[IDDBA Series] From Burnout to Bliss: Building Resilience in a High-Pressure Food Industry

Odette D’Aniello is the Founder and CEO of Celebrity Cake Studio, a family-owned and operated retail cake boutique. The company has received numerous awards, including winning Best of Western Washington several times. With experience in the food industry, business strategy, sales, and marketing, Odette has obtained additional skills in product design and brand development, event management, and team building.

She is also the Owner of Dragonfly Cakes, the wholesale sister company to Celebrity Cake Studio, designing, developing, and manufacturing delicious handmade and clean-label petit fours, tea cakes, and mini desserts. Beyond her entrepreneurial ventures, she hosts the Celebrity Gourmet Podcast, where she shares insights from successful individuals in the food and beverage sector.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[2:30] Odette D’Aniello discusses her background in the baking business from the Philippines to Guam
[4:55] The definition of burnout from the World Health Organization
[6:42] Common burnout symptoms according to the Mayo Clinic
[8:18] Unique stressors in the baking and food industry
[11:50] Effects of stress and burnout on productivity and creativity
[16:42] The importance of setting boundaries and delegating tasks
[18:55] How to use the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize work effectively
[21:10] Odette shares her personal daily self-care habits
[26:15] Strategies for maintaining connection and play outside of work
[28:56] Practical advice for leaders to support employee well-being

In this episode…

High-pressure industries, such as food service, often push people to their limits, leading to exhaustion, a lack of creativity, and decreased job satisfaction. Long hours, physical demands, supply chain challenges, and customer expectations can lead to burnout. How can professionals in such demanding fields protect their well-being while maintaining business success?

Odette D’Aniello, an expert with over 25 years of experience in the specialty food industry, shares strategies for combating burnout and reclaiming joy at work. She emphasizes setting clear boundaries, delegating tasks that drain your energy, and focusing on work that inspires. She recommends using the Eisenhower Matrix for prioritization, practicing daily self-care habits like meditation and exercise, and fostering a calm, supportive workplace culture. These actions help leaders and employees maintain energy, creativity, and resilience.

In this episode of the Celebrity Gourmet Podcast, Karen Hansen hosts Odette D’Aniello, CEO of Celebrity Cake Studio, to talk about building resilience in the high-pressure food industry. Odette discusses burnout prevention, the value of mindfulness, and daily self-care habits. She also explores strategies for effective delegation, maintaining customer satisfaction, and creating a supportive work environment.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Quotable Moments:

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”
“Just because you’re good at it doesn’t mean you’re the right person to do it.”
“You can’t be resentful or negative when your mind is grateful.”
“Play is how we create, and that is super important.”
“The choice to live in joy is a choice to love yourself.”

Action Steps:

Set clear boundaries on your workload: Saying no to non-essential tasks and delegating responsibilities prevents overwork and mental fatigue, allowing you to focus on work that energizes you and drives long-term success.
Use the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize tasks: Separating urgent from important work ensures your energy is spent where it matters most, helping avoid burnout by reducing time wasted on low-value activities.
Practice daily mindfulness and meditation: Regular mindfulness improves focus, reduces stress, and enhances creativity in high-pressure environments, and even five minutes of breathing exercises can reset your mindset for the day.
Incorporate consistent self-care habits: Activities like exercise, hydration, and gratitude journaling boost physical health and mental resilience, helping maintain steady energy levels and a positive outlook.
Foster a calm and supportive workplace culture: Creating a non-reactive, respectful environment helps employees feel safe, valued, and motivated, strengthening retention and improving overall team performance.

Sponsor for this episode…

Today’s episode is brought to you by Celebrity Cake Studio, a family-owned and operated cake boutique.

Celebrity Cake Studio has been baking joy into all of their artistically designed cakes and desserts for 21 years.

They are proud to work with a vibrant team of cake designers and bakers that help you celebrate the sweet moments in your lives.

They have received numerous awards, winning Best of Western Washington for many years in a row and various small business accolades.

To learn more about how you can celebrate yourselves or the ones you love, visit www.celebritycakestudio.com or email them at info@celebritycakestudio.com.

