Latest / The Weekly Run / From Customer to GM: Lauren Clark's Unplanned Journey | Bagels with a Bestie Ep 3.
Transcript
- Jeff Perera: Welcome to another edition of Bagels of the Bestie. Today we're interviewing Lauren Clark. She is one of our very first Bagel customers and now almost three-year team member at Jeff's Bagel Run. It's pretty incredible the journey she's been on with us, and we sit down and chat about it. She was my first Bagels of the Bestie interview as well, so give me a little slack for the poor interviewing skills. I'll get better, I promise. Enjoy Hey, hey Lauren. Hey Jeff. It's good to see you today. Thanks for coming out. Yeah, of course. Okay, we're thanks for I mean you're the first guest on Bagel with the Bestie. That's pretty exciting. Yeah, that's awesome. I it feels right to me. If it feels right to you. I mean, well so why don't we just for we'll start with what bagel are you eating today? I am having the chat field. I usually have rosemary salt, but Once I saw that this was a bagel of the day, this is my favorite bagel of the day, so I had to forego rosemary salt today. since I could have that every day at work. Yeah. I mean the chat field is delicious. And you do like the rosemary a little bit extra rosemary. Yes, I the perks of working at the shop, I can kind of decorate my bagel a certain way and I like to put extra rosemary, yeah, extra salt when I do have a rosemary salt. Okay, so why don't you begin by just telling us your journey of Jeff's bagel run? Like you so you obviously you work for us now, but Yes. Like when did you first find Jeff's? so it was like November of 2019. I was scrolling on Facebook and someone posted saying, Hey, if you like bagels, you should check out this guy, Jeff. He makes them out of his house. And I was like, you know what? Sure, let's let's try this out. And I Sent a message back then, I think like or I went to your Facebook page. At the time there was maybe four hundred likes on it. It was very obscure, I felt like, and reached out and ordered some bagels. I think it was like two salt, two onion, two plain or garlic. I don't know. And I remember I picked them up from your house in like December, 'cause I placed my order ahead. And I ate two of them in my car after picking them up. like right away. So that's when my love for your bagels started. almost seven years ago. And then I became an instant fan. I would come to your pop up markets. I would just follow you guys, try to place more orders when I could, but by that time, like in twenty twenty, I felt like it was like the lottery system trying to get your bagels because like Sunday nights I think you did it where you had a somehow I don't even remember, like that's how long ago it was. I just remember I'd set my alarm and I'd think, my god, I have to get these bagels. And sometimes I got them, sometimes I didn't. But then that was, yeah, over the years. And then I saw you guys were opening a shop and I contributed to your Kickstarter. And you opened in 2021 and I would make my friends get up very early and I'd say, guys, we're going on a bagel adventure. And we'd get up early, wait in line. Back then at a Ocoee the line was out the door. Yeah. And then I would come to your shop that way. let's say it was like 2023. I was in between jobs and there's a point where I remember you posted you were hiring. Or no, it was twenty twenty-two. You were posted that you're hiring or twenty twenty-three, I don't know. And I was super nervous and I came inside and I went to the shop and you were there and I said, So Jeff, I heard you're hiring, and you're like, Yep. And I was like, Cool. And then I got my stuff and left because I I was just so awkward. Like I was just so awkward. And then I don't know, I you guys were on my way to work a lot and I just befriended the whole staff for a while and kind of was dropping hints that. You were definitely a regular in the store once we opened. Yes. And the team knew you. Yes. And I think that's how you got hired. I mean, I'm I'm pretty sure that you being in the store a couple of times a week was like the team was like What about this girl Lauren? She comes in all the time. Yeah. She's really sweet. She's super nice. Yeah. I and I I felt like I dropped hints to like Jamie and I or whoever whoever was there or Kelly. I don't and I said, Hey, I wanna work here, I wanna work here. And then finally it was January twenty twenty-four that I was hired. And I remember meeting and you're like, Yeah, we're not gonna interview you, but We're just gonna show you everything because we love you. yeah. And I was just like, okay, I've been there, it'll be three years, this upcoming January. It's crazy. The the team like definitely felt like they knew you as a per you know, as a regular in the shop. Yeah. And they already loved you and your personality and so when it came to sit down with me, I think they were just like you can't say anything that is gonna change our mind, so you just gonna have to hire. Yeah. I had a whole high whole team behind me already. You really did. You did it you did it the right way, which is great. They are a great team. So you've been I mean you've been like you're like a super fan to some degree. Yeah, I am. I I mean I have my shirt, my I like bagels. I have told you