Ayssha Abner: Cultivating Community and Culinary Innovation at Maple Street Biscuit Company
Jul 21, 2024
Patricia
What makes a biscuit company more than just a place to grab a quick bite? Join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast as we welcome Ayssha Abner, the vibrant community leader from Maple Street Biscuit Company in Homewood. Ayssha pulls back the curtain on the company's scratch-made kitchen and their mouthwatering maple syrup-infused biscuits, sharing how their unique approach fosters a sense of community. From the innovative concept of community tables that encourage guests to connect, to Ayssha's heartfelt personal journey with the company, this episode is brimming with insights on how Maple Street Biscuit Company integrates their corporate mission into everyday operations.
Get excited for Maple Street's culinary surprises as we discuss their seasonal Limited Time Offers (LTOs). Ayssha tantalizes our taste buds with hints of new menu items that range from tacos to Asian-inspired dishes. This episode is not just about food—it's a celebration of innovation, community, and the flavors that unite people. Plus, we're encouraging listeners to nominate their favorite local businesses for future features on the Good Neighbor Podcast, ensuring that the spirit of community continues to thrive. Don't miss out on this inspiring and delicious journey with Ayssha Abner and the Maple Street Biscuit Company! #GNPBirmingham #MapleStreetBiscuitCo #HomewoodEats #BiscuitLovers #BreakfastGoals #SouthernFood #ComfortFood #LocalBham #FoodieFavorites #EatLocalBham #HomewoodAL
What makes a biscuit company more than just a place to grab a quick bite? Join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast as we welcome Ayssha Abner, the vibrant community leader from Maple Street Biscuit Company in Homewood. Ayssha pulls back the curtain on the company's scratch-made kitchen and their mouthwatering maple syrup-infused biscuits, sharing how their unique approach fosters a sense of community. From the innovative concept of community tables that encourage guests to connect, to Ayssha's heartfelt personal journey with the company, this episode is brimming with insights on how Maple Street Biscuit Company integrates their corporate mission into everyday operations.
Get excited for Maple Street's culinary surprises as we discuss their seasonal Limited Time Offers (LTOs). Ayssha tantalizes our taste buds with hints of new menu items that range from tacos to Asian-inspired dishes. This episode is not just about food—it's a celebration of innovation, community, and the flavors that unite people. Plus, we're encouraging listeners to nominate their favorite local businesses for future features on the Good Neighbor Podcast, ensuring that the spirit of community continues to thrive. Don't miss out on this inspiring and delicious journey with Ayssha Abner and the Maple Street Biscuit Company! #GNPBirmingham #MapleStreetBiscuitCo #HomewoodEats #BiscuitLovers #BreakfastGoals #SouthernFood #ComfortFood #LocalBham #FoodieFavorites #EatLocalBham #HomewoodAL
Speaker 1:
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, patricia Blondheim, and today we have good neighbor Asia Abner. And Asia is the community leader at Maple Street Biscuit Company here in Homewood. Asia.
Speaker 3:
How are you today? I'm doing good. How are you? I'm doing great.
Speaker 2:
Thank you. So I came in because my favorite flavor is maple and I just want to know do you have maple biscuits?
Speaker 3:
there, we actually put maple syrup in our biscuits. So yes, that's a secret to our biscuits.
Speaker 2:
There is syrup in there, that's marvelous, that's the best of both worlds. We've got fluffy biscuits, we've got maple. You've got me hooked. Tell me more about Maple Street Biscuit Company.
Speaker 3:
Well, we are a scratch-made kitchen. Everything's made there, in-house. Our gravies, our jams, our jellies is such great, amazing food. We started out in Jacksonville, florida, actually in 2012. And we have expanded across all the way up to Kentucky and Ohio region. Now, that's a little about us. We're all about helping people, serving others and being a part of our community. That's our mission statement and our values. It's what we strongly believe in, so that's why I'm called a community leader.
Speaker 2:
Well, tell me about that corporate belief system. You've got community leaders. This is a. This is a different kind of outreach and branding for a company. This is a different kind of outreach and branding for a company.
Speaker 3:
So tell me more about that, got you Okay? So yeah, maple Street. We are big on about community work and helping everybody around us. That's why we are called community stores. We're called community leaders, because we want to give back, we want to help people. Our founders, they strongly believe that, and then so in every community they've said that it takes anybody can be a manager, but it takes a true person to be a leader. So we changed our verbiage up to how we are, because we're all about our gracious service and any type of way that we can be a part of the community. So even all the way down to like our month of good, to make sure that we're dedicating a full month to do our mission and values. Of course we don't just do it for one month, but that month is fully dedicated to like special sales of coffee and different things of those natures that we give a portion of our sales to, to give back to the community. The Boys and Girls Club is who we give back to with our coffee sales for that month.
Speaker 2:
So you reflect on your corporate mission statement every single day. That is a conscious part of how you run your business.
Speaker 3:
Absolutely. We stick to our foundations and if it doesn't go well with our beliefs, then that doesn't mean that it needs to be there. So all the way down to, we call our what people like to call them customers. We like to call them guests, because guests come to your home and we're all supposed to be one big community. Even our concept if you've been into our dining room, we have bigger tables because we want everybody to kind of sit together. It's supposed to be a community vibe. We don't assign tables, Everybody just sits together as one big community.
Speaker 2:
Some of the best dining experiences I've ever had in my life have been in places that had community tables.
