Food crosses all social and cultural boundaries, we all need it to survive.  One food that stands out as universal in some form, is bread.  Wikipedia lists more than 200 different kinds of bread, not including cakes, pastries and fried dough foods.  Making fresh bread is more than nourishment, it feeds the body as well as the soul.  That was our inspiration for serving the residents of the Caring House in Durham.

You may remember reading my post about the Angels Among Us event that raises awareness and money for brain cancer research.  In addition to introducing me to that organization, Kathy Tobin also told me about the Caring House.  They provide affordable housing, a healing environment and a positive support community for patients at the Duke Cancer Institute.

Sheridan van Wagenberg is the Executive Director.  She gave me a tour of the facility and helped map out a plan for providing dinner to the guests.  The Caring House has a wonderful kitchen with (3) ovens, large stainless tables, ample counter space and a nice selection of cooking tools.  In addition to providing dinner, I wanted to offer the opportunity for guests to help make the bread.

I settled on two kinds, Brother Bandera’s Italian bread from The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking and unleavened bread from Hebrewliving.com.  It seemed only appropriate that we turn this into an Italian feast with freshly made pasta, tomato gravy, a spinach, artichoke and Parmesan salad, and of course, Anna’s Gourmet chocolate chip cookies for dessert!  After dinner, I also asked if we could hold a brief communion service for any guests that might be interested, sharing the freshly made unleavened bread.

Instead of the traditional buffet style dinner for the 25 or so guests, I wanted to offer them restaurant style service in their dining area.  A respite from a full day of doctors, tests, waiting rooms and in some cases, chemotherapy.

We reached out to a few groups for volunteers.  Two people from Debbie’s Bible study group stepped up.  We needed more help and a pastor for the communion service, so I reached out to Todd Moody at Revolve Church in Durham.  I met Todd at the Ronald McDonald House and he was all over it.  “Our mission is to find community organizations where we can serve and love on the people”.  This was the final ingredient I needed for this dinner.

The Caring House promoted our event to guests and two ladies signed up for my bread class.  Renee and Teresa had both made bread before and were eager to get their hands in dough to learn a bit more.  While making fresh bread is therapeutic, it is hard work and time consuming.  With a little advance prep work, we went through all the steps from mixing, to kneading, to proofing and finally baking.

After class, we had bread in the oven and the smell began to drift throughout the house.  Debbie started on the gravy, adding the aromas of olive oil, onions, garlic, herbs and tomatoes.  The perfect combination of smells to welcome our guests back home.

The volunteers arrived in force.  We held a brief pre-dinner meeting to cover the dinner menu, process and to delegate cooking and serving responsibilities.  Our Italian feast came together right on time and with the addition of a little Italian dinner music, we were ready to serve our guests and give them a tasty and restful end to their day.

When it came time for dessert, Tabetha and Ella carried around a basket of Anna’s Gourmet Goodies chocolate chip cookies for the guests.  I had a flashback of those days when Anna was about their age.  I can’t imagine a more appropriate way to serve our products to the guests.  Judging from the smiles, they appreciated the service, the food and the experience.

After dinner, we invited those guests who were interested to a covered patio area for the communion service.  This was not a formal, ritualized service found in many churches.  Todd lead a discussion of the Last Supper, it’s meaning, followed by sharing of the elements of bread and juice among friends.  As one guest noted, there were twelve of us in the room, imagine that.

Service is an illusion

We often use the word ‘service’ at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies.  Yes, we make products, but we’re in the business of serving our customers and creating a memorable experience for anyone that receives a gift of our cookies and brownies.  It’s a subtle distinction, but it is incredibly important in any business to understand your focus and as I’ve written about previously, your ‘why’.

My friend August Turak is an entrepreneur, a speaker and an author.  When it comes to talking about service and selflessness at work, he is an expert.  He recently published an illustrated version of his award-winning essay titled, ‘Brother John: A Monk, a Pilgrim and the Purpose of Life, ’.  I won’t give away the ending, but I will tell you that after reading the book, your view of the purpose of life and the role of service to others will be forever changed.

I share stories about what we do at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies in the hope that at least one reader finds the inspiration to act.  I believe that service to others is indeed, an illusion.  To stand back and watch someone serving, you might be tempted to think, ‘That’s nice that they are giving something back’.  The reality is that in most cases, it is the one doing the serving who receives the greatest gift.

