:57):
them the recipes you know it'slike, and you have a book on
your hands and I think that'syou know, some parts of me is
like writing a book Isn't likeyou're not going to become a
millionaire, you're just, you'vejust will not, unless you're
like a handful of people.
But, um, you know it, I call acookbook like kind of the best
business card you could everhave, you know, because it's
(11:20):
like it's something that's supertangible that you could show
people.
That is part of your brand.
Whatever your brand is, be itpodcast, be it physical brick
and mortar, whatever your brandis, be it podcast, be it
physical brick and mortar, be it, you know, your TikTok or
whatever, it's just somethingnice to kind of say, hey look, I
did this and it's a referenceguide and it's like it
(11:46):
encapsulates a point in time aswell.
You know what I mean.
It's like this book is out.
It's been out for a week, buttwo years from now it'll be just
as great, it'll be wonderful,but it'll symbolize a point in
time that you had with yourbusiness and with your brand.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I love that.
I love how you said it's anextension of your brand, which
really is amazing.
What is the takeaway that youwould like people to get when
they read Dolce?
What is the takeaway?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
that you would like people to get.
When they read Dolce, I mean, Ithink you know in my, as from
my heart, I guess I would wantthem to really connect to it.
I mean, I cause I there arepersonal stories in there.
They're honest stories, truestories.
You know, everything is isbasically spoken from the heart
and even when I didn't have,like, a personal story about a
(12:31):
certain recipe, I delve into thehistorical.
You know, I delve into, you knowwhere this came from, or what I
did to it, or what, where this,where this recipe originated
from, or like what it's.
It's.
You know what it was a hundredyears ago, what it was 200 years
ago and what it is now.
So I loved playing with thehistorical.
(12:53):
I love history, I'm a bit of ahistory buff, so it was nice,
that nice interplay of like okay, here's a funny anecdote,
here's a little bit of historyhere's.
You know, a great way toapproach this recipe.
I just wanted it to be verywell-rounded.
I didn't want it to be likehistorical, historical,
(13:22):
historical or just like.
Hey, this entire book is aboutme, you know.
I wanted it to really pique theinterest of many different
sense of photography.
The photographer, kevinMiyazaki, did the studio shots
and the location shotsthroughout Italy, traveled
around Italy for a few weeks andtook really, really beautiful
photos.
So I, you know, in the end Iwanted it to be just as much as
a cookbook, as a travel log, orsomething you would have on your
(13:48):
coffee table to flip through,or something you would have on
your kitchen counter.
It could live in both places.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Absolutely.
I love that, and this is justanother shot, you guys, of that
beautiful imagery.
Y'all know I love a good coffeecake as a Southerner, so I
cannot wait to dive into thisAbout how long did it take you
to put Dolce together?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I'd say like start to finish, and that includes
everything like rewrites andcover approvals and image
selection, about a year.
You know, we were a bitaggressive, casey and I, because
we wanted the book to come out.
Originally we wanted the bookto come out in spring of 24.
But we just kind of just missedthe deadline just by a little
(14:32):
and we gave ourselves a littlemore breathing room.
So it came out in the summer.
Um, but yeah, we, we wrote it,I would say, in six months, and
then the other six months werelike design and all that.
So it was.
It was a very fast, because I'malso the type of person where I
was like oh, I'm taking on anew project, let's get this done
(14:52):
as quickly as possible, becauseI have other things to do, you
know.
So I kind of really focus, tryto get as much of it done as
humanly possible and then moveon to the next thing.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
And you have some great mentions in here.
Forwards from Joanne Chang,giada De Laurentntis yes which
is amazing.
Uh, nancy silverton, do youhave any particular crushes or
idols that you look up to in thebaking world?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
oh my gosh, I mean I, I have tons of crushes.
I mean I love, I love, dorygreens fan, I love, uh, inna
Garten, I love, oh my gosh,lydia Bastianich.
I mean these are all kind oflike idols to me, but yeah,
there's just so many that I, youknow, I think they're all great
, but I definitely for me tohave those people kind of like
(15:44):
sing praises for my book, itjust I'm over the moon with that
.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Absolutely, and do you have a book tour coming up
Any dates or will you betraveling with Dolce?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, I mean I've done a couple of spots right now
.
