Hi! My name is Catherine Yoo, and I'd like to consider myself someone that is easy to please, but extremely difficult to impress.

It was always my dream to start my own business and be my own boss. I grew up in the hospitality industry (mainly restaurant businesses) in NJ and NYC since I was 16 years old. I dabbled in all sorts of jobs such as Human Resources, Research & Development, Recipe Tester, Recipe Developer, Culinary Instructor, and now currently as a Food Stylist. I am confident that my experiences thus far will only help me be even more successful in opening up my bagel store concept "Blour Bagels" in Bergen County, New Jersey!

I have a lot of stomach issues, and I strongly believe in the gut-mind connection. I want to be able to provide guests with bagels and products that use real ingredients and are gut friendly as much as possible. Not only that, but I strive to be able to become the next Christina Tosi of the bagel world. I want to be able to start a Bagel Chain with seasonal bagels, "unique" bagels, have an open kitchen concept, teach/have classes on bagel making or anything that is on our menu, go wholesale, etc. I am going to do everything in my power to make Blour Bagels a world-wide name in the Bagel world.

My Mission Statement: Provide memorable experiences to our guests through our attention to detail with detailed service, high quality ingredients, and fresh take on bagels. We strive for excellence and thoughtfulness in and out of our store by serving our local communities through donations, events, and supporting neighborhood businesses. We are strong believers in gut-health, and we want to prove to everyone that you shouldn’t feel guilty or bad eating a bagel!

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If you want to hear about my background and my story, I mention everything closer to the end.

Projected Ideal Timeline to Open First Store 9/1/22

- 2/9/22 - 3/15/22 (1 month): look for a location, do due diligence for 2 weeks and then put in an offer
- 3/15/22 - 4/15/22 (1 month): takes about a month to close on a location, once closed and only when closed will CY be able to move onto - next steps
- 4/15/22 - 7/1/22 (2.5 months): explore marketing options; renovations/equipment installations will start and finished by the end; the - bulk of restaurant is set-up in regards to all the equipment in house and furniture besides the food portion, establish food vendors, food suppliers, set-up systems, HR, store procedures, flow of operations, etc.
- 7/1/22 - 7/31/22 (1 month): focus entirely on perfecting recipes according to how the machines produce the bagels/end food result; staff starts working; will hire and train staff to prepare for soft opening; marketing content will be released again
- 8/1/22 - 8/31/22 (1 month): soft opening where all the concepts are tested, see what works vs doesn’t, get guest feedback so that when opening day comes we are sure of our concept and ready to openly acknowledge that we are officially opened 9/1/22 
- 9/1/22: First day of service

Background

I am currently a food stylist in NYC. I have worked in several restaurants from fast-casual to fine dining in NJ & NYC since 16 years old.

I graduated first in my class at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY with an Associate’s degree in Culinary Arts, and went to finish my Bachelor’s degree at Cornell University for Hospitality/Business Management.

I have experience working on commercials, editorials (cookbooks and magazines), social media contents, stop-motions, videos, and television. I also dabble in recipe development and testing, and have experience being a hand-model.

I worked with the Doe Fund as the Chef-in-Training Instructor to develop the class curriculum, and taught the students essential kitchen skills to become successful in the workplace.

My Story

I never mentioned this, but I feel like it's finally time to rip off the damn Band-Aid and give everyone an explanation about what happened with the initial Blour concept.

 

Those that know me well know that I ended up at the hospital for months due my horrid mental health which was accompanied by my ghastly physical health conditions. Long story short, I had to go through several surgeries which resulted in a lot of physical scars all over my body. I went MIA and took the initial Blour Bagel failure harshly... a bit too harshly than I would like to admit. I earnestly pray that no one has to go through anything remotely close to that. You might think I'm overexaggerating, but the reason why I took the failure so harshly was because I grew up in restaurants and in hospitality; I live and breathe it. The fact that I couldn't even get to prove myself with an opportunity due to all the twists and turns, really negatively impacted me cause the only thing I pride myself on is my skill set and my work abilities. If you ever want to stab me in the heart, you would have to be in the same field as me and negatively criticize what I do without reasonable cause. I am crazy insecure about everything else except my abilities so the fact that the only thing I was and am prideful about failed for the first time without even a fighting chance was detrimental to my mental health...

 

It was difficult for me to pull the plug on the initial Blour concept 2.5 years ago, but I knew my pride shouldn't get in the way. I knew that if I continued that concept with that planned location with their current sales plan, it was like running into the fire and expecting to live... Most importantly, costly lessons were 100% learned on my end, and something like that will not happen again. Of course, there's always a risk with any business, but if I, for some reason, fail this time around, I will have no regrets because I am doing everything humanly possible to be successful and to decrease the likelihood of failure due to all my pre-set conditions (subject to change, if for the better) and non-negotiable conditions such as not having unrealistic deadlines, but reasonable ones (because I do understand at the end of the day, it is about making profit and I don't want to be out on the streets haha). And those of you that know me well, you better believe that I am not going down without a fight! Hehe!

 

I can promise each and everyone of you that donates to this fund, over time, this concept will make money and that my dream of potentially going wholesale will happen. We will become like Christina Tosi's Milk Bar, and I know we will together. Maybe not anytime soon haha, but definitely around 15 years, if not sooner.

 

I honestly would appreciate any donation--even $1, because hey, it adds up. I hate empty promises, but I will make all of you that donates this promise, I will pay all of you back--literally each and every donation down to the penny. Sorry for being sappy, but I watned to let everyone know how I felt and that even if you don't donate to this fund, thank you again for taking the time to listen to my story because it means the world to me.

 

With a grateful heart,

Catherine Yoo