earlier I have these bagel earrings. I didn't wear them because I didn't want to seem too crazy. But yeah, it just I mean I loved bagels before, but after trying yours, my love just became probably unhealthy. Because I l really just would I just love bagels now. I I love I love them. It says I like bagels, I should change it to I love bagels. It should say I love bagels too. Yeah. So yeah, that's kind of the history of my relationship with Jeff's. Alright, so if you were in a relationship with a bagel then, I mean like where are you at in this relationship? We're seven years deep into our marriage at this point. It was, you know, s that first time I bought it. We were engaged within like two weeks, married and like first site. Yeah, we're just we're happily married. We're a happily married couple. That's hilarious. Yeah. All right, do you wanna bite your bagel? yeah, I've been waiting for you to say that. I know. They're really they're mine's still hot. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Hello. The chatfield is really good. For those of you who don't know, Chatfield, Jalapeno dough, salt, honey, pepper, and cheddar cheese. It's a really good bagel of the day. It was created in our Wake Forest location with our franchisee up there, Ryan Mcevoy and Jalen Chatfield, the hockey player for the Hurricanes. And it's a super popular bagel of the day. It was created for a good reason. They were doing a they were raising money for Jalen and Ryan's foundations and it was a cool opportunity to engage the community. We were seven stores big at that time. You it was really s we were still really tiny. Yeah. And It felt like something we could do. And it was such a popular bagel that there were like people were like, You need to bring it back, you need to bring it back. So now it's been on the menu for yeah. It's going on two and a half years, it's been on the menu. Yeah. Jalen is a super awesome guy. Won the Stanley Cup last year. I got to meet him for the first time. I didn't you got to meet him. That's cool. Yeah, I met him at the grand opening up there, third store up there in the Raleigh market. And he's just such a down to earth human. And he gives a lot of credit. He deserves to have a bagel named after him. He does, and he gives a lot of credit to his wife for helping him with The recipe creation because he doesn't. He was like, whacking. He's like, it's delicious. I like to eat it, but it wasn't me as much. Exactly. That would be hilarious. Change the name. Mrs. Chatfield. Yeah. It's a great bagel. Yeah. I don't even need a spread with it. That's how much I just feel like it's packed the flavor that I have done cinnamon honey butter on it before to kind of bring out that sweetness of the honey. Yeah. But I I could just eat this plain. It's so good. Yeah. I don't need a spread. Alright, so you came to work for Jeff Bagel Run like three years ago. Yeah, almost three years ago. When you when you made that transition, what was that like for you? Because you were a school teacher. Right? Yes. Yeah, like okay. It was a scary transition. I was I went to school for elementary education, got my degree, taught, had some bumps in the road with teaching, but my passion for Teaching was there always and I love working with kids. But after giving it some shots, some fair shots, I just was like, you know, this isn't for me. I'm gonna take a step back, and just prioritize like my mental health and things like that. And I was substitute teaching at the time when I was coming in more Yeah. I substitute at schools nearby our the Ocoee location. And I just loved it so much and I thought, what if I just worked at Jeff's? Even before then, I had always said to my friends, like, I wanna work at Jeff's one day, I wanna work at Jeff's. And then I was scared because what I was what, I don't know, 27 at the time and had this whole vision for my life planned out that at that time in my life it was far from that vision. And I went for the first time for a job that I knew would I just be happy at. And that was kind of how I went to Jeff's I I was scared. I mean, I had a college degree, right? I had which that does even I mean it means something, but to me I felt kind of, I have this college degree for teaching and I'm not using it. And I don't know, there's some guilt attached to it, but at the time I was just like It didn't work out. And I was slowly learning to be okay that with you know letting go of what you thought was supposed to happen. Well you said something just a second ago that I think is really important because you're I mean you're younger than I am. Yeah. I'm forty-eight and I can tell you when I was your age at twenty-seven, twenty-eight, I wasn't thinking about my mental health. I wasn't thinking about what was right for me. Yeah. I was just thinking about what was expected of me. And so for you to take Yeah, kind of like control of that for you, which might have hurt you maybe financially, it might have been of a step backwards, it might have put you in a position where people were like, your friends might have been like, what do you mean you're gonna work at a bagel shop? Like I can see that that's that's hard. Yeah. But that's pretty courageous to do that. Yeah, thank you. I mean that's a time. I mean I I definitely I appreciate