The level of difficulty is slowly intensifying for the BUB crew as they embark on new formats and increasingly longer Roadshow stops from 2021-2023. From overcoming obstacles like staffing shortages and supply chain shortfalls to equipment breakdowns, team injuries and illness, the gnarly bits of taking the bagel show on the road abound.

But, as Amanda and BUB's co-founders discuss, there are community connections and piles of scrumptious bagels, lox and sandwiches to make the trip(s) worthwhile. Episode 8 includes highlights from the likes of Cohoes, NY, Columbus, OH and Cedar Rapids, IA. Each with its own personality and flavor, these locations make the Roadshow an unmatched experience for Bottoms Up Bagels and communities alike. 

As always, we're a-learnin' and a-sharin':

• Don't let them see you sweat
• Do follow through on your promises
• Don't try lifting heavy equipment
• Do honor peoples' loyalty
• Don't use vendors you can't rely on
• Do bring a film crew (whenever possible)
• Don't eat salad from ______ restaurant in Cedar Rapids, IA
• Do calibrate your production to meet demand
• Don't underestimate what you've learned
• Do be a respectful Away Team
• Don't forget you're still the expert - no matter where you go
• Do be thankful for the yeses (as much as the noes)
• Don't miss out on local color
• Do leave them wanting more

Faux Sponsor, "Bakers4Bakers4Bakers"
- written and performed by Joan Kanner

Theme music by Thorn Haze
Additional music by: VITOVI (via Pixabay)
Additional music by: saavane (via Pixabay)
Artwork by Lisa Orye

Links:

Boffo Bagel Business for Pop Up in Cohoes (article)

Baltimore’s Bottoms Up Bagels Pops Up in Columbus (article)

New Jersey bagel shop to hold pop-ups at NewBo City Market, Marion (article; ignore the delightful typo)

The BUB Roadshow video (Lonely Planet's version featuring Iowa)
Nominate Your Town

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As the Roadshow rolls on, Bottoms Up Bagels (BUB) begins to hire locally for stops in various cities. In our next full episode, we'll relive some of those hits, but today's clip is decidedly about the misses.

From would-be employees with a penchant for grand theft to those who've taken a swing at law enforcement (literally), we're exposing the hilarious, often alarming disconnect between cover letters (AI-generated ones to be specific) and the actual individuals behind them.

Speaking of AI, the Proofing Stage crew doubles down on the tomes of future bonus content we're collecting. Enjoy!

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Earlier in the pod we introduced the BUB Roadshow, Bottoms Up Bagels (BUB)'s way of busting the water myth and testing new markets for expansion. Part bagel pop up - part traveling circus - at its core, "The Roadshow" is about bringing good bagels to more people with local communities at its center. 

Today, Joan, Amanda and Michelle pull back the curtain on the how, and the why (oh, why?!) of doing an insane thing on top of the already questionable thing of running a small business. Because when you know your customer is everywhere, you go find them.

In this, the first of two episodes about the Roadshow, we explore: 

• #Bozangeles
• Why is there an "it's the water that makes a great bagel" myth? Who does that serve? What does it say about people who don't live in the NJ, NY, CT tri-state area?
• We learn about pay-what-you-can restaurants - and serve breakfast and lunch out of one.
• Michelle rises to the occasion of high altitude baking.
• Our crazy extensive menu leaves us asking #whatthehuck were we thinking?!
• SPOILER ALERT: The decision to be the culinary "away team" doesn't suck. 
• SPOILER-ER ALERT: There's no hero's welcome when returning to Baltimore.
• Hold up, is anyone else hankering for a Sailor's Club right now?

CW: Adult language

Videos

- The BUB Roadshow (1 min., 30 seconds)

- Tales from the Roadshow (1 min.)

Faux Sponsor, "Mickey 2-Thumbs' Water Service"
- written and performed by Joan Kanner

Theme music by Thorn Haze

Additional music by: VITOVI (via Pixabay)

Additional music by: SergeQuadrado (via Pixabay)

Artwork by Lisa Orye

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No Surgeon General's Warning needed for this bonus content. Catch us chatting about smoking of the savory smokin' kind. Meats. Dairy. Pellets vs. chips. Indoor vs. outdoor. This little excerpt didn't make the cut for our conversation about the BUB Roadshow in Bozeman, Montana, but it's full of flavor.

Enjoy this preview of what's to come when full episodes of Proofing Stage resume THIS Wednesday, 2/7.

#smokedmeats #bbqbitches #smokinhot #beefbrisket #briskethash

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The air was thick with election fever, but even thicker with the scent of fresh bagels.

Imagine our surprise when what we thought was a media frenzy for our beloved bagel bonanza at the Marion Public Library turned into an impromptu meet-and-greet with a Republican presidential candidate! In today's bonus episode, Michelle and Joan recap this somewhat humorous, mostly unnerving, Tale from the Roadshow. 

Join us for laughs, a sprinkle of politics, and a whole lot of heart from the Proofing Stage team.

Then on Feb. 7th, we resume new episodes with a focus on the Bottoms Up Bagels (BUB) Roadshow. This bonus episode is just a taste of what's in store.

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Any small business involves risk, often calculated and sometimes underestimated. Still, the brands you love press on every day through countless obstacles and decisions, bringing a team and the desire to not skip a beat along for the ride. 

But, what's behind your favorite place setting up shop, or shuttering its doors? This episode covers the ground from BUB Hub beta's build out and the team finally having a space of their own, through the end of the initial lease term - all against the backdrop of a global pandemic. We also remind you (and us) why this journey is worthwhile.

