Anna Hopkins and The Protein Bread Company
In 1989, as an eight year old country kid Anna dreamt of opening a healthy fast food café, hand drawing a concept, menu and even logo. She
quickly got distracted building castles out of mud, but grew up, moved to the city and went on to forge a successful career with McDonald's, developing her strong work ethic and love of business. Anna was reminded of her childhood dream one particularly busy, stressful day. Starving and craving a fast, healthy lunch, but only finding stodgy sandwiches, rolls or wraps, Anna brazenly decided it was time to turn her childhood dream into reality. She opened Whole Meal Café in November 2010. After ten years at Maccas, building a high performance culture within her region and achieving strong sales results, Anna naively expected the café to be profitable from day one, not contemplating how different it would be without the magical Golden Arches drawing people in. Experienced in interpreting and actioning P&L’s, but not so much creating them from a shoebox of receipts, the first year was a huge eye opening, life changing experience. More time was spent in tears rather than sipping lattes. With zero financial backing, a depleted savings account and unexpected set up costs, Anna relied on her creativity, resourcefulness and tenacity to successfully build the business from scratch with minimal resources.
Part of the plan was to constantly exceed customer expectations, giving them exactly what they wanted plus more. When Anna noticed many customers avoiding bread, due to low carb or gluten free diets - she set to work in the kitchen creating a bread they could eat without feeling guilty or bloated. From this tiny cafe kitchen in Darlinghurst, Protein Bread - Australia’s Lowest Carb Bread - was born. First added to the menu, then sold by the loaf for customers to take home. When people started traveling from all over Sydney, to buy her bread, Anna realised the potential of what she’d created and successfully sold the café to focus on this new venture.
The Protein Bread Company was founded in 2014 selling just the original Protein Bread. Today, the range includes Bread, Pancake, Muffin and Pizza Base Mixes, which are sold nationally through leading retailers and direct to consumer online. The company also has it’s own bakery that produces fresh bread loaves for customers in Sydney & Melbourne.
Anna is an expert on self awareness and takes a refreshingly simple approach to personal development. She believes that we all have the ability to achieve anything we desire, yet the stories we tell ourselves often stop this from happening.
Over the past 15 years, she has created some simple techniques to help re-write these negative stories and create an inspiring, exciting life. As a speaker, Anna’s tenacity, honesty and direct approach combined with her belief that everyone deserves to feel their best, inspires people into action. She shares her tangible tools, leaving the audience not only motivated but well equipped to walk away and implement some profound changes, both personally and professionally.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theproteinbreadco
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proteinbreadco
Website: lowcarblivinggroup.com.au
Your Hosts: Emma Franklin Bell & Anna Massie. Follow us on Instagram @theladiesloungemedia
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By Anna Massie and Emma Franklin BellAnna Hopkins and The Protein Bread Company
In 1989, as an eight year old country kid Anna dreamt of opening a healthy fast food café, hand drawing a concept, menu and even logo. She
quickly got distracted building castles out of mud, but grew up, moved to the city and went on to forge a successful career with McDonald's, developing her strong work ethic and love of business. Anna was reminded of her childhood dream one particularly busy, stressful day. Starving and craving a fast, healthy lunch, but only finding stodgy sandwiches, rolls or wraps, Anna brazenly decided it was time to turn her childhood dream into reality. She opened Whole Meal Café in November 2010. After ten years at Maccas, building a high performance culture within her region and achieving strong sales results, Anna naively expected the café to be profitable from day one, not contemplating how different it would be without the magical Golden Arches drawing people in. Experienced in interpreting and actioning P&L’s, but not so much creating them from a shoebox of receipts, the first year was a huge eye opening, life changing experience. More time was spent in tears rather than sipping lattes. With zero financial backing, a depleted savings account and unexpected set up costs, Anna relied on her creativity, resourcefulness and tenacity to successfully build the business from scratch with minimal resources.
Part of the plan was to constantly exceed customer expectations, giving them exactly what they wanted plus more. When Anna noticed many customers avoiding bread, due to low carb or gluten free diets - she set to work in the kitchen creating a bread they could eat without feeling guilty or bloated. From this tiny cafe kitchen in Darlinghurst, Protein Bread - Australia’s Lowest Carb Bread - was born. First added to the menu, then sold by the loaf for customers to take home. When people started traveling from all over Sydney, to buy her bread, Anna realised the potential of what she’d created and successfully sold the café to focus on this new venture.
The Protein Bread Company was founded in 2014 selling just the original Protein Bread. Today, the range includes Bread, Pancake, Muffin and Pizza Base Mixes, which are sold nationally through leading retailers and direct to consumer online. The company also has it’s own bakery that produces fresh bread loaves for customers in Sydney & Melbourne.
Anna is an expert on self awareness and takes a refreshingly simple approach to personal development. She believes that we all have the ability to achieve anything we desire, yet the stories we tell ourselves often stop this from happening.
Over the past 15 years, she has created some simple techniques to help re-write these negative stories and create an inspiring, exciting life. As a speaker, Anna’s tenacity, honesty and direct approach combined with her belief that everyone deserves to feel their best, inspires people into action. She shares her tangible tools, leaving the audience not only motivated but well equipped to walk away and implement some profound changes, both personally and professionally.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theproteinbreadco
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proteinbreadco
Website: lowcarblivinggroup.com.au
Your Hosts: Emma Franklin Bell & Anna Massie. Follow us on Instagram @theladiesloungemedia