Serving the guests at the Caring House in Durham filled up my tank.  With plenty of food left over, I’m pretty sure that our guests ate their fill.  And from the reactions on the faces of the other volunteers, I’m guessing they walked away feeling full as well.  All in all, I’d call it a dinner well-served.

I’m a fan of most Disney movies.  One of my favorites of the ‘recent’ releases is Cars.  I like all the characters, especially Tow Mater and his ability to drive forwards backwards.  Actually, the ability to look back while moving forward can be a valuable asset in life and in business.  It fits perfectly with my one word for 2018, ‘reflect’.

Early this year I turned 58 years old, the same age as my Mom was when she was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma (GBM), the worst of the worst of brain tumors.  It was a great opportunity to use my word and reflect back on my life and our business.

While Anna’s Gourmet Goodies was named after our daughter, she was named after my Mom.  Despite having said goodbye more than 30 years ago, Mom’s influence on my personal and business life is ever present.  I think of her not just on Mother’s Day, but almost every day.

I wanted to do something special to honor her this year.  One of my favorite memories was a visit back to Kentucky after her surgery when she had lost her hair.  I was driving a beautiful 1971 MGB convertible, it was late summer and she wanted to go for a ride.  I can still see the smile on her face and her blue head scarf flapping in the wind.  I decided to let my hair grow a bit so that I could donate it and help a patient who would like to have their hair once again, flyin’ in the wind.

As the winter months turned towards spring, I was thinking I’d like to tie this together with Anna’s Gourmet Goodies.  One of the benefits of owning this business is being able to not only help support charities, but hopefully inspire others to pursue their passion.

I was making a delivery to our friends at Crossroads Infiniti and struck up a conversation with a customer in the waiting room.  She had a Duke Hospital badge on and I asked where she worked.  As it turned out, Kathy is the chief administrator for Duke Neurosurgery.  I shared my personal story and without hesitation, she immediately understood.

I told her I’d love to find a way to raise awareness, a little money and have some fun by finding a patient do the honors of clipping my pony tail.  She told me about the Angels Among Us fundraiser for the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Research Center coming up at the end of April and put me in touch with Ellen.

After exchanging emails and conversations, Ellen was able to get me a spot on stage at 9:30 and have a patient do the honors of cutting my hair.  We created a custom label for the event and would sell packs of cookies, donating 100% of the proceeds to the event.

We arrived early and setup our table of cookies.  I’ve had the opportunity to participate in a variety of fund raising events, but this was unlike any I’ve ever experienced.  I love hearing stories and my personal connection to brain cancer made them even more poignant.  Everyone I spoke with had one.  Some brought smiles and some tears, but in every case, there was a sense of hope and celebration of life.

When the time came for me to go on stage, Ellen introduced me to the survivor who would be wielding the scissors and doing the honors.  Nestor could not have been a more perfect match for me.

It turns out that three years ago Nestor was diagnosed with a GBM, the same tumor that Mom had 30+ years ago.  He looked fantastic.  After surgery, chemo and treatment at Duke, Nestor was a perfect example of extraordinary medicine, miracles and sheer determination to live life to the fullest.  Meeting him was indeed a gift.  Read more about Nestor here….

We had the chance to talk before taking the stage.  He told me some of his story.  I met his Mom, a delightful woman who moved from the U.S. Virgin Islands to be closer to her son.  I shared a few stories about my Mom, one that made us both laugh..

Finally, it was time.  After being introduced to the crowd, I shared my refection about turning 58, my Mom and my desire to honor her.  I talked about this event and the journey from an idea to standing there on stage – how everything seemed to line up perfectly.  How does this happen?  I suggested (and the crowd agreed) that there are indeed, angels among us – we just have to be watchful, grateful and pay attention.

Nestor clipped my small pony tail and we spent the rest of the day, selling cookies, listening to stories and alternating between wet eyes and laughter.  Near the end of the event, Nestor played the keyboard while a survivor sang ‘Angels Among Us’ made famous by the group Alabama.  I cried happy tears knowing that my Mom was smiling down on me that day.

