850: Laura McCutcheon Founder and Owner of Halelife Bakery

With Excitement allow me to introduce to you today's guest: Founder, and Owner of Halelife Bakery, Laura McCutcheon. Laura's diverse background in the world of marketing, advertising, branding, and business development for non-profits and corporations set her up well for success in the food and beverage industry. After being diagnosed with celiac disease, and having a son who also suffered from his own gluten-free illness, Laura moved to Tampa, FL to get the medical support she and her family needed. What started as a gluten-free blog turned into a business that focused on sharing the best gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-free products out there. In 2018 that business turned into Halelife Bakery. Halelife Bakery is a dedicated gluten-free & vegan bakery offering gourmet cupcakes, donuts, cakes, bars, brownies, and more. Focused on providing safe delicious baked goods for those who are living with food allergies, intolerances or specific preferences.

Check out Outwitting The Devil: The Secret To Freedom and Success by Napoleon Hill as mentioned in today's episode

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Favorite success quote or mantra:

• "Most people's greatest success comes one step beyond their greatest failure."

In today's episode with Laura McCutcheon we will discuss:

• Branding
• Emotional branding
• A restaurant focused on people with allergies and dietary restrictions
• Start where you can
• Using a blog to market your restaurant
• Streamlining processes
• Invent a word for the name of your business
• Retaining employees best practices

Today's sponsor:

Diageo Bar Academy equips bartenders, servers, managers, and hospitality professionals with the insights, stories, and tools to be better - raising the bar on industry standards. Diageo Bar Academy reaches a diverse audience, with backgrounds and skill levels of all ranges- providing them with skills, knowledge, and the techniques they need to improve their personal and professional lives.

7shifts is a modern labor management platform, designed by restaurateurs, for restaurateurs. Effectively labor management is more important than ever to ensure profitability and restaurant success. Trusted by over 400,000 restaurant professionals, 7shifts gives you the tools you need to streamline labor operations, communicate with your team, and retain your talent. Best of all 7shifts integrates with the POS and Payroll systems you already use and trust (like Toast!) turning labor into a competitive advantage for your business. Restaurant Unstoppable members get 3 months, absolutely free.

MarginEdge is completely free for new customers until September. No setup fees. No integration fees. No commitment. Take your back office paperwork down to 2-3 minutes a day while creating real-time financial views to inform your path ahead.

Knowledge bombs

1. Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
   • Loyalty
2. What is your biggest weakness?
   • Loyalty
3. What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
   • Are you an empathetic person?
4. What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
   • Managing growth
5. Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
   • Empathy
6. What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
   • Patience
7. What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
   • Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & In Life, One Conversation At A Time by Susan Scott
   • GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM 
8. What's one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
   • See their team members as humans
9. Name one service you've hired.
   • Milan Marketing
10. What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influence operations?
    • Clover and TrazOro
11. If you got the news that you'd be leaving this world tomorrow and all memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure with the exception of 3 pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity, what would they be?
    • Lead by example
    • Your only as strong as your team
    • Attention to detail and quality control are keys factors in a successful business

Contact info:

Instagram: @halelifebakery

Email: laura@halelifebakery.com

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

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Huge thanks to Laura McCutcheon for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!

 

Restaurant Unstoppable is a free podcast. One of the ways I'm able to make it free is by earning a commission when sharing certain products with you. I've made it a core value to only share tools, resources, and services my guest mentors have recommend, first. If you're finding value in my podcast, please use my links!