Formerly Unpublished Interview With Carley About Business and Family Life
About a year ago I was working on a story and reached out to Carley with a bunch of questions. I never published the story (only about 5 percent of my stories actually make it to these blog pages). Parts of the story had undertones of what she has just announced. Now that Carley has reached the end of her business life-cycle - or this business life-cycle, anyway - let’s read about the transition of her business from her home to Main Street, and maintaining its growth:
ALBB: Tell us about your early business life when you were delivering to local bakeries.
I started delivering almost 10 years ago to Bank Square Coffee House when [my daughter] Ella was around 14 months old. It was a family affair. My home kitchen was certified and I would bake when Ella napped or was down for the night. My husband would do dishes and late-night deliveries and Ella and I would walk the rest over in the stroller.
ALBB: Were you doing this before she was born?
No, I took time off of working to be at home with Ella. My previous career was in theater admin and production. I had worked in food service, but not as a trained baker.
ALBB: Did having a child help and/or slow your growth into opening your own shop?
Ella and many other factors contributed into the need to move the business out of the house and into a storefront. I would say that as we both get older, I find myself concentrating less on the growth of the business and more on making myself available to Ella and my family. That has definitely had an affect on our rate and amount of growth.
ALBB: Did having a child actually make you make decisions that grew your business faster? Like hiring employees, so that you could accommodate your child and family life?
Yes, having a child makes me have a more controlled work day and set schedule. I try to keep my work to her school hours (or camp hours) and I would often work after her bedtime or before she’s up in the morning. It meant that although I was responsible for creating and building many of the elements of Ella’s, once they were established, it was best for me to have a staff member take over that responsibility so I could concentrate on business growth and family.
In the early days, that meant adding staff. It’s also made it difficult to keep as many layers of the business operating. I can’t always jump back into the kitchen or behind the counter at this point, so we’ve gone from a large staff with a general manager to a smaller staff and smaller menu.
ALBB: When you opened the second location in the Catskills, was that business as usual by that point? Or did you need to make adjustments to your child and family life?
When I opened the business in the Catskills, I had a wonderful manager in place at Ella’s Bellas, so I basically spent several months bouncing back and forth and dragging my family along to help and keep me company. My husband has his own company and they did the renovations to the Catskills building. Ella’s Bellas was running with limited day-to-day needs from me at that point.
ALBB: How many years after opening your first location did you open your second?
Just under six years to opening, but we had been working on the project for eight months when it opened. So it’s really closer to five [years].
ALBB: Do you have family in town who helps you with childcare?
My mother-in-law is in town part-time, so that can be really helpful if we schedule it correctly. We were really lucky to have a wonderful former bakery employee turn into childcare help off and on over the years. She and Ella are still great friends and she's now a successful businesswoman and mother, too!
At the time of this interview, Ella’s Bellas was in several locations. The brand was available at all the Pantry locations, The Taste of NY at Todd Hill, Fresh in Hopewell Junction and their sister shop in the Catskills.
Business Advice From Carley:
I’ve learned that it’s easy to get wrapped up in growing organically, but that can distract from the core of your business. Never lose sight of what you want the business to become.