I did Rizzoli books last week.
I'm kind of keeping it a littlelike on the low side right now,
simply because I'm actuallysimultaneously opening up a
restaurant directly across thestreet from chow and because I
wanted more to do actually.
(16:17):
Um, yeah, it's just timing,timing wise.
It just I was like, oh well,everything's happening at the
same time, so, um, I'm I'm kindof focusing on that, trying to
get that kind of open andrunning, and then I will go back
on tour in the fall, but beforethen, I think in August.
So next month I'll be doing alittle bit of a West Coast
(16:40):
moment, hitting Seattle, sanFrancisco and LA, and then in
the fall going to try to hit afew more places in the Northeast
, trying to get to Chicago,maybe Minneapolis DC, boston,
that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You're definitely busy, which which I was going to
say.
Well, what are your futureplans?
But after the book, but besidesthe tour, Sleeping, sleeping
(17:21):
somewhere for a few weeks, I isthe place I want to go to.
Yeah, American baking with theItalian feel.
And Renato.
Before I let you go, though, Ido want to thank you so much for
sharing the book and just yourstory with us, but I also do
want to play lightning roundwith you, so are you ready?
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
(17:41):
What is your favorite color?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
My favorite color is blue.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Okay.
What is a dessert you cannotlive without?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
oh my gosh, uh, blackout cake what yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I love it's a good one yeah who is your celebrity
crush?
Oh uh, tina fey oh okay, andwhat is your favorite book?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
my favorite book.
Oh my god, that's a tough one.
Does it have to be a cookbookor a regular book?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
or you can give us one of each one of each, okay,
favorite cookbook.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Um, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Favorite cookbook would be cookbook um, oh my gosh
favorite cookbook would be uh,I can't, I can't even think of
one, I can't even think of one.
It's dolce, y'all.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
That's what he wants to say it's my own book and then
my regular book.
I, you know, I love anything bydavid sadaris.
You know, david sadaris the thewriter.
I I mean anything he does Iabsolutely love lastly, what is
your favorite kitchen utensil?
Oh, it's so stupid.
A rubber spatula.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
No, that's a good one .
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I love a rubber spatula.
I also love an offset spatulathe both of them but I mean a
rubber one is just like yeah, mygo to.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
That's awesome.
From the bottom of my littleSouthern heart, Renato, thank
you so much for coming on andsharing your book and journey
with us today.
I know that everyone listeningwill greatly appreciate it and
it was wonderful to hear moredirectly from you.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Thank you so much.
It was a pleasure Thank youfriends.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
So how amazing was that.
I hope Renato's story inspiredyou and one of the takeaways
that I got from it.
We all do baking.
We all love baking but just thefact of just really showing up
and putting your heritage, yourtwist, your spin on things that
you love and that's what thebook Dolce is all about.
(19:45):
Too often we may want to followtrends or we see someone else
doing something and we're like,ok, I should do that, but when
you really just stay true to whoyou are, it makes the growth
that much more easier andsmoother.
Bernardo has a lot of thingsgoing on with this amazing cafe
and building another one acrossthe street, but he also has an
(20:06):
amazing team and staff thatworks with him, and so I know
not everyone listens as a homebaker.
Some of you guys have a foodtruck, some of you guys have
brick and mortar businesses, andso just let this encourage you
that you can step away and dosomething else.
You know you can write thatcookbook, you can do that
digital product, you can stepinto another realm and expand
(20:30):
your bakery brand.
When you're ready, all right.
Evolution is something that allof us should accept and should
be willing to look forward to,because every single time we
evolve as a person, we evolve asa business owner, it just makes
us hungry to go to the nextlevel, because really it's just
you versus you.
And each and every single oneof his books gets better and
(20:57):
better with time as he continuesto grow his esteemed brand in
New York.
From the bottom of my heart,thank you guys.
So much for tuning in.
I hope today's episode inspiredyou.
Be sure to check out Renato'sbook and all his information in
the show notes and, as always,take care and bye for now, thank
you.
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeSorono and
one Bundt cake pan.
Fast forward to today, fromnews to magazines, speaking on
national stages and more.