Hard-won victories, lessons learned and pro-tips abound, like:

• In the world of commercial real estate, what's a vanilla shell? 
• Moreover, what's got Joan feeling like a cold dark shell?
• Negotiating for graduated rent
• We stop ourselves short from unpacking health department and building inspection processes
• The eustress (not me-stress) of moving
• How "coming soon" is a phrase that shouldn't be used lightly
• Paying to build out a space you don't own
• Amanda creates a colorful new expletive
• Why property ownership makes sense for small businesses
• "I"m a real estate startup, and I'm here to help... our investors!"
• Treating people like crap when you think you're better than them
• Green means go. Yellow means caution. Red (flags) mean nothing when you have no options.
• Whoever dies with the most toys wins
• When landlords gaslight you
• "The Wire" helps us explain some things
• Rewarding landbankers
• Did someone say "conspiracy?"
• Michelle's pitch for you to "like and subscribe"

CW: Adult language

Theme music by Thorn Haze

Additional music by AlisiaBeats (via Pixabay)

Artwork by Lisa Orye

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It's 2019 and Bottoms Up Bagels (BUB) is feeling the pinch of increased overhead while working with a limited business model - relying on pop ups, catering and wholesale without everyday direct-to-customer sales opportunities. The wheels are set in motion though, and the dream of production meeting retail in BUB's first brick and mortar is on its way to being realized. 

At this, our halfway point of Season 1, Amanda follows Joan and Michelle through the early stages of locating a space for the future home of their business, and digs into the balance between finding fertile ground, making space in your community for beautiful things to happen, and what it takes to even get to the starting line. 

Episode 5 also breaks down some terms we've been tossing around:

• Land Banking
• BUB Roadshow
• BUB Hub beta

We then get into the nitty gritty of:

• Moving from a shared kitchen to a shop of our own
• What it takes to find a space: the timeline is no joke
• We answer the "Why Harwood?" question
• ADA compliance and the importance of making spaces accessible
• National Main Streets programs
• Open production: theatrical yet transparent
• How yesterday's bagels are simply not. a. thing.
• Building the Proofing Stage community - we want to hear from you!

CW: Adult language

Links:

Main Street America
Placemaking in the Era of Ghost Kitchens, BBGA Fall 2021

Theme music by Thorn Haze
Artwork by Lisa Orye

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Are you a food entrepreneur who's considering moving your business into a food hall?

Here's Michelle's primer on which questions to ask - so you can get the answers you need. 

She covers:
- Square footage and layout
- Common areas
- Build-out and outfitting
- Types of lease structures

It's time to equip yourself with knowledge - and Michelle's here to help!

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What's that they say about hindsight? Sometimes we're fortunate to see red flags in real time. But, most times it takes a while. And, even then we can still be left wondering what happened. Or, whose version of events were "right." Then, throw in the question of intentions (known and unknown) and it's easy to give up on the prospect of ever really understanding the meaning of a given situation. 

But here at Proofing Stage, we never give up. We're trying to put past business experiences into context and bring what learnings there are forward for us, and for you, dear listener. 

This week we continue the conversation about systems by focusing on gatekeepers and "mentorship." What options are there for growth when you're just starting out, and does true collaboration really exist? We uncover who gets asked what kinds of questions (prevention over promotion, much?) and debate the merits of food halls as amenities that are the brain child of development companies versus viable stepping stones for budding business to launch into prime time.

Joan, Amanda and Michelle are a little punchy this week, and talkin':

• Nepo babies
• A Nepo baby who made a play for BUB's recipes
• The woman guised as a mentor who enabled said nepo baby
• Gatekeepers
• Non-competes in commercial leases
• NDAs, but like, the good kind
• Does anyone have enough data to truly vote with their dollar?
• Being told that you don't know what you do know 

CW: Adult language

Theme music by Thorn Haze
Additional music by rain_of_thrones (via Pixabay)
Artwork by Lisa Orye

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In the spirit of the new year, we're sharing our aspirations. What are yours?

In a recent production meeting, Michelle, Amanda and Joan asked: "What's your hope for this podcast?" This BTS bonus episode begins to answer that question... 

Some highlights below:

Joan:
"It had to have catharsis, but also have catharsis with meaning [outside of us]. I feel like just a bitch session for us would not be meaningful to listeners and also readers...So it's important to like to meaningfully share something, to establish who we - all the three of us - are, actually, to see if people want to continue on this journey with us and to bring people along as we go. But people are now listening to the foundational episodes and I think that's important to establish character and experience and see if anything resonates with people."

Amanda:
"I've been thinking about the catharsis that comes from creation a lot within the past, actually the past 24 hours, 48 hours. I was speaking with a friend of mine who's an author and we had brunch and it was really nice and we were talking about how well. I'm writing memoir right now and how there was one piece in particular that I had been carrying around for a really, really long time about a situation when I was very young and I wrote it and a very strange thing happened to me at least that you know, I think people talk about but they don't talk about as openly as they should is - that when you put it down on paper, you put it down and you're able to carry on."

Michelle: "But you know that's a process, for lots of things is to just... put it down and then see what pieces of it you wanna pick up to go on your next journey, and that's for me it's very much that process. And then the bonus of seeing where it can go and what it brings out in people and if there's a community that we can help foster or connect to other communities talking about similar things, that's really exciting and it's been exciting to not be afraid to put our whole selves out there."

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