you saying it was courageous because it is. Years ago I would have said I would have shied away. But I'm like, you're right, it was courageous. I'm gonna own that. so yeah, I just I just felt like I I spent this money on this degree and I worked hard to earn it and I didn't. I felt almost like a failure sometimes, but I've made so many strides with my mental health where I'm like, Okay, that's all I did that, that's awesome too. But now I just started from scratch and went that I took a leap of faith and ended up working out beyond my expectations. And I remind myself, like I recognize like that was that was awesome of me. And it still is. So yeah. It was awesome of you and it is still awesome. And I think that I think that there's I think people can learn a lot from that. I think there's so much value in It sounds awful to say it this way, or maybe it doesn't sound awful, maybe it's my own just issues with that. But like you're prioritizing yourself. Which feels like selfish, right? But it's not. Because if you're not a if you're not the best version of you, then you're not gonna be a good version for anyone. So even though you have this maybe selfish behavior of like taking care of you and doing something that's good for you, others are gonna look at you and say, But what about me? And that's really not about them. Yeah, you're right. I literally like sorry to make it all about mental health, but I my therapist my session with her last time I was talking about ways I could show up for myself more and I was like does that that feels selfish? She said it should. Like it's being selfish isn't always a bad thing, especially as long as you're not hurting others as you're ch if you're just, you know, doing what you you're showing up for yourself and you're you owe it to yourself to be selfish sometimes. And I did that. I was just gonna ask you like what's a popular opinion, like hot take kind of question. And I think you just answered it. Okay. I mean there's a bit of a hot take in that. Yeah, you're right. That's a whole different one I put showing. Yeah. Showing up for yourself is like really important. Yeah. And I think a lot of times society will tell you that you should be showing up for other people first. Yeah. Especially like different there's so many different roles in life, right? And I do think at times you do have to show for yourself to succeed in that role. So, yeah. What do you think when you think about your role? Like what's your like what's your role, what's your role at Jeffs? What do you you you're the general manager in the Ocoee store, but like what's your role? gosh. Okay. What's my role? Yeah. I feel like I show up in a way that Let me think about this. Not so much I I just want to set an example for others. I mean I feel like my role is to just kind of yes, I'm the manager, but really just be a leader and kind of also show that I'm not afraid to do the dirty work too with people, if that makes sense. Like I think I'm not answering this friend. I feel like I need a pause. No, it's okay. You're doing great. I think it's a like I don't know. I see I see you up. Yeah, I caught me up. I gotcha. I think you show up as a friend. Yeah. I know, I'm like I feel like I show up as a friend a lot, but also not too much of a friend. But I think you're tough though. Sometimes and expectations. Yeah. I definitely have I do, yeah. And I think I yeah, that's true. I definitely I definitely care. I want to make sure my employees are just taken care of, they're happy, they're heard, they're seen, and they know that like I'm there for them also. I will say like I've been a GM, a manager for over a year. There's still a lot to learn. I think I've made a lot of growth. Back then I don't think I was as tough, and I do think I could be more tough. But Yeah. I I caught me off guard with that question. You're doing great. Okay, thanks. Okay. So part of the you know part of the story of Jeff Bagel Run is build community. And I really think that our guests and our team like are reflections of the community that they serve and they're a part of. So who's someone that like shows up for you in your community? okay. It's gonna go back to mental health again because my answer for this one was my therapist, honestly. definitely she helped me recognize qualities in myself that I never knew existed. there are things about myself I ten years ago I went I I couldn't make sense of it and now things in my past, I'm like, okay, this is why I'm this way, this is how why I react this way. And I would say she shown up for me in a way that has helped me grow we were talking about roles earlier in every role in my life as like a partner, as a friend, as a daughter, as a manager. So I would say that is someone who is in my community that has helped me. I think that's amazing. Yeah. I think that there's so much value in understanding mental health as healthcare. Mm-hmm. And you know if you had something going on with your your arm hurt or your ankle or you were like I can't like you know my chest hurts like you would take you would seek help right you would go out and you'd find a doctor and so I think mental health is the same way if you're finding yourself in a place where yeah you're you know questioning whether or not like you should just need