I can truly say that baking haschanged my life.
So now, as a bakery businesscoach, I get to help others have
the same success.
I've helped hundreds of mystudents across the world in my
(00:24):
global membership programsix-figure businesses, mainly
from home.
The Baking for Business podcastis an extension of that, from
actionable tips to valuabletools and resources that can
impact you as a business owner.
I truly believe y'all.
We would never have been givena gift if we couldn't profit and
prosper from it.
So come on, darling.
What are you waiting for?
(00:49):
Today's guest is a wealth ofknowledge.
Considering he never thought hewould actually ever put on an
apron.
What started out as a career ingraphic design, though, evolved
into an amazing career in thebaking industry.
He co-founded the iconic NewYork bakery Baked, which has
been featured by Oprah as wellas Craftsy.
He currently owns the cafe ChowGloria, which is highly rated
(01:16):
in New York as well, and hasreceived press from places like
the New York Times, eatery,bloomberg and more, not to
mention that he's actually aJames Beard Award nominated
baker, with tons of books thathe's put out.
He's back with a new one, whichis called Dolce.
Dolce is all about bringing anItalian twist to classic
(01:42):
American desserts, and todaywe're going to hear all about it
.
So, renato, welcome to theBaking for Business podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Absolutely.
And so, for those who are justunfamiliar with you, how did you
get started in the culinaryindustry?
How did you start off yourcareer?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Well, believe it or not, I kind of I fell into it.
I used to be, I studied art incollege and I fell into it.
I used to be, um, I studied artin college and I was, uh, a
designer when I graduated, um,and then I transitioned very
early on, like I'd say, 19,actually learned 2001.
I started dabbling in um kindof cafe management and operating
(02:22):
kind of a coffee shop stylebusiness.
A couple of years later I had aconversation with a friend of
mine who later became mybusiness partner.
He wanted to open up a bakerybut he wanted to kind of merge
it with my coffee shop idea andthat's how my first business,
Baked, was born, and Bakedopened in 2005.
(02:43):
Um, I, you know, workedtirelessly at that uh bakery for
over a decade, I'd say about 13years, and, um, it remember 12,
13 years and and you kind oflearn trial by fire, I had never
I'd only baked at homepreviously, uh, for friends and
that sort of thing.
So, uh, going from a home bakerto a commercial baker, there's
(03:07):
a huge gap, a huge learningcurve.
So I ran the front of house, Iwould jump into the kitchen when
necessary and I kind of learnedthat way.
So when you're surrounded bybaked goods all day and you're
surrounded by bakers and you'rerunning a business, you tend to
learn very, very quickly.
Baked was a wonderfulexperience.
(03:27):
I wrote four cookbooks with themand I launched a line of
granola, launched a line ofbakeware, a line of mixes
through William Sonoma and SurLa Table, and we opened up a
location in Manhattan, as wellas Tokyo, and I left Baked in
2017 and took some time offbecause if you're a business
(03:51):
owner, you know that time off isa rarity and tried to figure
out what my next steps would beand fortunately, I had an
opportunity to open up another,my own cafe bakery in Prospect
Heights, brooklyn.
I found a great space, greatrent.
(04:11):
I had this concept of Americanand Italian kind of fusing
together in a cafe, and that'show Ciao Gloria came about, and
I've been doing that for fiveyears now five years coming up
this October and the book justcame out a week ago.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Wow, that's awesome.
So you definitely have anamazing background with just
being around the industry.
It's crazy because you said youdidn't want to step in the
kitchen, but you've done someamazing work in the kitchen, so
I love that.
And so, even though you haveother cookbooks in regards to to
(04:50):
Dolce, what was the source thatinspired you to write Right?
Sorry, I got to get this wholebook in view because isn't it so
cute with the gorgeous cover.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Look at that.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's beautiful.
So what inspired you to writethis book?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well, um, you know, we have so many great recipes at
child Gloria, um, that you knowI I love that kind of area
where you can play with Americanand Italian and try to start
fusing them together because, uh, italian American baking it it.
You have a lot of things thatcome to mind.