Episode Transcript:

Intro: 00:03

Welcome to the Celebrity Gourmet Podcast, where we feature top bakery and specialty food entrepreneurs from around the world and share stories and tips on how to create a successful life in the baking world.

Karen Hansen: 00:23

Hello everyone! Today’s webinar, From Burnout to Bliss: Building Resilience in the High-Pressure Food Industry will begin in about one minute. While you’re waiting, be sure to register for upcoming webinars at iddba.org coming up tomorrow we have Where Are You in your FSMA 204 journey? Learn and plan for how to prepare your organization for compliance with Natalie Hunter.

Learn more about New ERA Partner Strategy for achieving FSMA 204 Compliance by Learning, planning, doing and reviewing. Exciting news the IDDBA is teaming up once again with the University of Wisconsin School of Business for the 2024 Leadership Program. This program is tailored for mid-level leaders. Join us September 17th to 19th. Register now at.

Org under the Professional Resources tab and select Leadership Certificate Program. Delhi Associates Cheesemongers and enthusiasts. Get your study caps on. Registration is open for two in-person Charcuterie professional certification exams this year. The first is on June 8th at the Edebé Show in Houston, Texas.

The second will take place at the American Cheese Society Conference in Buffalo, New York on July 10th. Reach out to education at. Org for more information. So welcome everyone. My name is Karen Hansen, education assistant at IDDBA.

Thank you for joining us for today’s webinar, From Burnout to Bliss Building Resilience in the High Pressure Food Industry. A couple of reminders. Before we get started, please submit any questions using the Q&A button as we will answer as many as possible at the end of the presentation. The recording of this webinar will be available to members to view on IDDBA. Now I’d like to introduce today’s presenter, Odette D’Aniello.

With over 25 years of experience in the specialty food industry, she’s the founder and CEO of Celebrity Gourmet Ventures under the brand Celebrity Cake Studio and Dragonfly Cakes. She’s the company that makes delicious and beautifully designed desserts for various occasions and markets. And she’s also the host of the Celebrity Gourmet Podcast, a show that features inspiring stories and insights from successful entrepreneurs and leaders in the bakery and specialty food industry. Odette, thank you for joining us today.

Odette D’Aniello: 02:30

Thank you, Karen. Thank you for having me. Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for being here this morning. I know you’re busy, so we’re going to keep it really tight and make sure that you get the most value for your 30 or so minutes with me.

So my webinar series is Baking Success A Strategic Approach to Personal Professional Development. Today this is our session for I do this every Wednesday. Of second Wednesday of the month. Session four. The topic is burnout to bliss.

Building resilience in a high pressure. In the high pressure world of the food industry. And I love this quote. It says almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. If you’re my age, remember, you know the hard boot of a computer.

You just plug it, unplug it, and it suddenly works. So it’s similar to people. So I wanted to tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Odette D’Aniello. My sister and I, Marianne, own a company.

For the past 25 years, Celebrity Gourmet Ventures. We have a few brands. Celebrity Cake Studio, where we do custom cakes. That’s my family on the lower left side. That’s me decorating a cake.

I grew up in the bakery business in the Philippines, moved to Guam where I worked for my uncle’s bakery since I was ten years old. And then I’ve been in this business for 25 years. So, as you know, a fellow. Professional and worker in the bakery and food industry. These webinars are my contribution, actually, to the industry that has held my family for four decades.

So I hope you get some value out of it. And let’s start. So what is burnout? Burnout is a syndrome. It’s conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.

That’s a lot of, you know, 50 cent words. But that is exactly from the World Health Organization. And you know that I live this graphic just because that’s me a lot of times. So burnout if you’re experiencing it, we’re going to cover it today. These are some symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic.

You they had asked, you know, asked these questions to see if you had these exact symptoms. So do you question the value of your work? Do you drag yourself to work and have trouble getting started? Do you feel removed from your work and the people you work with? Have you lost patience with coworkers, customers, or clients?

Do you like energy to do the job well? Is it hard to focus on your job? Do you feel little satisfaction from what you get done sometimes? You know what? We can just work and work and work, and there’s still so much work to be done that just not satisfied.