At the end of the day, we handed over funds from cookie sales, happy that we were able to push the total raised (over $2.35 million) ever so slightly higher.  We ended up with extra packs of cookies and dropped them by the pediatric ICU waiting room at Duke.  When I reflect back on this day, I can easily say that personally and for Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, it was the perfect recipe for moments of happiness.  I’m pretty confident that Mom would agree.  Thanks and Happy Mother’s Day.

For more information on Angels Among Us, including ways you can help, please visit their website: http://angelsamongus.org.

We send out a gift to someone, somewhere, practically every day of the week.  We rarely find out what ultimately happens with that gift, whether they enjoy it for themselves, or pass it on to someone else.  We recently received a gift from one of our customers, and chose to pass it on.  And as is often the case, we got back far more than we expected.

Our long-time customer, Uptown Endodontics recently sent us a gift – a box of beads and trinkets from New Orleans, the Mardis Gras capital of the world.  They were fun and festive, but we felt this gift was meant to be shared and knew that our friends at Uptown would certainly agree.  How could we use these to spread a little love from New Orleans and Mardis Gras that would make an impact on the recipients?  After thinking about it for a bit, I had an idea and called the Ronald McDonald House in Durham (RMHD).

I’ve written two other times about RMHD and our experience there.  If you have yet to visit one in your area, click here to find the closest location and schedule a visit.  It will completely change your perspective on what’s important and what we perceive to be problems.

Every day, RMDH feeds about 75 guests.  Organizations round up volunteers to come to the house and prepare dinner.  Tuesdays at RMDH is covered by a team of volunteers led by Todd Moody from Revolve Church in Durham.  They have been taking care of the meal, week in and week out, for over three years.  I asked if I could come by and join in by sharing some gifts and providing the traditional Mardis Gras dessert – King Cakes, and they readily agreed.

I found a recipe on Nola.com that seemed like something I could make.  Knowing the guests at RMHD and the fact that many of them were there for treatment of various kinds, I wanted to add my own twist to this traditional delight.  Instead of using food colorings for the icing, I made my own using beets, orange juice, spinach and mint, and blueberries.

One of the best parts of serving at RMHD is the opportunity to meet the guests and hear some of their stories.  From the young guest with Down Syndrome, to the teenager wearing a mask and fighting off rejection of his heart transplant, to the young man in the wheelchair who slept thru dinner while hugging his Mardis Gras bear, it was a joy to share a brief moment of happiness with this group.

Of course, having a bag full of goodies from New Orleans along with King Cakes made it easy to strike up a conversation.  I could tell by the smiles on the faces of the parents and the kids that it was a welcome break from the challenges they all face on a daily basis.

As seems to always be the case, there were plenty of gifts and King Cake for the guests and volunteers.  Everyone walked away with a little something extra that night or ‘lagniappe’ (pronounced lan-yap) as our friends from New Orleans like to call it.  As dinner was coming to a close, we had one purse left and gave that to Bethany.

Bethany is nine years old and was having surgery the next day.  She had a smile on her face the whole time and appreciated the beads and purse.  Her sister Jordan and mother Kim shared her story.  She suffers from Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrom (no I can’t pronounce it) or KTS.  It is an extremely rare disease that in Bethany’s case, manifested itself in blood clots all over her body.  Fingers, arms, chest, back, feet, everywhere.  She was there to have some of the worst ones removed.

Jordan described it like this.  “Have you ever had a Charley horse?”  Of course, we all have.  “It’s like having one, but for a week at a time”.  My eyes welled up just imagining the pain she must feel as a part of every day life.

KTS is the result of a genetic mutation, but its cause is unknown.  It affects an estimated 1 in 100,000 people.  There is no cure and treatment is primarily symptomatic.  In addition to the intense pain, blood clots released in the body can cause life-threatening complications.

We sat and listened to their story, not just about Bethany, but the struggles they faced as a family and how this single mom ended up living in a small town in North Carolina.  And once again, as is the case when I’ve met other guests at RMHD, I realized that comparatively, I have no problems.

The next day, we fired up the oven, baked cookies and sent out gifts just as we do almost every day.  We like to think the recipients enjoy them and maybe, in some cases, pass some on.  I know our friends at Uptown Endodontics don’t mind that we passed on their gift and you can rest assured we don’t mind someone sharing our cookies and brownies either.