You have cannoli, sfogliatelle,rainbow cookies, all those
(05:30):
classic Italian desserts thatexist here, and some of them
that actually only exist hereand don't even exist in Italy,
like the rainbow cookie.
That's created by an Italianfor an American audience.
It never made its way back toItaly, but lots of things have
come over here.
So, exploring that area andcreating American desserts that
(05:54):
may have a little bit of anItalian spin, like in the book I
have, like a red velvet cakethat has like some Italian
flavor profiles in it, and sobeing able to say, oh, this is
Italian, american baking, reallykind of opens those doors.
And that's what I did at Chowand that's what I wanted to do
with this book.
The book kind of came aboutjust because, you know, I was
(06:17):
talking to my agent and we weretalking about how Italy, you
know, is seemed to be having aresurgence, not only with
tourism but with food and inculture, and and so we're, like
you know, maybe this is a greattime to kind of put that book
together.
I've had this idea in my headfor years and so, you know,
having Child Gloria and beingable to kind of get this
(06:40):
opportunity to write this book,it just seemed like a no brainer
to me.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Did you have any obstacles in writing it?
Was there any boo-boos, anymiss-ups?
You know you say red velvet andI'm a Southern girl, so I was
over here looking for it.
I was like, wait, I've got tofind this picture.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, it's, it's called the Veluto Rosso, which
is red velvet in Italian, andit's a delicious, delicious cake
.
But yeah, I mean fortunatelywriting the book by by my fifth
book I felt like I'm like, okay,I, this is a path well traveled
for me at this point, so I knowwhat to avoid and what the
(07:18):
obstacles are.
So I felt that it was generallyeasy to write.
I also had a writing partner,casey Elsass, who is kind of
like the go-to person to helpyou finish your cookbook, at
least in Brooklyn, and you knowhe's helped a number of other
kind of chefs and cooks andrestaurateurs complete their
(07:42):
book on tours, complete theirbook.
He's absolutely amazing and hereally kind of keeps you on a
clear path with deadlines andhelping out and assistance, so
that you know the book comes outwhen it's supposed to and looks
how it's supposed to and readshow it's supposed to.
So working with him wasfantastic.
But as far as like any anythingelse, I mean the biggest
(08:06):
obstacle is running a businessand writing a cookbook
simultaneously.
I mean it takes a very eithersane or crazy person to.
You know there's no in betweenwriting a book.
You know it's like it's a verytime consuming thing.
You have to, you know, know,writing a book, writing a
cookbook, which is like a superscientific approach to cooking,
(08:30):
uh, baking, um you know, youhave to know what you're doing
and you have to pay attentionand you can't just like write.
And you know things need to betested, retested, tested again,
tested in other kitchens, testedby other people.
So it's a multi, multi-stepprocess.
It was an enjoyable process,don't get me wrong.
(08:52):
I loved writing this book and Ifeel like it shows that there
is a lot of love that went intoit.
But it takes a lot of time anda lot of effort.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You guys just want to show you a little sneak peek,
but the book is filled with lotsof beautiful imagery,
storytelling, really just littleauthor notes on the side that
guide you through it.
And so I want to take a stepback, because you mentioned
something and a lot of ourviewers well, listeners, 99
percent of them are bakers andthey are in the business and
they do have a thought or anidea to do something different,
be it a digital product, acookbook to blog.
(09:40):
But there is that fear.
So can you kind of go back tomaybe you're a couple books in
now, but did you have anythingthat kind of threw up a red flag
that was like I don't know if Iwant to share my recipes or to
go from business owner to thencookbook author, or did you just
(10:00):
always have a heart to serveand say, okay, I can do this, I
don't mind sharing?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I mean, I think it's the latter.
It's like I, I, you know,there's that little fear that
someone's going to look at thebook and replicate all your
recipes and open up like downthe block from you, you know.
So it's obviously it's a bit ofan irrational fear because you
know these recipes have beenadjusted for a home baker they
(10:34):
would have to take a prettysmart person or a very
professional baker to kind ofsize them up and then, you know,
do what you need to do to themto kind of like make them be a
commercial product.
But but yeah, I mean, with thebaked books it was, it's just
been something that I feel likeis part of the experience.