Do you feel let down by your job or your position in your company? Like you don’t feel like it’s fulfilling enough? Do you doubt your skills and abilities. Sometimes when you get promoted to, you know, a job. It’s it causes us to doubt whether or not we’re the right person for it.

Are you using food, drugs, alcohol or social media to feel better or to numb how you feel? Because those are all numbing, numbing behaviors. Have your sleep habits changed? If you if you’re like me, I use an aura ring and I track my my sleep. Do you get enough deep sleep?

Which is the restorative sleep? Do you have headaches, stomach or bowel problems, or other physical complaints with no known cause? Sometimes things just come up and it’s really stress related. Our body is just in so much stress. Do you have brain fog on stumble on words, or do you make simple mistakes that you’ve never done before?

According to the Mayo Clinic, if you answer yes to any of these. I know that it could be attributed to other physical ailments, but, you know, one of the questions is you you might be burnt out. Now, here’s some according, you know, for our industry in the in the food industry, these are some stressors that cause burnout. And I’m, I’m listing this as somebody who’s experience in this space. I’m not you know, I, I literally am walking the same path.

So high workload and long hours. The bakery and food industry is very, very work intensive and hours are so extensive and a lot of them are on your feet. So that causes so much stress. And, you know, sometimes you just can’t stop the job. You can’t stop the production line, you can’t stop because there’s orders and there’s POS that need to go.

Another The stressor is a fast paced environment where we’re always in a time crunch. We’re selling, you know, perishables. So all of those things need to move. Orders need to get done. You know, everything needs to move.

Cheese. Cheese needs to get moved. Deli meats need to be processed. All of that. Physical demands.

You know, one of the very interesting insights that I was like of somebody from my industry. Bakery industry had told me, said that the the reason why the baking industry, for example, was, you know, a lot of bakers were men. In my family there were men. The reason why is because you had to carry £50 bags. And before, like in the 1920s, they weren’t in £50 bags.

They were in hundred pound bags. And women can’t lift £100. So a lot of men were the bakers. So there’s physical demands, you know, now for both men and women. Customer expectation.

Oh my gosh, that isn’t that the truth. Like literally customer expectations is so stressful. I can go and have an entire webinar on customers just because we’ve been in this in this space for 25 years. It’s getting harder and harder, it seems, although maybe not. It’s usually the 1% that’s really hard.

Supply chain challenges, you know? Yes, your distributor, your vendors, factories burn down so there’s no chocolate or the price of eggs have gone, gone up. So now you’re you’re having to find new providers and it’s it’s stressful regulatory compliance. There’s FSMA. You know Karen had just mentioned that there’s you know, getting your third party audits and making sure that your employees follow through with the compliance requirements so that you can get your annual Inspection and pass it so that you can continue producing.

I mean, I’ve been there health department for, you know, smaller bakeries that is you know, that always changes. Hot water is a a little bit too hot or not hot enough. Well read point. So I’m sure you guys can relate. Regulatory compliance I just mentioned that staffing issues my gosh, staffing issues.

A lot of people are understaffed and the people who are left over are working double. So and then when the owners are working in the in in in the line. Right. Just because that’s what we do, we, we pick up the slack financial pressures. You know, there’s a lot of margin pressure in our business where, you know, there’s so many people taking the margins.

Right. So we’re there’s the get the ingredients. We have to buy that first and then make Make the things and then sell it on terms. So you’re sitting on this, you know, you’re basically a bank and you’re trying to balance that to make sure you have enough money left over to pay everybody. So there’s a lot competition and innovation at least.

You know, in my state there’s a lot of cottage industry that that can, you know, they don’t pay taxes. They don’t necessarily have the same overheads. They’re super innovative because they can take all day. You know, some people who are, who do stuff out of their home or the pleasure to do that, I say pleasure just because, you know, I do it. I mean, I have this entire organization that we do it in a different way, but I would love to spend all day long making one cake and then innovate, because that would be fun.

But as you know, professionals, we don’t get to do that all the time. We are under pressure in so many different ways and personal sacrifices Especially, I’m just going to call out women, right? As women, we have to make sure that, you know, not only do we have jobs, but we also have children to take care of. We have husbands take care of. And then, you know, at certain points where sandwich sandwich generation.