I’d like to think that the person who gets a box of our cookies and passes on at least one, receives even a small measure of what we experienced by passing out our Mardis Gras gifts.  It confirmed my belief once again that it is truly is better to give than to receive.  Amen.

Ask any business owner (small, medium or large) about the top challenges to running a business these days and it’s likely that hiring top quality people will be high up on their list.  It is especially difficult when you throw in the ‘seasonal factor’ in businesses like Anna’s Gourmet Goodies.

This past holiday was a record season by a large margin and once again, we were blessed to have some great people show up at just the right time.  Thanks to a presentation by Henry Casey at this year’s NC Specialty Foods Fall Conference, I was inspired to reach out to Wake Enterprises to help us solve some production challenges.  Not only did they come through with superb quality, it felt good to have them on our team.

I first met Henry at a Raleigh Chamber of Commerce event years ago.  I outsourced assembly of some DVD products for another business to Wake Enterprises and had a great experience.  But I had not thought about having them help us with shipping boxes until his presentation.  Turns out it was the perfect solution.

Wake Enterprises was founded in 1979 and serves adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Their mission is to assist people with varying levels of abilities achieve their maximum potential through vocational training, job placement and community inclusion activities.  By contracting with businesses to provide sub-contracting services, Wake Enterprises offers adults with disabilities the opportunity to learn valuable job and life skills to help them become more self sufficient and find a place in the workforce where they can contribute value.

At Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, we bake and ship cookies year round, but the Holiday Gift season gets a little crazy.  It’s like a big math equation where we have to figure out how many cookies we can bake and ship in a period of about 3-4 weeks.  Of course this requires coordination of all the materials that go into our products – labels, ribbons, flour, butter, eggs, chocolate and lastly, shipping boxes and cards with envelopes.

We’ve developed a relatively sophisticated capacity planning tool that helps us calculate to the cookie, what we’ll need to bake and ship orders for any given day.  Although some companies order early, we find that most of the order rush actually happens just after Thanksgiving.  This year we were looking at roughly 90% capacity a week before Thanksgiving – a good but scary problem.  Fortunately, we were able to outsource our shipping box and envelope assembly to the team at Wake Enterprises.

You might be tempted to think that our choice of working with the team at Wake Enterprises was based solely on a desire to include their adults in our process.  That would be false. Having been in business for 17 years, we know that the only way to sustain our customers is to continue to provide top quality products and services.

Henry assigned our project to Sylvester Kitchen, Assistant Director of Production & Procurement at Wake Enterprises.  Sylvester served in the Army, NC National Guard and left as a Sergeant (thank you for your service).  He has the skills to not only run top quality production processes, but the heart of a giant for serving others.  He also volunteers with the Special Olympics helping Special needs Kids & Adults from 6 to 65 years of age.  Ask him why he does what he does and the sparkle in his eye tells the whole story.

To get us started, we dropped off a small order of about 150 boxes and 500 or so envelopes to be assembled just after Thanksgiving.  A few days later I returned to pick up the order.  Everything was ready and put together with the quality and attention to detail we expected.

One of the team members, John, helped load the boxes into the truck.  He didn’t say much, working quickly and as professionally as any one I’ve met at any warehouse or loading dock.  There were several other team members there helping out, all of whom seemed excited about the work and eager to help with more boxes and envelopes.

When we were finished, John walked up and quietly handed me this mint and said ‘thank you’.  I later asked Sylvester if this is something John regularly does.  “No, not really.  Just sometimes.”  I felt like I was the one who received a gift that day.

At Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, we use the word laginiappe (pronounced lan – yap) a fair amount.  It’s Cajun for a ‘little extra’.  We try to think about this in everything we do for our customers.  It made me smile and hold back a little tear to know that we found a business partner in Wake Enterprises that has the same attitude.

We immediately placed another order and a few days later, the Wake Enterprises truck delivered a huge load of assembled boxes we used to ship orders throughout the entire Holiday Season.

Our goal at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies is to make every recipient of our cookie and brownie gifts feel good.  Not just during the holiday season, but throughout the year.  If you sent gifts from Anna’s Gourmet Goodies to anyone this past season, you can rest assured that everything in that package was put together with love and a passion for quality.  And you can feel good knowing that Henry, Sylvester, John and the rest of the team at Wake Enterprises, were all a part of that gift.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to talk me into dinner at Chef David’s Dumpling & Noodle Bar.  His signature half-fried dumplings don’t come from a food-service box – they’re lovingly made, by hand, from scratch, one at a time.  Anna sent me a message letting me know she ‘had a taste’ for dumplings over her fall break, so we went out on a date to Chef David’s restaurant.  Dinner was great, but it was also a little sad.