You know, it's like if you openup a business and people like
your food enough to say, hey, wewant these recipes, you give
(10:57):
them the recipes you know it'slike, and you have a book on
your hands and I think that'syou know, some parts of me is
like writing a book Isn't likeyou're not going to become a
millionaire, you're just, you'vejust will not, unless you're
like a handful of people.
But, um, you know it, I call acookbook like kind of the best
business card you could everhave, you know, because it's
(11:20):
like it's something that's supertangible that you could show
people.
That is part of your brand.
Whatever your brand is, be itpodcast, be it physical brick
and mortar, whatever your brandis, be it podcast, be it
physical brick and mortar, be it, you know, your TikTok or
whatever, it's just somethingnice to kind of say, hey look, I
did this and it's a referenceguide and it's like it
(11:46):
encapsulates a point in time aswell.
You know what I mean.
It's like this book is out.
It's been out for a week, buttwo years from now it'll be just
as great, it'll be wonderful,but it'll symbolize a point in
time that you had with yourbusiness and with your brand.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I love that.
I love how you said it's anextension of your brand, which
really is amazing.
What is the takeaway that youwould like people to get when
they read Dolce?
What is the takeaway?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
that you would like people to get.
When they read Dolce, I mean, Ithink you know in my, as from
my heart, I guess I would wantthem to really connect to it.
I mean, I cause I there arepersonal stories in there.
They're honest stories, truestories.
You know, everything is isbasically spoken from the heart
and even when I didn't have,like, a personal story about a
(12:31):
certain recipe, I delve into thehistorical.
You know, I delve into, you knowwhere this came from, or what I
did to it, or what, where this,where this recipe originated
from, or like what it's.
It's.
You know what it was a hundredyears ago, what it was 200 years
ago and what it is now.
So I loved playing with thehistorical.
(12:53):
I love history, I'm a bit of ahistory buff, so it was nice,
that nice interplay of like okay, here's a funny anecdote,
here's a little bit of historyhere's.
You know, a great way toapproach this recipe.
I just wanted it to be verywell-rounded.
I didn't want it to be likehistorical, historical,
(13:22):
historical or just like.
Hey, this entire book is aboutme, you know.
I wanted it to really pique theinterest of many different
sense of photography.
The photographer, kevinMiyazaki, did the studio shots
and the location shotsthroughout Italy, traveled
around Italy for a few weeks andtook really, really beautiful
photos.
So I, you know, in the end Iwanted it to be just as much as
a cookbook, as a travel log, orsomething you would have on your
(13:48):
coffee table to flip through,or something you would have on
your kitchen counter.
It could live in both places.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Absolutely.
I love that, and this is justanother shot, you guys, of that
beautiful imagery.
Y'all know I love a good coffeecake as a Southerner, so I
cannot wait to dive into thisAbout how long did it take you
to put Dolce together?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I'd say like start to finish, and that includes
everything like rewrites andcover approvals and image
selection, about a year.
You know, we were a bitaggressive, casey and I, because
we wanted the book to come out.
Originally we wanted the bookto come out in spring of 24.
But we just kind of just missedthe deadline just by a little
(14:32):
and we gave ourselves a littlemore breathing room.
So it came out in the summer.
Um, but yeah, we, we wrote it,I would say, in six months, and
then the other six months werelike design and all that.
So it was.
It was a very fast, because I'malso the type of person where I
was like oh, I'm taking on anew project, let's get this done
(14:52):
as quickly as possible, becauseI have other things to do, you
know.
So I kind of really focus, tryto get as much of it done as
humanly possible and then moveon to the next thing.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
And you have some great mentions in here.
Forwards from Joanne Chang,giada De Laurentntis yes which
is amazing.
Uh, nancy silverton, do youhave any particular crushes or
idols that you look up to in thebaking world?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
oh my gosh, I mean I, I have tons of crushes.
I mean I love, I love, dorygreens fan, I love, uh, inna
Garten, I love, oh my gosh,lydia Bastianich.
I mean these are all kind oflike idols to me, but yeah,
there's just so many that I, youknow, I think they're all great
, but I definitely for me tohave those people kind of like
(15:44):
sing praises for my book, itjust I'm over the moon with that
.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Absolutely, and do you have a book tour coming up
Any dates or will you betraveling with Dolce?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, I mean I've done a couple of spots right now
.
