In the RBA Board Member Spotlight series, we'll be profiling valued members of the Retail Bakers of America board.

Amie Smith began her Retail Bakers of America board presidency last month and talked to us about her motivation and dreams for RBA as well as what led her here.

Why she recommends joining RBA asap 

Amie believes the amount of knowledge within the RBA is astounding.

“$200 for membership dues when I was first starting out was a lot for me. I just didn’t put two and two together about what the benefits would be. Now I realize that was the dumbest decision ever (to delay). Now I tell potential members that joining RBA was the single best decision I made as a bakery owner. It’s a no brainer. I don’t know how or why I didn’t put that together initially to become a member right away even when budget was tight. It means you don’t have to reinvent the wheel because these people (fellow members) have all been through it.”

“I couldn’t believe the amount of knowledge among members. As soon as I joined RBA, I’d pick up tips here or there or members would share resources and vendor contacts. It’s all so valuable.” 

Goals for RBA

Amie points out that the RBA Connect forum is a wealth of information already, but they hope to add more live and interactive components. For example, RBA Roundtables (expanded so B2B conversations can happen even more). 

She also aims to elevate the RBA brand. That’s her background, actually: marketing and branding and working in creative services (before opening Amie Bakery).
 
 “If you don’t watch webinars or go on bakery tours, etc., you won’t get as much out of your membership. But the direction I’d like us to head is in more active engagement–pulling people in more so they feel actively engaged with what we have to offer.”

Amie’s “Ideas Guy” nickname

Amie’s nickname at her bakery is “Ideas Guy.” She says she has ideas at all hours of the day and night and that includes ideas for RBA. She believes it’s helpful to put the whole dream out there and then see what sticks.

“Once I’m inspired by something, I say I think it could have potential to be great. Then we pick it apart, and sometimes try it. But either way, you have to think it through to the last step to know if it’ll work.”

For RBA, Amie has a lot of ideas–many of which are from her previous corporate career and also from building Amie Bakery from scratch. 

“I’m very good at bringing vision to reality, like with the idea for Amie Bakery. “Concept to production” was key in my previous career in documentation, a client would come to me with a concept of what they wanted and then I could bring it to that tangible, final piece. I’ve always been very visual like that.”

Baking from scratch

Amie’s pastry instructor told her she wouldn’t make money when she first had the idea for Amie Bakery. She refused to believe it, though. It ended up resonating with the Cape Cod community where clientele were willing to pay a higher price for made-from-scratch items. 

Amie says it has grown more difficult as costs have gone up and profit decreases.

“I’ll always stick to this core mission, though. I understand some bakeries do that, and I have no problem with it–it’s just not how I wanted to do things on a smaller scale.”
 
 Amie already had a home in Osterville, Mass., so that’s how she chose her location when deciding it was time to leave her corporate career to run a bakery. Finding a building ended up being a bigger challenge, though. When a location became available in the perfect spot, she jumped at the chance.

The miracle of baking

Amie said she’d go to a party, and always be focused on what the food and beverages were, not networking and small talk. Her dad used to say that her eyes were bigger than her stomach. She looks back now and attributes those as signs pointing toward her destiny of running a bakery. 

Even when she doesn’t feel like baking, she shared that once she starts, it always feels so therapeutic. 

“It’s a miracle. The eggs triple in volume. I still can’t wrap my head around it. It’s miraculous! Eggs are miracle workers. I cannot believe you can make a cake. The awe never goes away.”

What the next couple of years will look like for Amie

Amie hired a new executive pastry chef in March and is planning on having her run the bakery so Amie can focus on RBA and writing a book and focusing on the brand/business side of Amie Bakery.