This story begins at the Ribbon Cutting for the new Hope Baking Company when observing owner Dan Serra gently wiping away tears as he prepared to speak. He did so with his arm tightly wrapped around his mom, Idalina. She too was crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t just those two expressing their emotions, but one could notice one or two employees in their familiar white work clothes dabbing their eyes too. They were experiencing a \u201crebirth\u201d, of sorts, in their working world which could prove to have a promising future for all involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason for tears is that Serra is reinvesting in the employees who stayed after Southern Bakeries closed and more importantly, has been able to coax back several key employees who had chosen to retire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s an investment that has very good odds of paying off. For everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur biggest asset here isn\u2019t the building, it\u2019s the people inside,\u201d Serra told the crowd. \u201cPeople who care and are devoted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis building has 300 of them. And, when you find that many in one place, it\u2019s a no-brainer. There are people here with 30 to 40 years of experience and you just can\u2019t buy that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So how did Serra get to Hope? Hold on. It\u2019s sort of a wonderful but painful ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is the owner of East Baking Company located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Folks, that is 1,496 miles to the east. Talk about a commute!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serra\u2019s story and his eventual immersion into the bread baking industry began at a young age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From native Portuguese parents, Dan was born in the U.S. in 1980. His father, Madail, worked for the Portuguese military early on in Portugal. He and his wife Idalena had very little education and were surviving in a third-world country where many necessities, such as shoes, were in short supply. They left for America in 1969. Trying to gain a foothold inside the nation of dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy mom and her sister-in-law were able to come to America, due to some great uncles of mine,\u201d Serera states. \u201cOne of the ways of getting here was going to work in the textile mills in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLarge mills had housing for their employees,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe housing my parents had was a one-room loft with no door.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faced with language barriers and physical limitations with living quarters soon had the Serra parents in search of better work and living conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was a seam stewardess at the mills who took sympathy for their cause and saw how their physical and mental health conditions were so poor. So, she helped get my mom and my aunt intentionally get \u201cdismissed\u201d from their job at the mill which meant they didn\u2019t have to return to their home country and could blend naturally into the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Serra\u2019s parents eventually joined more family members in Massachusetts with Idalena becoming a seamstress for Chickadee Undergarments and Madail a steady employee for Moore Drop Forge which primarily produced Sears Craftsman wrenches and ratchets in Springfield, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan was born in 1980 and had a good life growing into his teens, but it all changed quickly in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 1995, Dan accompanied his father to a doctor\u2019s appointment expecting all to be routine with the visit. However, some of the tests needed further evaluation. Within a few weeks the news came back. Chronic Leukemia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His father\u2019s health deteriorated and with the massive amounts of medicine he was no longer able to work. He came home and never returned to work again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On January 8 of the next year, he was forced, after a medical emergency, to the hospital. Very soon after he passed away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had 10 minutes to speak to him,\u201d Serra recounts through tears. \u201cHe said to me, \u2018Danny, you are going to have to be the man of the house and to take care of your mother,\u2019\u201d. On January 16, when Dan was only 15, his father died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan does not disappoint his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While going through the remainder of high school and looking for ways to distract himself from the trauma he had endured, Serra would spend extra time at his uncle\u2019s artisan style bakery where he cleaned the place and began mixing bread on the weekends while finishing high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He graduated 10th<\/sup> in his class and with already built-up AP college credits, he accepted a full-ride scholarship from the University of Western New England in Springfield, Mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI lived at home during college, which was 18 miles away, but to fulfill what my dad asked me to do,\u201d Serra recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He made the most of his time in the college classroom and came away with a Management, Finance, and a third degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he graduates from college, Mass Mutual Life Insurance is waiting and offers him a position in their Corporate Finance & Treasury division as a director. He was 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Young Serra bringing home plenty of money didn\u2019t necessarily make him happy. Deep down happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m bored out of my mind,\u201d he recounts. \u201cI\u2019m not an office person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Serra returned to college and received his MBA, but afterwards remained \u201cbored out of my mind\u201d, as he recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, I bought a coffee shop,\u201d he beams. \u201cOn November 14, 2003, I\u2019m the owner of a coffee shop in Ludlow, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But he still works for MassMutual. It\u2019s hard to run a coffee shop from a desk in another building, so he began communicating regularly from the office to the coffee shop. A hard \u201cno-no\u201d in the business world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, on March 17, 2004, Mass Mutual graciously paid for my MBA in full and then an hour later fired me for conflict of interest,\u201d he says sort of proudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Folks, if you haven\u2019t garnered it by now, Serra\u2019s sharp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s sharp, but he\u2019s as warm as a dinner roll. An inviting and devoted human who now has parlayed his education and drive from his earlier years to now constantly be in motion between, can we say, the locations of his bakery empire?