Speaker 3:
And it's fun. You never know who you might just end up talking to and just sitting at the table and bonding over Really they're friends you've not made yet Exactly. Bonding over Really, they're friends you've not made yet Exactly. And we've seen quite a few people just ended up becoming really cool together and guests know each other now. So when they come in, it's like I haven't seen you in a minute. It's like where have you been? It's like everybody is just one big community. I love it. It makes my day every time I see it.
Speaker 2:
I think it's wonderful when you have community tables, there's no closed circles, exactly.
Speaker 3:
And if there's any Maple Street that you go into you would notice like our big round tables, because that's like a piece of our structure and who we are. So it's a little stamp on what we do.
Speaker 2:
Well, tell our listeners about your journey Asia. How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:
I got into Maple Street whenever I was looking for a company that just had the same culture and belief as myself. So Maple Street founded them in 2023, and they moved me to Kentucky to open up that region, and I got the privilege to open up the Florence Kentucky store as the community leader there, and so that was something different to be able to advertise in an area that knows nothing about our company.
Speaker 4:
And it was fun, because being able to do different things, things of those natures, figure out how to market and brand us and Maple Tree has been a great journey. They value everything that I do, the service. They value their team members, all of their leadership, anybody that's a part of the community, a part of the Maple Tree family, all the way to much so that our home office isn't called home office. We call them family support team.
Speaker 2:
Well, are there any misconceptions that people have about um you know about, about what you do when they walk into maple street business or maple street biscuit company? I can't speak english.
Speaker 3:
How are they um, how are they surprised um, because we don't just have biscuits, we have multiple different things. So, yes, we are Maple Street Biscuit Company, but yes, we are expanding to give our guests different flavors of sorts. So, like we have tacos, we have hash brunch bowls, we oh what else? Waffles. We are constantly bringing new things and doing different limited time offers, like we did a biscuit French toast one time that drove crazy. So don't sleep on us. We're not just biscuits, we have a lot more than just biscuits.
Speaker 2:
Well, what do you do for fun, Asia, when you're not working? How do you fill your bucket?
Speaker 3:
I am the world's funnest TT and I own it, so I have. What's my count now of how many I have my nieces and nephews take up my time? I have about six nieces and nephews under my belt now, so TT is the fun one, and whenever I have my free time I am dedicated to being that bomb TT and giving them my full affection.
Speaker 2:
Well, what's your secret with being a TT? What's the secret sauce there? What makes you the funnest TT ever?
Speaker 3:
Fill them up with all the sugar, then send them back home.
Speaker 2:
That is a time-honored recipe. I think you ripped that off.
Speaker 3:
I give them everything. I'll play in your ball pit with you. I'm honored recipe. I think you ripped that off. I give them everything If I'll play in your ball pit with you. I'm bigger. I'm not supposed to be in the ball pit, but I'm going to be in the ball pit with them. I'm going to be active with the kids. I'm going to look like a big kid part of them, but I promise I'm an adult.
Speaker 2:
Hey, has it been a challenge for you? I mean, you've been with Maple Street Biscuit Company. If you do, you've done a couple of big moves. Obviously, this, this job, has challenged you. You want to talk about that.
Speaker 3:
Absolutely. Maple Street gave me my opportunity at becoming a GM. They had faith in me to be able to come in. It's been challenging, a little bit of learning and critiquing my skills, but being with Maple Street, they make sure you have every support tool that you need to better you and they do multiple different coaching conversations. They have so many different mentors that you can branch out to. Everybody in the company will help you. Every community leader like I have community leaders in Texas that if I don't know an answer to I can call them because they just want to make sure that we all are one big family. Challenges are just mainly me and my skills of learning how to fully function and running a business as a GM, and Maple Street has given me every tool I need and become as great as I am, and now I hope they will consider me one of their best, like I do, so they do?
Speaker 4:
I'm kidding, I think they do. How could they not Exactly?
Speaker 2:
Well, what would you like to leave our listeners, or what would you like our listeners to leave? With about Maple Street Biscuit Company.
Speaker 3:
If you are in any area from Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Carolinas, Ohio, Kentucky, you need to stop into Maple Street. It's some of the best scratch made food you will ever have in your life. It's some of the best scratch made food you will ever have in your life. And then also, if you have one of your local area, partner with us. If you have different drives or anything, we can help to give back to our community and be there to support. Every single Maple Street store is dedicated to being a part of our community in any way we can, Whether it's toy drives, clothing, biscuit drops, whatever you need. Reach out to your local community leader in your Maple Street community stores and we are devoted to helping you completely.
Speaker 2:
Well, how can our listeners find Maple Street Biscuit Company or contact you?
Speaker 3:
Follow us across all of our social medias. We have TikTok, instagram. We have our page maplestreetbiscuitscom. If you scroll down to the bottom, it has any avenue that you need for catering. Just wanting to have questions answered. If you don't know if you have a local store, all the information is there. You can also get a sneak peek into our new stores that's opening real soon because we're expanding baby.
Speaker 2:
We need more community and we just want more biscuits.
Speaker 3:
Oh baby, we have so many different things coming. Keep in contact with us, because every season we have different LTOs coming out, and you'll never know what we might pop out with. The last thing was tacos, so who knows where we're going next?
Speaker 2:
Asia. It's been great meeting you. Thank you so much for coming by and sharing the Maple Street Biscuit Company with us.
Speaker 3:
Thank you so much, and it's been a pleasure. I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbirminghamcom. That's gnpbirminghamcom, or call 205-952-0148.
