This month, we are celebrating five years of business at our Memorial location. Someone described the time as half a decade, and I could only say in response – wow!
Our growth happened because of Hurricane Ike – talk about making lemonade out of lemons. It was a line in the sand that Three Brothers Bakery had survived the storm and was moving on to a new chapter.
While rebuilding, Bobby was at a restaurant equipment auction and met a gentleman who helped talk us into hiring a one of his restaurant partners as a bookkeeper after we reopened. During that time, we had hired a business coach who taught us you cannot do it all and grow. So, we then decided to hire a general manager – and Tom, our bookkeeper, was the perfect person. He was an experienced restauranteur with financial experience. And he is still with us today!
Tom hired a management team who said they would pay for themselves, and to achieve that, the team knew we had to grow and expand. Bobby and I went kicking and screaming into growth, but it was ultimately a very good thing for us. One of them found the Memorial location, which was perfect for so many reasons. It had ample parking and near administrative, shopping, residential and medical areas – all five things a wonderful location needs. You very rarely find all four of these in the same place.
We have shared so many memories in the space, but a few stand out. Bobby said he loved when one woman told him how glad she was not to have to schlep out to Braeswood to get her baked goods. This woman also mentioned loving “the show,” a term we had never heard before.
So, when we asked her to elaborate, she told us it meant that her dad took her to the original bakery every Sunday to watch Sigmund yelling and then turning around and yelling at the customers in English. This was “the show.” Today that would never fly, but there was really no competition then.
