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Debbie and Buster at the Vanilla Bean Bakery Interview by Janette Kaddo Marino How , when and why did you start this business. How many people do you employ? Why did you choose Troy? We Started in 1984-85 in Lake George. We wanted a catchy name that would appeal to most people. We thought of something in the line of chocolate. We knew there was a cocoa bean but I didn't realize there was a vanilla bean. It starts out as an orchid and then it looks like a pod. So we designed the logo and the name for the Vanilla Bean. We were formally Pop's bake shop. We went through some tough times. We did real well with that but we were a little young. We made a lot of mistakes with the management part of that. We got a second chance when we went to Lake George and tried it up there for a couple of years. We had family ties in Troy so we decided to come back. We had two customers (Regans and Redfront) and then I (Buster) had a heart attack. We decided to dig in and concentrate just on wholesale. We made a good comeback. We had some help from friends. (Lenni's Subs bought us flour just to get us going again). We started building up our business, we built up our credit and then we bought Casalle's. Tavern. Before we knew it. We had people lined up out the door. We did that for 3-4years. This place was empty for awhile and the City helped us out immensely. Initially we got a grant, an IDA and SDA Loans. This location has turned out to be very successful. Each day just got better and better. The nice facade that we put on the bakery and what we did for the area helped; we grew from there. Our professionalism grew because we hired more knowledgeable people. A lot of fortunate stuff happened along the way. Our wholesale increased, we got into the Grand Union, we got our product into the Sysco chain; the retail stores did well. Our name spread with desserts and rolls. We have about 15 restaurants and banquet houses. We diversified. We then opened up in Albany and that has turned out well. Presently we employ close to 80 people and we're currently looking to have a presence in Latham. Your obviously a successful and thriving business. What would you attribute this success to? Persistence and consistency! You have to really care about what you are doing. It just can't be for the money. You have to have a dream about where you want to go and every day take little steps to get there. We care about what we make and there's a lot of pride. We use the best ingredients. We have a lot of family members working with us. We have created an atmosphere of professionalism & pride. One belief I have is that there is no growth without my people; the workers. Henry Ford once said "I am not the smartest, but I surround myself with competent people. What is your favorite item that you make? Buster's favorite: I'm a bread eater. I do love my bread! Good crusty Italian bread. I can't tell my doctor this but I try everything. Debbie's favorite: doughnuts, glazed. She has a weakness for a glazed donut. Currently our society is on this health food kick. What do you offer the general consumer who is looking for more grain, less sugar more nutritious, natural and fresh? Honestly, I have some fruit items, everything in here isn't necessarily for the health conscious. My bread is just four basic items. People talk health but eat taste. There will always be a market for our stuff. We are not the health food store. We do have some sugar free items and some fresh fruit deserts, some breads like carrot raisin bread. I'm not focused on it, but it's an area I'm looking into. I'm not happy with the taste of a lot of fat free items but I would consider them. Have you reached your goals as a business. Do you have plans to expand any further? No, we're not done. I feel very proud about the Vanilla Bean. I'd like to take it as far as I can. Not for us but for my family and their families. I reached a plateau, the machine is well oiled but I don't just want to stop here. There's a lot of future's involved here. One day I took all the checks one day and tallied that they were from all over, I was really impressed. We're of course very happy with our local support. People that day came from Bennington, Slingerlands, Melrose. I think we can widen our circle but I don't want to go crazy. What do you see as Troy's greatest asset(s)? I have to say its the people. It's changing. A lot of old timers are dying and the make up of the people is changing. But the greatest asset is the people and its history. I've been a Troy person all my life. My son appreciates the older things. I'd love for him to experience it as it was. When you would walk down the street on a summer night and the smell of sauce cooking. I remember, as a side job we'd sell newspaper's outside of St. Mary's Church and so many people would go to church then, that we'd sell a lot. I have a great deal of pride for Troy. I think it's going to be fine. I'm not a politician and I don't want to get on either side, but believe me, I'm a baker and I would never say I could do a better job. But I think this problem exists all over the country. If you could change one thing right now in Troy what would it be? It's reputation, everybody downs Troy. If I could change that I would. But you can't do it with negatives, that's the way I run my business. If you say negative, your going to do negatives and your going to get negatives! Think positives. We noticed that as a business, you are truly one that involves itself in the community. Not just by contributions but by actual participation in community events. (Float in the Flag Day Parade) What criteria if any, do you follow in contributing to the community. We get about 10 requests a day. We do have regular organizations that we deal with. The rest we deal with on a 1 to 1 basis such as Spring Little League and other things that are locally. It's definitely getting out of hand. We put them all in a file and try to do a little each week. My philosophy on it is we enjoy helping. Sometimes we have product that we can give. Financially we do what we can. Debbie just finished making a one year birthday cake for the sextuplets.(see photo) Debbie, what words of encouragement can you give to children who don't necessarily have numerous advantages readily available? Be honest and be loyal to everything you do. If your honest and loyal your job could be endless at what you can achieve. I never wanted anyone to point a finger at me and if they were going to point a finger I wanted it to be nice, not derogatory. In cooperation with Troy United Ink Corp., a not-for-profit corporation 
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