some help need help like because something hurts or because it doesn't feel right or it's uncomfortable yeah you you did that and I think that's that's great. I think I would think and I don't know if this is true for you or not but I think that today, like twenty twenty six, mental health definitely takes much more of a like a front seat in the healthcare like lens of A lot of people. I think more people your age. You know. The thirty and undergroup I think are a little more I love that you put me in that group because I'm not in that. Not anymore. I'm 31. you're so close. Okay. It's a round down. The thirty one and underground. Well round down. Yeah. I just feel like there's a there's such a value that is placed on it in a way that's really positive because that that wasn't the case for you know for me. Like I said, you I'm forty-eight. I grew up in a period of time where it was like if I fell down when I was kid it was like it doesn't hurt rub some dirt in it move on you know and as you get become an adult it was you know press down those feelings and yeah don't think about that yeah so that's why I feel like Danielle's the perfect partner for you because you she's very I feel like big on talking about your feelings and all that so yeah she's grounded yeah in that for sure so that's great that she you have her. What's that like for you to work for two people who Like Danielle and I. It's a roller coaster. You know, it has its highs, it has its low but not like lows like that. Like it definitely, I mean, honestly, I love it. It it definitely I feel like I'm at the front row of where Jeff's is going in the future, and I get to bounce ideas off of you guys and you bounce ideas off of me and you guys value me so much and that means a lot and I feel just so happy to work with two people that get the value each me and I mean also it's fun because like you know I say something, you say one thing and then Danielle's like no it's this and then you're like okay yeah you're right it's this and I'm like okay. but no I just working with you guys. It's fun. I think it's fun. It can be stressful, but it's fun. It's a fun stress. I I mean it's you're the first you're the Jeff This is true. But you're and you're the first person I've ever asked that question of. So it's super interesting. Like I wonder yeah, 'cause I I think about like we get questions all the time, Danielle and I'm what's it like to work with your spouse, your partner. Yeah. And I just I didn't ever think about the perspective of what it's like to be on the other side of that. Yeah. So yeah. Thanks for answering it honestly. Yeah, of course. Always. Yeah. Yeah. Well I'm so glad you sat down with me and answered some questions today. I think it's super fun. Yeah. And I I would like we can just enjoy the rest of our bagel now! Yeah. Does that sound good? Yeah. Right. Okay. But I do want to ask your opinion on well this is nothing deep. This is nothing deep. The I brought up when I filled out the interview questions, a hot take. And mine was when you travel on an airplane. yeah. This you said that if a so I'm gonna hear your thoughts actually. You said that if You travel on an airplane and you purchased your seat. Yeah. And even if you didn't, like whatever. Your seat was assigned. Yes. And it was assigned and you s and because where your seat was, it like split a family up and you're like, you don't have your your whole take was like y you shouldn't give your seat up. Yeah. And what are your thoughts on that? I mean the I love, love, love sitting on the aisle. Okay. When I travel. I'm an aisle guy. I wanna be able to get up and move up and down if I need to. So If my aisle seat is impeding someone sitting together and it changes where I have to sit in. Like then you're in the middle or something. Even a middle or a window doesn't like I I have to think about it really, really hard. Yeah. On my last flight, I flew out to California. Okay. And I was on an aisle and there was a there was a like a father and a daughter were separated in two middle seats in the same row. Okay. And the woman On the aisle next to me was actually with her daughter, window aisle. okay. And so she said, I was like, hey, you know, if you want, I said to him, I was like, if you want to switch, I'll switch with you. And she's like, that's very nice of you. She's like, that's my daughter right there, so I'll sit in the middle, you can have the aisle. Okay. And so we switched. So that worked out. It worked out. I would have switched and sat in the middle because I don't think I would have wanted to sit as a dad like for five and a half hours from Orlando to California. Separated like that. So that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I just I feel like that's a hot take. People say it's expected. I feel like it's you're not obligated, it's very nice if you for you to switch a seat on a plane but you bought that seat. I definitely wouldn't say it's expected, but I think it's probably a nice gesture if the situation warrants it. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to hear your thoughts. That's fair. I travel a lot. I've been on a lot of planes. I've been on a lot of planes this year. Yeah, that's crazy. Alright, well let's enjoy a bagel Okay. Yeah. Thanks, Lauren Thanks, Jeff.