I met Chef David Mao when he had his former restaurant, The Duck and the Dumpling on Moore Square in Raleigh.  In the early days, we were in the wholesale dessert business.  I made a sales call on him to pitch our cheesecakes and pies and he agreed to give us a try.  While not an immediately obvious fit for a Chinese fusion restaurant, our Key Lime Pie, New York Cheesecake, Tiramisu and a few others were on the menu for over 7 years until he sold that restaurant.

In the early days of Anna’s Gourmet Goodies I got to know a variety of chefs and restaurant owners.  They were an interesting group and on the whole, some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met.  Restaurateurs work incredibly long hours, most often when the rest of us are finished work for the day.

I learned a lot about running our business from watching and talking with them.  Some became friends and I’m happy to put Chef David in that group.  One of my favorite memories was standing in the kitchen and watching Chef roll out and assemble his dumplings.  He mixes the dough from flour and water, and grinds up the pork filling from fresh meat, adding his other secret ingredients.

I watched as he cut off the small pieces of dough, rolled out the seemingly perfect circles, scooped in the filling, and sealed them up.  With the hands of a master at his craft that no machine will ever match, he filled tray, after tray, after tray of these bite size delicacies.  His hands work the dough quickly, yet gracefully repetitious, artfully crafting each one.  I’d often ask how many he’s made and Chef would laugh and tell me he has no idea.  It was never about the quantity – but the quality.

I think about Chef David almost every time we make a batch of ‘cookie pucks’, as we call them.  I mix up the dough and load the hopper while Debbie and Dawn shape, weigh and roll each one, by hand.  We’ve had a variety of other ‘cookie-helpers’ apprentice with us in the bakery.  Without fail, they all walk away with a different level of appreciation for the amount of work it takes to produce a hand made product.  Like Chef David’s dumplings, our cookie gifts don’t start in a factory and come out of a food-service box.

I also watched Chef and how he interacted with his customers.  He delighted in sharing small tokens of his appreciation to the diners in his restaurant.  I’d watch him make his carrot ginger soup, almost as effortlessly as he made dumplings, and personally serve up a small sample at the table.  Not on the menu, not on the bill, just a little extra or ‘lagniappe’ as we learned from our friends at Uptown Endodontics in New Orleans.

Anna was about 5 or 6 years old when we first started delivering to Chef’s restaurant and he would always send her home with an order of dumplings after a delivery.  A little lagniappe that she remembers to this day.

It’s difficult to articulate, but there is a subtle difference between someone who serves customers for the business, and someone who serves customers from the heart.  In my opinion, Chef David is one who serves from the heart – employees, vendors and customers.  Once you’ve had that experience, it’s hard to settle for less.  We try very hard to focus on the same type of service at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies.

We’ve been out of the wholesale dessert business for a number of years, long before Chef opened David’s Dumpling & Noodle Bar.  But we still go by to visit, savor his hand made creations, share a laugh and a smile, and enjoy a little lagniappe every now and again.

During our last visit, Chef David let us know that he had sold the restaurant and would at some point, be retiring.  I always knew that day would come.  I am happy for him, but also a little sad.  He’s earned it and I am honored to have been along for at least a part of his journey.

I did ask for one last favor, to come by and watch him make dumplings one last time.  He agreed and even gave me a lesson and a chance to try my hand at making a few dumplings.  He was patient and a great instructor, but my hands are a long way from having the skill of a master when it comes to making dumplings.

There’s something magical about watching and learning from someone who is passionate about what they do.  About using their hands to create food that not only fills the belly, but feeds the soul.  About watching how they treat others and run their business.

We try to do that everyday at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies and I am grateful I had this one last opportunity to watch and learn from a master at his craft.  With the Holiday Season just around the corner I’m sure I’ll get weary at some point from making batch after batch of our cookies.   But I’ll think of Chef David, smile and get back to work, hoping that at least a few of the people enjoying our cookies will think of them in the same way I’ll always remember Chef David’s dumplings.