So we’re taking care of the elderly too. My sister and I took care of my my parents while running our business and and having babies at the same time. So it was a ton of pressure at the effects of stress on and and burnout on people. Right. These are like stress and burnout among bakery and deli workers can lead to decreased productivity, and lower quality of products.

Indicates that prolonged stress impairs cognitive function, leading to errors in food preparation. You don’t want that, right? Decreased attention to detail reduced creativity, especially in recipe development, because you just want to do the thing that you know, because it’s just there’s no space in the brain to make new stuff and to be creative. Then increase stress impacts, Packs, increased stress impacts decision making and future planning, which reduces growth and profitability. Though sometimes we’re just in the day to day that we’re not necessarily working on our business, we’re working in our business.

And then, you know, we don’t necessarily know what is upcoming. So our decision making is in the now versus in the future. So sometimes things need to change. Fairly quickly. And we don’t we can’t really ramp up fast enough just because we hadn’t prepared for it.

And a lot of that’s because we’re tired. We’re just staying tired. Now there’s a there’s also the impact on our customers and our brand reputation. Stress and burnout can directly impact customer satisfaction and leading to brand reputation. It suggested stress employees are more likely to exhibit negative behaviors such as rudeness or impatience, which can result in poor customer service and damaged reputation of a business.

And you know, I’m not going to say that there’s no awful customers because there are. But sometimes when we’re well rested and we have our mind about us, then we are more patient. And because, you know, when we’re tired, we’re not we’re and burnt out. We’re we can be more reactive. And this has long term impacts on ourselves and on our organizations.

Also burnout has a negative effect on employee well-being and retention. So you show that high levels of stress and burnout in the food industry contribute to employee dissatisfaction and turnover. And boy, do we have that. We are experiencing that in our we have experienced that in our organization. Like any other, chronic stress can lead to physical and mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances affecting business owners and employees overall well-being and job satisfaction.

So all of this, you know, we all I didn’t necessarily have to call it all out, but it’s I’m just stating the obvious that yes, stress and burnout impacts all aspects of our personal lives and our professional lives. Now the second this is where I want to really cover is practical strategies for self-care. Research indicates that practicing self-care leads to increased resilience, improved decision making abilities, enhanced leadership skills. So I’m hoping to help you with that. Now, one of the things that really helps Lisa helps me is that when you set boundaries and it really helps prevent overwork and burnout.

We can first of all, got to know that we’re burned out. You answered yes to those questions from the Mayo Clinic. One of the things is, you know, say no. Say no to more things. Delegate tasks that you’re good at but don’t like.

So somebody figure out what those tasks are like. Those tasks are, you know, if you’re good at it but don’t like it, like I’m good at bookkeeping. I’m good at it because I like numbers, but I don’t like it. So I have somebody who takes care of it for me. Right.

And also remember, just because you’re good at it doesn’t mean you’re the right person to do it. Because if you’re doing it and you’re doing you’re doing it begrudgingly, then are you doing a good job? Or can you give it to a person who would do it happily? Like our bookkeeper loves to do it, so why not let her do it and then focus on tasks that you’re good at and like? And if it gives you energy, do it like.

I love doing shows and my daughter loves doing shows. We love to be out and about talking to people. It’s a lot of work. It’s very tiring, but it gives us energy because at the end we’re like, oh, we could do that again. And so we love events, we love all that.

So we will. That’s what we focus on. And then for the rest, say no. And then use this Eisenhower matrix to prioritize tasks. Because there’s a lot of tasks in our in our world.

Right. So this is the Eisenhower matrix that I wanted to share. So there’s the on that the north south quadrant, there’s the urgent and the not urgent. Right. The east west is the important and not important.

So where they meet, the important and urgent, you do it. The tasks with deadlines or consequences. Taxes are due April 15th. Unless you’ve done an extension, you know, make sure you do it or business and occupation taxes due on the 25th. Make sure you do it or you can also schedule it way beforehand, right?