I did Rizzoli books last week.
I'm kind of keeping it a littlelike on the low side right now,
simply because I'm actuallysimultaneously opening up a
restaurant directly across thestreet from chow and because I
wanted more to do actually.
(16:17):
Um, yeah, it's just timing,timing wise.
It just I was like, oh well,everything's happening at the
same time, so, um, I'm I'm kindof focusing on that, trying to
get that kind of open andrunning, and then I will go back
on tour in the fall, but beforethen, I think in August.
So next month I'll be doing alittle bit of a West Coast
(16:40):
moment, hitting Seattle, sanFrancisco and LA, and then in
the fall going to try to hit afew more places in the Northeast
, trying to get to Chicago,maybe Minneapolis DC, boston,
that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You're definitely busy, which which I was going to
say.
Well, what are your futureplans?
But after the book, but besidesthe tour, Sleeping, sleeping
(17:21):
somewhere for a few weeks, I isthe place I want to go to.
Yeah, American baking with theItalian feel.
And Renato.
Before I let you go, though, Ido want to thank you so much for
sharing the book and just yourstory with us, but I also do
want to play lightning roundwith you, so are you ready?
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
(17:41):
What is your favorite color?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
My favorite color is blue.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Okay.
What is a dessert you cannotlive without?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
oh my gosh, uh, blackout cake what yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I love it's a good one yeah who is your celebrity
crush?
Oh uh, tina fey oh okay, andwhat is your favorite book?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
my favorite book.
Oh my god, that's a tough one.
Does it have to be a cookbookor a regular book?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
or you can give us one of each one of each, okay,
favorite cookbook.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Um, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Favorite cookbook would be cookbook um, oh my gosh
favorite cookbook would be uh,I can't, I can't even think of
one, I can't even think of one.
It's dolce, y'all.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
That's what he wants to say it's my own book and then
my regular book.
I, you know, I love anything bydavid sadaris.
You know, david sadaris the thewriter.
I I mean anything he does Iabsolutely love lastly, what is
your favorite kitchen utensil?
Oh, it's so stupid.
A rubber spatula.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
No, that's a good one .
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I love a rubber spatula.
I also love an offset spatulathe both of them but I mean a
rubber one is just like yeah, mygo to.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
That's awesome.
From the bottom of my littleSouthern heart, Renato, thank
you so much for coming on andsharing your book and journey
with us today.
I know that everyone listeningwill greatly appreciate it and
it was wonderful to hear moredirectly from you.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Thank you so much.
It was a pleasure Thank youfriends.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
So how amazing was that.
I hope Renato's story inspiredyou and one of the takeaways
that I got from it.
We all do baking.
We all love baking but just thefact of just really showing up
and putting your heritage, yourtwist, your spin on things that
you love and that's what thebook Dolce is all about.
(19:45):
Too often we may want to followtrends or we see someone else
doing something and we're like,ok, I should do that, but when
you really just stay true to whoyou are, it makes the growth
that much more easier andsmoother.
Bernardo has a lot of thingsgoing on with this amazing cafe
and building another one acrossthe street, but he also has an
(20:06):
amazing team and staff thatworks with him, and so I know
not everyone listens as a homebaker.
Some of you guys have a foodtruck, some of you guys have
brick and mortar businesses, andso just let this encourage you
that you can step away and dosomething else.
You know you can write thatcookbook, you can do that
digital product, you can stepinto another realm and expand
(20:30):
your bakery brand.
When you're ready, all right.
Evolution is something that allof us should accept and should
be willing to look forward to,because every single time we
evolve as a person, we evolve asa business owner, it just makes
us hungry to go to the nextlevel, because really it's just
you versus you.
And each and every single oneof his books gets better and
(20:57):
better with time as he continuesto grow his esteemed brand in
New York.
From the bottom of my heart,thank you guys.
So much for tuning in.
I hope today's episode inspiredyou.
Be sure to check out Renato'sbook and all his information in
the show notes and, as always,take care and bye for now, thank
you.
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