<\/p>\n\n\n\n By a timely stroke of opportunity, Serra receives a call regarding the University of Massachusetts needing a bagel supplier after the previous provider went out of business. After a brief meeting, Serra launched into the future with his biggest decision to date. He began a wholesale bakery business, and the university was his first account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEast Street Bakery was our first location, and when we graduated to a bigger space, we incorporated into East Baking Company,\u201d Serra states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He now owns nine bakeries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs we grew, we kept taking on what I call \u201copportunities\u201d or distressed assets or underutilized facilities,\u201d he reveals. \u201cWhen we can find a facility to utilize to manufacture products for our customers, we go in and assess the opportunities that exist, then we acquire it and bring it into our system and continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There, folks, is his secret recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is how he made it to Hope and the former Southern Bakeries plant and property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What made Serra step up and take that chance on a longshot facility?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was the people,\u201d Serra declares. \u201cWhen I came here last October and November and saw more than 50% of the people have been here for more than a decade. From a company standpoint, you can\u2019t buy that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So that is why some of the employees at the ribbon cutting were wiping their eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How instrumental were the folks with the Hempstead County Economic Development Council in securing Serra while convincing him to put down a few roots?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s a wonderful lady working for us named Debbie Marsh and she was instrumental in getting state financing in 2005,\u201d Serra recounts. \u201cWhen I asked her about it, she contacted Steve Harris and Mark Ross and from them came more help in the form of Steve Atchley, State Representative Danny Watson and other key figures. If it wasn\u2019t for them, this wouldn\u2019t be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSteve Atchley is my neighbor now,\u201d Serra exclaims. \u201cWe like to be part of the community. The cost of hotel living is too expensive. So, I asked for help from Steve for some real estate and he had a neighbor who was selling their house nearby. I went to look at it and bought it the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it was time to figure out the name of the bakery, it was Dan\u2019s mom who suggested since they were now in Hope, Arkansas to take the obvious name of Hope Baking Company<\/strong>, now part of the East \u201cfamily of bakeries\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what is baked at Hope Baking Company?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn this industry, if you have a pan that can go in the oven, you can bake just about anything,\u201d Dan describes. \u201cIn this plant, we produce breadsticks, a brown and serve roll, English muffins, loaf bread, hamburger and hot dog buns, sliders, and brioche buns. If it\u2019s in a pan, then it can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Serra\u2019s persona as the owner could never be construed as a fat cat in a stuffed suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA suit?\u201d, Sarra replies with a laugh. \u201cHow can you relate to your employees? The first thing I instill in our managers is I drop my bag, then go inside that bakery. Your employees need to know you are committed to them. If they don\u2019t see you on the floor and making rounds. How can you ask them to do their job unless you<\/em> are willing to do it too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Serra plans to be in the office locally a couple of days each week. He understands words are good but putting eyes on his \u201cinvestments\u201d at work and vice versa establishes an accountability between the owner and employee. Over time, it establishes trust and dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because Serra is community-minded, that should bode well for the future endeavors of the city utilizing another business leader who takes their community seriously and invests their time and money into projects. He\u2019s got all the makings of a new member in one of our local civic clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur plant manager had been living in Texarkana, commuting back and forth every single day,\u201d Serra remarks. \u201cSo, I approached him and said \u2018since you\u2019re in Hope so much with work and part of that community, why are you driving an hour everyday to work? So, we ended up buying him a house here too because that travel time is wasted and you can\u2019t get time back,\u201d he concludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s a sizable step to take but will likely pay off long term for both employer and employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, would Dan\u2019s dad be proud of him now? There were promises made by Dan. There were promises kept by Dan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve said before that I would give up everything to ask him that one question. But I can\u2019t,\u201d an emotional Serra says. \u201cBut my mom is amazing. She retired to work for me. She\u2019s 77 and now goes with me everywhere, every week. She\u2019s always with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Look back at the photo of the ribbon cutting. Idalena is by her son\u2019s side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This story is ultimately about the people that work at Hope Baking Company. Because the owner has now bought into them<\/em> and he\u2019s doing everything right to have them buy into him too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This story begins at the Ribbon Cutting for the new Hope Baking Company when observing owner Dan Serra gently wiping away tears as he prepared to speak. He did so with his arm tightly wrapped around his mom, Idalina. She too was crying. 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