Because it’s important but not urgent. Not the beginning of the month. It’s not urgent. So just make sure you prepare for it. Then there’s the urgent and not important.

You can delegate those tasks, right? Tasks that must get done but don’t require your specific skill set. You know, maybe replying to certain emails if you have an E, which I’ve just hired one. So wish me luck. Yeah, have them do it.

Have, you know, I, I delegate maybe 90% of my work just because I am. Otherwise I would nothing would get done because I would do it so poorly. So a lot of people, you know, get handed jobs that they like for me, just because I don’t like certain things and I like certain things. So if we just allocate time to the ones that that we love and we are good at, then it’s just a lot more efficient way to use our life life energy. Then there’s the I already covered.

Then the not urgent but important task with unclear deadlines but contribute contribute to long term success and you can schedule those like I scheduled these webinars right. These don’t have I mean they have deadlines, but I really enjoyed them. So I scheduled them out or my podcast. I really like those. They’re important to me because I, you know, I enjoy that, but it’s not necessarily urgent.

And then there’s some things that are not urgent and not important being on TikTok. Right. Just scrolling cat videos. Nope. Not necessary.

Or just wasting time just watching like mindless stuff. Just don’t do it because you can do other things that you’d like. Now this is what I do. I’m sharing. This is my personal, personal self-care daily habit.

I call it my feuds. So feuds is focus, exercise, water, right? Gratitude, greens and sleep. So I was going to share you with you, my my gigantic spreadsheet on how I keep track of this, but I’ve stopped since because it was just really hard to keep up with the spreadsheets. Versus just making sure I do like a few of these at least every single day.

So focus is meditation exercise. You know, I make sure I’m active. My exercise currently is dancing and meditation. I, I dedicate a lot of time to meditation, so it’s about an hour and a half to two hours a day so that I have to wake up early for that. I drink at least 16oz of water every single day, and I keep track of that because I have a water bottle.

I need two of those. And then I write. So I write in my journal. Sometimes I don’t do it every day just because it’s like when I write, I want to keep writing and writing and I don’t have much time, but I do write every day. Or at least I jot down ideas every day.

And then part of that writing is gratitude. I do three gratitudes a day. Thank you for my life. Thank you. And if it’s not just obvious, like you didn’t win $1 million that day, you know.

Thank you. That I have food to eat. Thank you. That I can see, you know, just, you know, a heart full of gratitude just changes. You can’t be resentful or negative when your mind is grateful.

Greens I try to drink or eat greens like four servings a day. I don’t do it all the time because I love peanut butter cups, but greens I that’s part of my fugues and sleep. I only sleep six hours a day, but I should be sleeping eight. But I do meditate, so whatever. It works for you, make sure you get deep sleep.

Get an aura ring because it really helps you keep track of that habit. it. Now mindfulness and meditation. I am such a big fan of that. And if you’ve seen my other webinars like I slipped this into every single presentation, right?

Studies show that mindfulness practice improves. Improves focus, creativity, overall job satisfaction among individuals in high pressure environments. There’s meditation. There’s deep breathing exercises, right? There’s visualizing your ideal life.

Now, one of the things that I really love to do is that when I’m super duper stressed, like at the bakery, I go home and I just, like, write in my journal and pretend like I have my ideal life. And I wasn’t that stressed. Like, what would be my ideal life? It’s like, oh, I’m at the beach, or I’m traveling with my family. And you know, it’s amazing when you’re ideal, when you visualize your ideal life, it actually happens.

Like, it’s not necessarily the time that you expect it to happen, but it does happen. So imagination and putting yourself in a place that makes you happy helps a lot with stress. Now. Exercise. Exercising.

There’s so many benefits to it. There’s improved health, stronger muscles, better flexibility. Your appetite, improved quality of life. You can have more friends because hopefully you’re you have a social life that is also active. And then you get you’re feeling more relaxed.

It also improves your appearance like you’re, you know, feeling fit also gives you more confidence and gives you energy. A lot of energy. And then there’s connection and play. Like making sure that you contact friends or or that, you know, some. It’s hard to be friends right now because everybody’s so busy.

But maybe like putting aside some time to just be with people that you enjoy or share share a an interest in. So like I, my husband and I joined a dance school. So we go dancing three times a week and then I love to garden. So, you know, I’m constantly in these Facebook groups or whatever groups talking about plants and or like making sure that I’m connecting with people and just talking to them around random things, which makes it super fun. And it’s not serious.

And it’s also playful, right? So play is how we create and that is super important. Playing and making sure that, you know, living a life with a light heart. It’s really hard, especially when things are so busy. But just taking aside some time.

And one of the things that my daughter and I actually have been doing and I don’t, it’s not necessarily consistently, but I did have been doing it a little bit more is an artist date, and that is a date with yourself where you just basically go out and about and have no agenda, at least like three hours if you can find it, you know, just going and having fun and basically like playing with your I like your inner child. Like, what would you like to do? I like to go to museums, and I like, you know, my daughter and I love to go to art stores and bookstores. That’s basically what we do. And just buy a book and spend time there without any agenda.

So that is our way to relax. We had a really long day the other day, my daughter and I just opened our new facility. I mean, our new venue here and in Tucson, Arizona. We got super tired, but then afterwards we were like, you know, we deserve to go to the bookstore. So we went to the bookstore, we had noodles and then went to the bookstore.

So that was super fun. Now, if you don’t have other people to go with, it’s really fun to just go by yourself and then sit around and meet people. So that’s.

What I do. When I’m in a new town. I just like, say hello and make friends and talk about, you know, random things to people. And it just makes time go past so fast. And next thing you know, I’m no longer lonely or stressed. And here it is.

I’m this. Really prioritize your well-being. That’s just one of the things that is super important. Your well-being is just your, you know, your most prized currency because it really is what will take you from your day to day, you know, doldrums to a very high level, enjoyable life. You know, engage in activities that nourish your body and your mind, such as exercise, meditation, spending time in nature and with friends.

Pursuing hobbies, and taking care of yourself helps you cope with stress, manage emotions effectively, and maintain the energy needed to look at that. I can’t even read what that says needed to live your ideal life now. Also focus on what brings you joy. And ask yourself, what are you doing? What truly, what you truly want to do.

Maybe there’s something else you want to do too. That’s that’s another serious question that you need to ask yourself. And here’s the quote that I made up myself. It says the choice to live in joy is a choice to love yourself. So thank you so much for being in this webinar.

And I am. My name is Odette D’Aniello. I have a podcast. It’s called Celebrity Gourmet Podcast. You can log in and and find it at Celebrity gourmet.com.

Or you can find me on LinkedIn at. Yes. So thank you so much. And we have about a couple of minutes for questions.

Karen Hansen: 27:35

Thank you so much, Odette. Glad you have your contact information up there. We’ll just leave that up until we end the webinar here. Have some questions. If you were to pick one thing to help you with burnout, what would it be?

Odette D’Aniello: 27:50

Meditation. I would I would definitely spend five minutes of just mindful meditation. Just breathing, diaphragmatic breathing down below your belly button, not expanding your diaphragm, and then slowly breathing out a box. Breathing is another one where you just count 1 to 5, you know, all sides of a box. And then that really helps me just kind of ground myself to the moment and then re readjust that.

And then I, you know, you can go for longer. There’s a lot of, there’s a lot of videos and there’s a lot of. Coachings that you can do like you know, it’s just they’re all free. They’re on YouTube. Just follow a guided meditation.

That’s that’s what I would do first.

Karen Hansen: 28:45

Okay. What are some practical strategies for setting boundaries at work to prevent overwork and burnout, particularly for those in leadership positions?

Odette D’Aniello: 28:56

Delegation. So I’ve covered it already. Like delegation and making sure that if you’re in a leadership position, one of the things that we really try to do is to make sure that we have the right people in the right seats for loving what they’re doing. And so that we can allocate whatever tasks that we do not we’re not good at and we don’t love or what we’re good at, but we don’t love to those people who do love it. So delegation is one of the main things that really stops burnout, and also just paring down on all the tasks so that there’s just certain things that don’t need to be done.

You don’t have to go to every single networking event. You don’t have to answer, you know, every single message. And here’s the other thing. Turn off notifications on the on your phone. I don’t have any notifications at all.

I don’t know if you’ve texted me, I don’t know. I wouldn’t know what posts are. Because I have no notifications at all. And that has really, really helped me a lot. And also just basically for as a leader, it’s important to know what the greatest one thing we can do at that moment that will exponentially have impact.

And that is a question that I ask myself, what is one thing I can do in the next hour that will have an exponential impact on my life and the life of others? And that has really helped me make decisions and whether or not to do, to do things or to meet with people or accept, you know, whatever invitations that I get or travel to places you know, that have opportunity to travel with whoever, it’s just that’s how I vet my my decisions.

Karen Hansen: 30:45

Thank you. So in high pressure industries like food service, there can be a lot of burnout with employees. Do you have any suggestions for employers on how to support their employees wellbeing to prevent burnout and turnover?

Odette D’Aniello: 30:58

That’s so hard because we definitely experienced that. Just because people have different things that are going going on in their lives. One of the things that’s super important is to protect your energy. First of all, I know that it’s really hard as a leader to to witness a lot of people in distress and especially your beloved team members. But there has to be some boundaries around ourselves and making sure that we’re we’re in a position to help and not be the person to be helped.

You know, put the oxygen mask on your face first and then to others. And then having systems really to make sure that every employee has the opportunity to have time off and to have to take care of themselves or to take care of their family, you know, there’s family leave, there’s all of that. And there’s there’s also just having an environment that’s calm and not reactive. Like our bakery is super calm. We do not have, like, you know, very dramatic scenarios because people are team.

They come to the bakery as a respite a lot of times for their very chaotic lives. And so we provide an environment that’s calm and that’s creative, that’s protective and that’s safe, and that’s one of the best things that a leader can do. And also understand that, you know, sometimes employees need time off. And so we’re pretty flexible with our times. And, you know, just fully understanding what is the role of that job in that person’s life and what, you know, versus the person’s, you know, aspirations and making sure that we have the right people in the right seats.

All right. you’re on the right seat, and we’re the right person.

Karen Hansen: 32:50

Right? Okay, see, I’m not seeing any other questions, so we’ll go ahead and wrap up today’s webinar. Let me have the idpa. I’d like to thank Odette for today’s insightful and informative session. If you are interested in presenting or sponsoring an Idpa webinar, please contact us at webinars or visit our webinars page at.

Under the Trends Center tab. Thanks everyone for attending and for your continued support of Idpa. Have a great rest of your day.

Odette D’Aniello: 33:20

Thanks, Karen. Take care. Bye bye.

Guest Speaker: 33:39

There’s no better venue for a brand like ours to be able to invite customers find new customers and show them our wares. I mean, this is this is a great a great venue. Great show.

Guest Speaker: 33:54

It’s been a tremendous joy to be here and something for a small company, a family business where you come meet people. And we’ve met some really good retailers, right from Trader Joe’s, Sam’s Club to, you know, scholars, retailers. But everybody’s been very welcoming. And they’ve had we’ve had some really good conversations. You get to, you know, get a firm a large audience.

Right. They all come to us. We don’t have to go everywhere. We’re in a, you know, a central location. And what’s nice about it is every year it goes to a different spot in the US where we can reach more customers.

Guest Speaker: 34:27

We’re very proud to be part of it, because it has opened us a lot of opportunities in retail and in-store bakeries to to present our macaroon lines to key buyers. For me, it is like attending the best bakery show of the year in the USA. So many opportunities. It’s really my favorite chef.

Guest Speaker: 34:50

The foot traffic has been high for all three days. The breadth of people in the industry, whether it’s retailers, brokers, manufacturers, it was great. I mean, there’s it’s a well attended show here.

Guest Speaker: 35:04

We love participating in the debate because we think it’s a great opportunity to make a very good people to discuss about the develop the our product in the market in the United States. And then I think it’s maybe Japanese seven years. We participate to the IDDBA and we are very happy to be here.

Outro: 35:31

Thanks for listening to the Celebrity Gourmet Podcast. We’ll see you again next time and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes